Brown Algae on sandbed

[jdeb101]

I know this is probably something you guys are sick of answering by now, but I have a good size patch of brownish filmlike algae growing on my sandbed. I listed below some info about my tank that may help you guys determine a solution for me.

1) Lights are 2 T5's running 7-8 hours a day.
2) Do 5 gallon water change every 2 weeks with RO water from AA and AG only.
3) Run marineland carbon filters 24/7, changed once a month. Also since noticing the algae started using Phosban, which has been in tank for two weeks now.
4) I dont ever vacuum my sandbed. (Maybe I should be...)
5) Cleanup crew(approx): 5 nassarius, 4 hermits, 8 astrea, 2 cerith, 1 emerald, 1 cleaner shrimp. Also have plenty of serpent stars, baby astreas, and bristle worms.
6) Parameters:
Alk: 3.5 - 4 Meq/L
Calc: 400 - 440
PH: 8.2
Amm/Ites/Ates:0
Phosphates:.1 Meq/L

Some thoughts feeding the problem I was thinking could be that the algae coulding be feeding off nitrates in my tank, thats why I dont get a reading of them. I have a skimmer running 24/7 but dont get much skimmate at all with it. Also my sandbed for the past 4 months or so has looked pretty nasty.

 

[jdeb101]

Anyone??

 

[Rays]

Usually brown algae occurs in a new tank and appears as diatoms, older tanks can experience it as a change in lighting or bio imbalance. The worst case scenario is if it gets stringy it is dinoflagellates and they are hellish. Hopefully, you experienced one of the minor changes that triggered it.

 

[spongebob2]

i am haveing the same problem,i have a brown sand colored film in my new tank almost rust colored,i used ro water to fill my tank,so will this go away,should i clean the live rock,or is this part of the process

 

[uprr]

got the same problem. sometimes my clean up crew really helps out tho!

 

[Rays]

i am haveing the same problem,i have a brown sand colored film in my new tank almost rust colored,i used ro water to fill my tank,so will this go away,should i clean the live rock,or is this part of the process

This is not unusual at all with new tanks.