[Br14n55reef]

if you ask me your clean up crew is on the heavy side...watch the Three emerald crabs they will eat your corals if you dont feed them. you can feed emerald crabs shrimp pelletes...if this were my tank I would toss the 10-13 hermit crabs they really dont do much... my 55g 125g refugium reef had brown algae for a week...I added 11 diff types of snails 1 sea serpant and 1 cleaner shrimp and the brown is now gone........remember lightly stock your tank they all go poo and it ends up in your sand bed....go to your fav lfs ask for 5 snails that clean your sand bed I cant remember the name of them but there white with a nose pointing out to guide there way..the only other thing I can think of might be your other problem is the amount of live rock you have..this can cut your flow down ..you only need 1.5 lbs per gallon....in the 10 years iv had saltwater tanks iv always had glass tops on my tanks no matter what you do you will allways have algae some good some bad..
Good luck Brian

[bnhaus]

Originally Posted by Jeremy0322

I went to Home Depot and when i said eggcrate they had no idea what I was talking about. What is it actually called and where can you find it most of the time in the stores?

It will be in the lighting section. It may be listed as a "light defuser"

Comment about glass tops (assuming no large sump):
-Bad for gas exchange
-There will be a build up of salt of the glass causing issues with light getting through
-Possible heat build up

Cut the feeding down to every other day and reduce the amount.

I would cut the lighting down 1 hour to start. Your tank may only be going through a cycle.

Check and test the type of water use are using for top off.

Raise the light a few inches to see if that helps with the splash.

[MonopolyBag]

Thanks. I have done this, and no more brown algae, some slime algae coming, but not much, I am not worried, and got a product at my lfs to solve that if it becomes a problem. I got more snails, need those kinds that clean the sand, not sure what they are either. But I agree. I am watching my Emeralds, and they seem fine as of now. I think I will take two out, leave one, get more snails, get rid of some of my hermit crabs (they are good however for cleaning the live rock when new and has dead junk on it) and get a serpant star, and also maybe an urchin.

[MonopolyBag]

O btw, how good are cleaner shrimp, I know they help with food that falls, but good at other stuff?

[dinor2]

Mike, great news about the brown algae going away. The snails you are looking for are called nassarius snails and they are awesome! They plow thru the top 2 inches of your sand be so expect a nitrate spike after you add a few to your tank (in yours I'd only add 2 or 3, they'll get to be almost an inch around in size). They eat algae and detrius and will also pop out of the sand when you feed your fish or feed them, which I feed mine every few days, the same time I feed my brittle sea star which is usually frozen chunk of fish or shrimp. Once they've been in your tank a few days or a week or so, the nitrates should level out and stabalize, they are excellent at keeping the sand clean and the nitrogen turned into a gas.

[dori9941]

Originally Posted by jimw369

Id start feeding once every 2 or 3 days and get rid of those glass tops also.

what if ur light are 2" from water
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/f...1/DSC03834.jpg
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/f...1/DSC03836.jpg
i'm having brown algae too. Do I remove glass hood with the light like that. they have nothing covering them

[MonopolyBag]

If you feel that the gas exchange is fine, and heat not a problem, keep the glass, but clean it like 2 times a week, I end up having to clean the same glass on the light itself 2 times a week as well, but solved heat problem.

Thanks for the snail info.