Firstly, the clowns have a new Tank mate: a yellow tang. I picked him up from Birchwood aquatics, which has a very nice range of fish and healthy looking as well. I know it's a bit early for him as there won't be a lot of green algae for him to graze on, but I am supplementing that with some algae circles that I can hang in the tank.
Then there was the invasion of the brown algae! After getting freaked out and doing some research, found out this is normal for a new tank. It signals the end of the first nitrogen cycle. This algae is actually called diatoms. This algae feeds off the nitrate that is in the water. They will go away and turn into the healthy green algae as the tank continues to mature. That doesn't mean that it should be left unchecked.
The pros of having this algae is that it helps keep your nitrates in check. If you checked your tanks nitrates at this stage, it should result in a zero reading. Therefore, if you removed all this algae in one foul swoop, your nitrate readings will shoot up. It would also result in a major overall of the tank and therefore you will start the cycle again. That's one thing that I am learning very quickly, this hobby is about balance and patience. 2 things I struggle with!
So what to do? Some people suggest that you can do a light siphon of your gravel to pick up these guys. You could also do a fanning of the gravel to lift them up so they get picked up by your filter. If your rocks are getting really bad, a light rub remove this from the rocks as well.
I decided to leave my rocks as they were as I want to get some green algae there for my tang. I also did a light siphon of the sand. This is 2 part as I wanted to remove some water and add RO water to the system as my salinity was to high.
