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the bottom of the tank has crushed coral as i said before, there is a brown coating that forms over it and looks really bad. also on the inside of the glass i see it forming too, it goes away when i vac the bottom but seems to grow very rapidly. what should i do about it?

Is it algea? I don't own any salt water tank but I have been told that there isn't any algea cleaners, so you have to do it the good old fashion way and scrub it off. So if it is algea you are SOL.

I have a reef tank but never had that particular problem. Sounds like an algea. Check out this site:

http://www.reefcentral.com

Search there boards, or join for free and post a question. You should have your answer soon. Don't forget to add all info on the tank, especially water parameters, you'll get your answer much quicker. Good luck. Check out out reef tank at:

http://hometown.aol.com/errope/myhomepage/index.html

Theres actually a few ways to get ride of algae:
Fish wise - parrots,surgeons,sailfin blenny's,turbo snails and some types of damsels eat algae.

Somethings that will help control or get ride of algae are protein skimmers, frequent water changes , algecides like Aquatrineª or something similar but it has to be used caredully around coral and invert .
Stuff like Coralife - Marine Tank Clarifier or Kent - Phosphate Sponge help to keep algae from growing.


As someone said in your other post the tank sounds sort of overcrowded ,which according to the saltwater books I have is the # 1 cause for brown or blue-green algae so you might want to think about that.
Then the other supposed common causes in order are listed as:
1 - overstocking
2 - overfeeding
3 - poor circulation in the tank
4 - infrequent water changes
5 - chemicals from tap water
6 - invertebrate foods (most contain algae fertilizers)
7 - Altered photo peroids
8 - excessive photo peroids
9 - incorrect spectral range of lighting
10 - Poor Ph buffers

I'm not sure on all of those but I figured maybe it'll give you a few things to consider.
Good Luck

Yeah it's most definitely an algae. I would reccomend getting an algae eating fish and leave your lights off the tank for a couple of weeks....wouldn't hurt to cover the tank with a sheet or something if the room gets alot of light. Light will cause the algae to spread.