I have a 20 gallon high tank with55 watt light & reflector from ah supply. The tank has benn running for about 2 weeks with the lights on 10 hours a day. I've added some liquid fert. from api and DIY CO2 that isn't working to well. The plants are starting to get covered with brown algea and some bright green stringy algea on the plants near the surface. The plants are 10 bunches of Anacharis and 10 bunches of Red. Lug., 3 large swords some crypts and some anubias. For fish I have 3 Otto's and 4 Lemon Tetras. Any help would be appreciated, I don't want it to get out of hand. Thanks
Brown Algea ?
- Thread starter caesar2
- Start date
Brown algae is usually diatoms which is very common in new set ups. It is caused from the silicates in the aquarium glass that leach out into the aquarium water over time. Even if you do nothing about it it will go away on its own. Every new tank goes through that and it is nothing to worry about. In the meantime it is easily removed by hand. The greeen hair algae on the other hand is more worrisome. It is a sign that something is out of balance in the aquarium. You have around 2.5 watts of lighting per gallon of water so it is possible that the co2 just needs to be adjusted. Some people run tanks with this amount of lighting with no co2 or the liquid form of co2;Florish Excel, with better results. You need to get the hair algae under control or it will take over your tank. For the plants that you have listed they generally do not need co2 injection anyways. If you do decide to use florish excel though I have heard that it makes crypts (some forms not all ) melt and the same with the anacharis.( I can get just about anything to grow like crazy except the anacharis).You also may want to consider a blackout for the hair algae problem. Hopefully someone else will be along with more info.
Marinemom
Marinemom