brush algae

[muskieswen]

I feel like I am loosing the battle. I keep getting this brush algae growing on my plant leaf edges. I do not see it anywhere else. I have a 55 gallon tank, parameters are
7.5 ph
<0.3 mg/l nitrites
0 ammonia
in between 0 and 12.5mg/l nitrates (closer to the yellow on the chart than the orange)
2-32 watt lamps at 10,000k
2-40 watt lamps at 6500k
I inject c02 via a pressurized system to get the ph down from 8 to the 7.5
lights are on a timer and are on for 11 hrs a day
I do not use ferts
I just started seeing some brown algae on the glass
Also I think I need to replace my lamps as they are 1 years old
Any suggestions?

[Mako]

I never fared well warring with bba. I hate the stuff. My best recommendation is to resort to either voodoo or black magic. Coming from a Christian, that should give you an idea of how much I hate the stuff.


I would change the lights. I get mine from Lowes, they carry a decent 48" 40w 6500K light for around $4-$6. I don't ever, ever waste money on those $20 bulbs sold at most pet stores unless I need a very specific spectrum like actinic or something.

[brookelyn]

I heard (never tried it before, though) using Flourish Excel at 2x the dose kills bba, but I am not sure what -else- it might do in the process.

[mcps95]

muskieswen,

There are two additional pieces of information here which will be helpful:

1) KH level - will determine if you are providing sufficient CO2
2) Phosphate level - will determine if your N:P ratio is correct (10:1)

Test kits are available for both of these (I recommend the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals kits). If you can't find them in your LFS, you can get them from www.bigalsonline.com.

I'm not so sure about the brush algae, but I know Diatoms (brown algae) occurs in established tanks from an imbalance of N:P. In my case, I had too much Phosphate in relation to Nitrate, and the algae spread in order to use up the excess Phosphate.

Also, with respect to your Nitrate test kit (assuming you are using the AP kit for that as well -- the colors are what you mentioned on the card), be sure you follow the "shaking" directions carefully for the Nitrate test. I was doing the test wrong for a while because my levels were always high and it turned dark orange quickly prior to adding plants to my tank, but when I planted, my test always seemed to show 0ppm Nitrate. After I reread the directions and was sure to shake the #2 bottle for a full 30 seconds before adding drops, and then shaking the tube after the #2 drops were added for a full minute, my test actually registered the expected amount of Nitrate.

As Mako says, I'd definitely recommend replacing your bulbs as well.

Mike

[djlen]

BBA has absolutely no connection with lighting. Lighting that is too high will not aid it's growth and complete black-outs will not kill it off.
Cut it out where you see it, clean up the tank, raise your CO2 levels and get the plants growing and it will recede.
SAEs will eat new growth, and Excel will also kill it off over time.

Len

[muskieswen]

thanks for the info. mcps95, my kh is at 12, i do not have a kit for phophate but will be getting one soon. I have increased my c02 and will wait a few weeks to see if any thing good is happening.