Phosphates and Brown Algae

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Evanleigh

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Mar 9, 2014
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Will adding a phosphate eliminator to my 29 gal planted tank help get rid of the brown algae i.e. Diatoms problem? I dont have a phosphate chemical kit for that and I don't want to upset the current chemical balance of my tank as all fish and plants seem to be doing well, and the other test kits I use all register, on a current basis, 0 chlorine, o amonia, o nitrite, .5-.10 nitrate, 120 Alkalinity, and 7.5 PH. My water is hard at 280-300.

Thanks in advance.
 

wesleydnunder

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Dec 11, 2005
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How long has the tank been set up? Diatoms will often show up in new setups and go away after consuming the free silicates.

Mark
 

Evanleigh

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Mark,
It's been set up since February of this year.

About a month ago I covered the back and sides with black poster board to block most of the ambient light from the room. Since then, the glass has been clear but the evil brown algae still covers all my plants and I can see it discoloring the gravel. I don't think my lighting or water quality are contributing to the problem. But, now, I'm afraid that every time I do a water change and vacuum the gravel it stirs the diatoms up and they get into the water column and coat my plants. That's why I was wondering if there is something that can get rid of it, like phosphates.
 

Evanleigh

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Sorry, "Like phosphate eliminators"
 

FishFanMan

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It might work but if you don't know how high your phosphate is, It's hard to know how much to use and how often to replace it. I use it but can be expensive to keep using it. Better way is more WCs. You can also cut back on lighting and reduce nutrients in the water by feeding less and vac the substrate with each WC.

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Evanleigh

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Mar 9, 2014
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It might work but if you don't know how high your phosphate is, It's hard to know how much to use and how often to replace it. I use it but can be expensive to keep using it. Better way is more WCs. You can also cut back on lighting and reduce nutrients in the water by feeding less and vac the substrate with each WC

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So how much phosphate do you use and how often?
Seeing as I already do a WC and gravel vacuum each week, I guess I will take out one of the 3 strips of LED lighting and see how that goes.
 

FishFanMan

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FYI, my tap has 0.48ppm phosphate and I use half of the size 6 API Phos-Zorb once a month to keep my phosphate to an average of 0.1 ppm. I do 50% WC every 2 weeks. But my setup is very atypical. I have 750 gph turn over on my 34 gallon tank. I currently have a Marineland C-360 canister, Fluval G6 canister, and a Fluval C4 HOB on this tank. I can probabaly go a few months before any nitrates shows up. I'm just getting ready to convert this community tank to a discus tank.

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Evanleigh

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Wow, that is high gph for a 34 tank. You must have it really stocked.
 

Star_Rider

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Dec 21, 2005
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brown algae aka diatom algae requires silicates..it is technically not an algae but a diatom ( type of phytoplankton)

they can be controlled with total blackout of the tank for 3 days but if there is silicate in the tank they will most likely show up again.

because they require silicate they are often part of new tank syndrome and will generally go away as they use up the silicates.
outside of black out they can be removed when you siphon on tank maint day.

you can try phosphate removal or simply wait them out..

BTW they can also be caused by substrate..as was the case for me in an acrylic tank.
 

Evanleigh

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I might try the phosphate removal if I know it won't hurt the shrimp or fish.
 
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