brown algae growth in establsihed tank?

H

hipboy

Registered Member
Mar 7, 2005
3
0
0
Hey guys, I am new, but think I will be a permanent contributing member here as I have been keeping fish for 10 years or so. I will try to help or give suggestions when I can, but right now I have a couple of questions/or need help. I have 3 aquariums and 2 of them have recently started to get brown algae growing on the rocks and fake plants. One is an 80gl and the other 25gl. It seems to be in the same spots on both tanks (rocks and fake plants) How can I control this or get rid of it permanently or is it something I need to concern myself over. I understand that this can be a result of high Phosphate levels which I have, but probably have always had, so I am curious to why this is popping up now.
I just recently put the aquarium lights on a timer, so am I providing to much light? It is brown algae so I don't know if light is the problem. I do water changes every week so the water is always nice.
Basically how can I get rid of this brown algae and keep it away? Thanks for your help and suggestions!
 
I don't know if you've noticed this before, but diatoms can be a seasonal thing, usually undergoing a bloom in springtime.

They are generally associated with low lighting (in a planted tank) and high silicate concentrations/availability. You can check with your local water comission to find out what kind of silicate levels to expect from your tap. But there's not much that you can do on that front.

You say that you have high PO4 levels, does that come from your tap? What are the NO3 levels in your tank?

IME, brown algae is fairly easy to deal with, clean it off and do a water change. Be tenacious and it usually stays gone. Increasing circulation (powerhead) over the affected area can help prevent them from settling too.
 
turn off the lights for an hour mid day. Algae's matabolism isn't as fast as plants, they have trouble shutting down and booting up again in such little time. Should help kill it off.
 
Thanks guys, I guess you probably need a little more info...
The tanks are near a window, but I keep the blinds closed that affect the tank...it is still bright in there during the day so I don't have the lights on during the day. It starts to get dark around 6pm here so I have the lights on a timer from 7-11pm, is this too much light? I thought it would be fine, but I am not entirely too sure.
I do water changes once a week and probably do a 20% change in the small tank and a 15% change in the 80gl, so I definitely have no problem with ater quality. The Nitrate levels are non-exisitent as well as Amonia. I don't keep live plants, I know they would probably help with the brown algae situation, but I keep cichlids so they would rip up the plants anyway and to be truthful with you, I find it a bit of a pain to keep live plants so I have gone to fakes.
I clean most of the algae off when I notice it or do a water change but it seems to appear again.
Should I just buy one of those phospate pads(removers) or should I try to get rid of it another way. Does brown algae run a certain cycle of maybe a fish that would eat this? Thanks again guys.
 
Nitrate levels must be measurable, nitrate is the end product of nitrification. I think that you mean NitrITE.

You could definitely handle larger water changes. I do 50% weeklies on both tanks. In any event, algae isn't so much symptomatic of poor water quality, the amount of nutrients necessary to support algae is so small as to be nearly negligible. However, measuring NO3 will tell you whether you are changing sufficient water weekly or not, you should have an NO3 titer lower than 20ppm.

One of the easiest and first steps towards fighting algae is to decrease the ammonia flux in your tank. Your test kit only measures the excess ammonia, that which is produced in excess of what your bio-filter can handle. Even with 0ppm ammonia there is a constant production and consumption of ammonia. Decreasing this will reduce the amount of food available for the algae. What does this mean? Reduce feedings.

PO4 adsorbants can help but are useful if there is a high concentration of PO4 coming from your tap. If your tap has little to no PO4 then the pad is only treating the symptom of not enough water exchange.
 
Change the water, siphon the gravel well (especially all the hard to get places that are usually missed), and consider a few ottos.

BTW, do you have an undergravel filter? If you have one for years, there is often large clumps of waste and other materials that don't get sucked in by the powerheads. Try and siphon this out the best you can. If you can look under your tank and up through the glass on the bottom, you should be able to see the undergravel filter clearly. If you can't, you need to do some siphoning in those areas.

Over time, the suction of powerheads decrease and make the undergravel filter useless. You need to make sure the powerheads aren't clogged and clean under the filter plates.
 
I didn't see where it says what fish he has (and still don't). But if you have cichlids, get a pleco then.
 
Thanks guys....Happy Chem, I did mean Nitrite, I guess I should be doing tests for Nitrate as well. I will check my phosphate from the tap and see what that does. I was always curious if I overfed the fish so I will cut back on their feedings and see if that helps. thanks for the suggestions and keep them coming if you know of any other way. I will also try larger water changes and see how that goes.

How is the lighting in the tanks? If you read my previous posts in this thread, I have discussed my lighting a little. Should I be cutting back on this as well or am I ok with what I am doing? thanks again
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom