brown algae

B

brent6969

AC Members
Nov 27, 2006
137
0
0
k i have a 10 gallon tank and i was just wondering, do nitrates cause brown algae becasue i clean the algae off my glass daily and was wondering if this caused a nitrate spike which just made more brown algae. THanks
 
You must have high nitrates, this is the cause of algae. I would test my water to see what the nitrates are. The lower the level, the better. If they high, do a water change. It should help bring them down.

--Trev
 
i do a water change every week but i'm thinking its becuase i stir up my sand and clean my glass all the time so i'll just chill on the glass cleaning.
thanks alot
 
Cleaning the glass is only a good thing really, i clean mine every other day as i hate the green spots dotted about the main display...Nitrates and phosphates feed algae..

If possible, can you post you water test results? let see what you nitrates etc etc show up as..

Niko
 
here are my results but i don't know how accurate they are because i have those test strips right now and am getting a better test kit soon.
nitrates-10
nitrites-0
ammonia-0
i have no clue how i keep getting brown algae becuase my tank has been running for more than a month now and the algae just looks nasty
 
brent6969 said:
my tank has been running for more than a month now and the algae just looks nasty
Click to expand...

That right there is more than likely the cause of it. New tank syndrome :) My tank is going through the same thing. I'm a neat freak and clean the glass daily! All the 3 params in my tank have been at 0 for the last few weeks and I still have the brown algae popping up. Through research and opinions here on the forum, I've heard that all new setup go through it at some point. Mine started right around month two.

One other thing - did you do anything new recently? Add new sand maybe? Something with silicates in it could cause the bloom.

What kind of cleanup crew do you have? My snails and crabs are absolutely going to town on the brown stuff right now and its almost all gone!

Hope this helps.

Yash
 
i have 8 blue legged crabs 4 turbo snails, 2 cerith snails, peppermint shrimp, and a cleaner shrimp but nothing seems to be cleaning the brown stuff. I just recently added a hairy mushroom rock but the problem started way before.
 
I'd also guess that it's nts. Has your coraline started growing in well? What are your alk and ph? Also just as a brief word of advice the test strips are pretty much worthless ime . It is very easy to contaminate them and they are hard to read at best. In the short term I'd take a sample to the lfs for a water test.
hth
Max
 
Max - since we're talking about testing equipment, I currently use the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Master Test Kit, for the key tests, including NitrATE. So far, on my tests, my nitrATE has always showed up at around 10-15ppm. Though, I've taken my water to the Aquarium on several occassions and they've told me that ny nitrATES are at 0?! What do you use/suggest as a test kit for NO3?

Regards,
Yash
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom