Fuzzy Brown algae

[ckeck]

Tank 20 gals – long 30” x 12” x 12”
PH 7.2
Ammonia: 0.0 mg/l
NitrIte: 0
NitrAte: .10
Akalinity: 120
Fish: 8 neon tetras
1 male / 2 Female Black Phantom Tetras
1 silver hatchet Tetra
3 UPD Catfish
1 Ornate Cory Cat
1 Green Cory Cat
Filter: HOB Whisper Power Filter with BIO Bag and Bio Foam, Model 20
Light: SmartPac 65W Lamp
2 Aerators
Gravel: Pebble Gravel
Heater: Temp in tank 72-74 degrees
1 onion plant, 1 Anacharis, 7 Java Plants, 1 Wisteria and 1 Cryptocoryne spiralis
1 Rock Cave and 1 fake Driftwood
Lava Rock

I had brown algae in my tank, so I bought a couple ottos who ate it all up. Now my plants have this long stringy brown stuff all over my plants and rocks. None of my catfish are eating it and if I wipe it off, it comes right back. Can anyone tell me what it is? I did put some pure laterite in the gravel a couple of weeks ago for my plants, so I don't know if that is doing it or not. I do partial water changes every week and use Prime for my chlorine.

Can anyone help?

 

[Hunter555]

How long do you have the lights on a day? Try to keep it at around 10 hours or less I think.

Algae like that can also get out of control with overfeeding. So how often and how much do you feed your fish?

 

[ckeck]

I run the lights 12 hours a day. I feed my fish 1 x day - for 5 minutes.

 

[happychem]

Are you certain that NO3 is 0.10? Do you mean 10ppm? If not, get your NO3 levels up!

How quickly is the anacharis growing? It is one of the fastest growing plants I've ever seen, and under that lighting...

Ahhh! I think I've found your problem! You're running over 3wpg (I assume a SmartPac lamp is some form of fluorecent lamp?) with no carbon supplementation. In a 20g you could probably get away with using Seachem's Excel if you don't want to get into DIY CO2. The least you could do is turn off the aerators.

 

[ckeck]

My anacharias is growing pretty fast, but it is just one stem. I keep cutting it and replanting and it is doing well. So is my Wisteria.

The lamp is 1/2 white and 1/2 blue fluorescent light.

What is Seachem's Excel? I use Plant Care Fizz Tabs once a week for Co2 and trace elements. Do I need to use more? It says to use 1 tablet per 10 gal of water. I use 2 tablets a week.

What is the brown stuff? What is it caused by? Your help is greatly appreciated. :bowing:

 

[happychem]

Your algae problem is caused by a nutrient imbalance in your tank. In your case, the most obvious problem is carbon limitation. Your aerators are undoing any good that the fizz stuff does. They will tend to bring CO2 concentrations towards atmospheric equilibrium levels, your goal is to increase CO2 well above that, aim for about 20ppm.

We can estimate CO2 levels from pH and KH, it looks like you're around 13ppm CO2. Seachem excel is a non-CO2 carbon source for plants, I believe they provide carbon as amino acids, but I could be wrong, it's been a long time since I read up on it. I just use DIY CO2. For a 20g tank, a single 2L pop bottle yeast reactor would go a long way. There are lots of articles on it around here, check the planted tank and DIY forums, as well as thekrib.com. I'm really liking the Nyberg yeast recipe, you only have to buy yeast once, so splurge on a little pack of the best champagne yeast you can get (it'll cost about $2).