Having a bit of an algae problem

[beastoise]

I've my had 29 gallon tank running for almost 3 months now, and this week I've all of a sudden got brown spots on my glass and my sand is turning brown. I have an Odyssea 24" 48w T5HO light. Running these for 10hrs a day with no C02. Is this my problem? If so, why is the algae just turning up now? I'm dosing Flourish twice a week, if that helps any. Others have said the brown is just something that happens in tanks that are starting to mature, and will go away on it's own. What do you guys think?

 

[TabisFish]

Yeah i think that is your problem. CO2 should fix it

 

[londonloco]

I'd also cut the lighting period down to 8 hours and start a macro dosing regime.

 

[beastoise]

Not wanting to get into CO2 though. Just kind of wanted a simple tank, lol.

 

[Jspigs]

It sounds like you have diatoms to me. They will go away on their own. Perfectly normal in maturing tanks. Co2 is unlikely to help in this case.

 

[londonloco]

No co2...try dosing daily 3mL of excel.

 

[beastoise]

Could give the Excel a try, but I'd have to order that online every time I needed it because no one around here carries it. If it is diatoms, any idea how long before they're gone? It's not a big problem right now, but it is pretty unsightly.

 

[beastoise]

Well, I've got even more brown throughout the tank today, and I'm not liking it. I took out one of the bulbs in my fixture, now running one 24" 24W T5HO. Also put the splash guard on my fixture, even though I have a glass hood, in hopes of diffusing the light some more. If it gets worse, I'll think about cutting down my lighting period.

 

[rockhoe14er]

i have the same set up on my tank and i have pressurized co2. If you want to keep your lights i would suggest raising your fixture up 6 inches above you tank and running one light or you can raise your fixture up 12 inches above your tank and keep both lights on.

It really sounds like diatomes to me. A picture would help. If you get an otto they love that stuff and will eat it up. Keep your lighting period at 8 hours and raise your fixture and over time you should be good to go.

Remember patients is important because your tank is showing your conditions two weeks ago. So you could have already fixed the problem but it takes 2-3 weeks before you might see any improvement.

 

[beastoise]

I haven't got an easy way to raise the light at the moment, but I'll look into it. As far as pictures, it's not quite enough to show up. I'll try though, lol. I'll probably just leave it for a while with the one bulb and see where I get.