Problem algae growth

minka-1974

minka-1974

AC Members
Sep 15, 2009
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Surrey, England
Hi all

I have a problem with an algae that I have never seen before. Its brown and grows like fur ... is easy to rub off and I had nearly cleared it all but its suddenly come back again in the last few weeks and is covering the plants, the back of the aquarium and the gravel and ornaments.

This is the first time I have tried a planted aquarium so wonder if that is a connection?

The aquarium has been up and running for 18months now and wasn't new (I had a break from keeping fish owning to house moves ... had it running with an unplanted setup before with no problem)

All the water parameters are good and the fish are all healthy ... they don't want to eat the algae either!

Would appreciate any thoughts on how I can get rid of it as it makes the plants look awful (and I am sure isn't doing them any good!)

Cheers
 
How much light do you have over the tank? Is it near sunlight? How much do you feed and how often do you do water changes. What are your water parameters?

Alot of things can casue algae. By narrowing it down we can figure out what is causing it.
 
I have the same thing I think. It looks like fuzz?
What worked best for me was a 4 day blackout, along with manual removal and waterchanges.
 
Hi Blown

Light over the tank ... 30w aqua glo and 30w power glo ... on for 10hours. Tank measures 4ft x 18inch tall x 15inch

No direct sunlight although I did wonder if they are getting some sun v early morning but it would only be for minutes and I don't recall this problem last year when I had the same set up

Water parameters all 0. pH about 7.6 (which is same as my tap water)

Am feeling like it is the plants that are causing the problem as I have never seen this stuff before and have kept fish for 30years (always without plants ... thought it was time I tried them!) I did add some new plants about 8 weeks ago but they are growing well (aside from brown fur on older leaves!)

I know there are many things that could be causing the problem ... thats what makes keeping fish sooooo frustrating! :o)
 
Ballyhoo said:
I have the same thing I think. It looks like fuzz?
What worked best for me was a 4 day blackout, along with manual removal and waterchanges.
Click to expand...

Sorry Ballyhoo ... missed your post. Not really like fuzz ... more like fur. Currently about 1.2 inch long! Not sure I like the idea of putting the fish in a balckout. Seems unfair to them plus would it cuase other problems?! Manual removal quite easy and thought I had got it all but its rearrived!!
 
I had this issue when I first planted my tank. The cause for me was too much light and no CO2. I got a C02 system and the algae subsided, but the light I had was still to much for the plants that I was keeping. Reducing the lighting times to say 8 hours a day will definilty help out. A complete blackout wont hurt anything in the tank.
 
I have had this exact problem when I finally bought a proper light for my tank. I'd never had algae problems until I put that sucker on it and it totally exploded. I'm still trying to sort it out.
 
Thanks all for your comments. I used to have the lights on for 8 hours a day but had problems with green (hard to remove!) algae and it was suggested I increased the amount of light which did help. I guess with it being summer now and so lighter for longer (no the tank isn't in any direct sunlight but day light is still daylight...) maybe its got to being too much.

Will try reducing the light and thanks again. Always helpful people around :o)
 
Were you having problems with this algae before you put the new plants in? They may have brought it in. For future you may want to quarantine new plants or do a dip to clean them.
Just a thought.
 
Scraping it and doing blackoutswont solve the issue, it will just cover it up like a band-aid. You need to find the root source of the problem and eliminate it so you dont have to worry about it.

You said you have 60w of light on for 10hr a day. I dont recall you saying how big your tank is.
 
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