Brown Algea on Leaves

[TonyUK]

I have a 96ltr tank with a 15W 40cm lighting system.
I have planted some broad leaf plants towards the back of my tank and the wide leaves are now covered in a dark brown algea. I do not have a problem with algea on the glass (nothing out the ordinary anyway). The room gets some natural light in the day (but not direct) and I switch my light on when I get home from work (5pm) and leave on until 11pm / 12pm.

The local pet store tested my water and said there is no alarming levels of anything. I think they tested Amonia, Nitrate, Nitrite and ph.

I don't have any sucker type fish in my community tank.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[tsr770]

Oto's... I had brown algae on my Anubias leaves when I had just the 30 watt light, but no where else in the aquarium, I was reccomended a couple oto's and they had it cleaned up nice and neat in just a couple days and work the leaves over every day since then.


How big is a 96 liter tank anyway?... that has to be way too low of lighting (15W)from my approximation of the size of a 96 ltier tank.

 

[carrcn]

I had the same problem in my 55 US Gallon. 7 Otos took a BIG bite out of it, but I'm still working on some of it. You don't have a lot of lighting in there, so my guess would be they're actually getting it from the indirect sunlight. Might want to think about putting some blinds up and keeping the tank lights on longer. You might also want to get your own test kit and watch the nitrates. Typically you don't want them higher than 15-20 ppm. Mine has never read above 5 ppm and I'm still getting a lot of algae growth.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Ottos and snails cured mine

 

[TonyUK]

tsr770,
96 ltrs is about 24.4 US gallons, the light system came with the tank as a complete package. Does 15W sound right for this size tank.

Excuse my lack of knowledge, but what type of fish is an Otto?

Tony.

 

[Lateral Line]

Brown "algae" is almost always actually a diatom bloom and caused by insufficient light.

A reasonable minimum for a planted tank is 2 Watts of full spectrum light per gallon for 10-12 hours a day. As you can see, you are some way short of that.

An Otto is one of a small group of South American sucker mouthed fish of the genus Ottocinclus, that eat a lot of algae in their diet.

 

[Silly me]

96l need 60 - 70 watts of light to get the plant to grow, Brown algae doesn’t need to much light to grow, If you have more light the plant will grow and out compete the algae for nutrients

If you could add 2 more lights you should be fine..

Also in a tank with the recommended light you'll notice more green algae on the side of the glass. This is normal, and can be easily removed with a blade or algae eaters

 

[TonyUK]

Rena Aquarama 80

The above link shows you the setup that I purchased.
Is the aquarium sold with a lighting system that is not up to the job i.e grow plants.

As you can see the spec is 15W - 40cm light.

If so, is it a case of just changing the tube?

 

[Silly me]

No you'll have to add more lights, the light in the tank is not bad one, is a very nice one, its just that you'll need more.

also the tank is 80cm long so you only have light for the center os the tank, that where I have the least amount of plants.

 

[Lateral Line]

The vast majority of beginners "kits" are similaly equipped. Keeping live plants is not normally a beginners biggest worry, why their fish are dying usually is! Trying to get them to biologically cycle their tanks before adding any fish is the biggest problem.

2 watts per gallon is regarded as "Medium" light, higher light demanding species will not grow without more. If you want your plant to grow, up your lighting to 2 Watts per gallon, (full spectrum, 5500K - 6500K), for 10-12 hours, then choose plants from the list at Tropica which match your water chemistry require Meidum light and have "Easy" or "Very Easy" as their care category. Then you won't need to worry about food and CO2 injectors.

Plants like Cabomba really need 4 Watts per gallon, soft acid water no suspended matter and CO2 supplementation - leave them alone for the time being.