HELP- Brown Algae

[jackreeman2]

Hi Everyone,

If you saw my last post regarding Hair Algae, and Thanks for all the great answers.

I went away for a weekend, and came back to my tank literally covered in Brown Algae.
My tank has been up and running for about 3 weeks now. With minor Brown Algae. But over the course of 2 days it has bloomed and increased drastically.

I have no idea what to do, I'm very keen on adding Amino Shrimp to clear it up but I'm worried it's far too early.

My live plants are dying as I think the algae is draining the nutrients.

Any suggestions on how to sort this will be hugely appreciated.

Here and some pictures.

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[Colin_T]

if your live plants are dieing there could be several reasons.
1: they are not true aquatic plants and belong in the garden.
2: the algae is smothering them and preventing the plants from photosynthesising.
3: there is insufficient light for the plants.
4: there is insufficient nutrients for the plants.

1 and 2 being the most common causes. Plants can live for a long time in low light and without nutrients so 3 & 4 are unlikely to be the cause. The plant in the photo has algae all over its leaves and that will kill the plant.

Having some floating plants will reduce algae growth in the tank. My favorite is Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thallictroides). It can float or be planted in the gravel and does well just about anywhere.

Make sure you do regular water changes to dilute any ammonia or nitrite in the water and do not add any shrimp until the tank has finished cycling.

 

[jackreeman2]

if your live plants are dieing there could be several reasons.
1: they are not true aquatic plants and belong in the garden.
2: the algae is smothering them and preventing the plants from photosynthesising.
3: there is insufficient light for the plants.
4: there is insufficient nutrients for the plants.

1 and 2 being the most common causes. Plants can live for a long time in low light and without nutrients so 3 & 4 are unlikely to be the cause. The plant in the photo has algae all over its leaves and that will kill the plant.

Having some floating plants will reduce algae growth in the tank. My favorite is Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thallictroides). It can float or be planted in the gravel and does well just about anywhere.

Make sure you do regular water changes to dilute any ammonia or nitrite in the water and do not add any shrimp until the tank has finished cycling.

Thank you for your response. I will give them a try.

How long would you suggest the cycling takes? I've read 4-6 weeks somewhere but 6-8 weeks elsewhere. Slightly confusing!

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[Colin_T]

A tank can take anywhere between 2 weeks and 3 months or more to cycle. Normally they complete the cycling process in about 4 weeks.

Warm water 26-28 degrees Celsius and lots of oxygen in the water help speed up the process and cool water (below 20C) slows it.
Adding live plants helps speed the process up a bit and some of the liquid bacterial supplements can help speed things along too.

If the ammonia level gets too high (above 3ppm) then that can slow or even stall the process.

 

[Vengified]

I am having the same issue all of a sudden. Posting so I can watch thread.

 

[Colin_T]

old light globes can encourage algae. Globes tend to lose blue light first and red & yellow light last. If the globes are more than 12 months old, try replacing them. Get a globe with a "cool/ white light", something around 6500K, it will have more blue light than a warm globe, which usually has more yellow light.

 

[NickAu]

With heavily planted tanks you can just about forget cycling provided your tank is not overstocked.

Floating plants like Water Sprite take up more nutrients than rooted plants, most aquatic plants can be left to float.