A Lot Of Brown Algae

[Fisses]

hi all, as in my pictures you will see i have a problem with brown alfe which i really cant understand. it mainly forms on the cave and a tree which are both plastic, and also in corners of the glass which i cant understand!!!

my current water readings are ammonia 0, nitrite 0 and nitrate 5, as for ph and everything else i used one of those litmus stick things which showed everythng in the ok/safe zone.

what could be causing it and how to i get rid??

many thanks in advance

 

[aaronnorth]

common in new setups, it will run a cycle and dissapear after a few months. just keep cleaning it off and keep up the water changes te renove the algae spores.

 

[bagu]

add a BN pleco or pitbull plecs

or do water changes and clean it off

 

[Fisses]

ive had my tank now for 8months is this still new???

we had this problem at first but we managed to get rid of it now its back

my tank is not big enough for plecs!!!!

 

[minxfishy]

How long is the light on for? I ask because low light can effect brown algae, I found leaving my tanks lights on for around 8 hours stopped the brown algae growth in a tank thats been set up for 6 months but still getting it, I used to only keep the lights on 6-7 hours as it isnt planted, but after reading up on this stuff, found longer periods of light get rid of it, of course too much light will lead to other forms of algae but 8-9 hrs is good.

 

[Fisses]

well the light comes on roughly around 3pm and goes off roughly 1030pm so thats 7-8 hours?

could it have anything to do with having sand rather than gravel?

 

[gaz gun man]

it took me about 8 or 9 months to get rid of it in a new tank too, and I still get some every now and then. Have you taken the decor out and washed it yet?

 

[Fisses]

yeah pretty much everytime we do a water change the ornaments get washed and withing a few days its back again!!

 

[graceofbass]

I have a similar problem with brown algae growing on my plastic plants, and my tank has been set up for 10 months. I eventually took them all out and cleaned them thoroughly, and it hasn't come back in full force yet. I've heard that otocinclus like brown algae, plus they grow slowly and don't get anywhere near the size of a pleco. Also if your tank is in a room that has a lot of sunlight, even if it isn't direct, that can cause the algae to grow faster than usual (in my experience, anyway). I've also heard that algae can put "roots" into glass and plastic that will only come off with some pretty intense srubbing (anyone please correct me if I'm wrong). I'm planning to get a few otos for my tank, and we'll see if they do the job. Good luck!

 

[bagu]

i think a 60L could be the very bare min for a Bristlenose pleco, if you get one at around an inch, my old BN pleco when i had him he was an inch; overnight the tank was RID of algae!

they are fantastic!

 

[Fisses]

but isnt my tank reached its maximum at the moment though (see my signature)

 

[graceofbass]

Because they eat algae that steals oxygen from the tank, I typically don't include algae eaters when I'm counting up inches of fish per gallon (or liters), unless they're ginormous (3+ inches). Bristlenose plecos also grow very, very slowly compared to regular plecos, so personally, I'd say your tank should be just fine.

 

[Fisses]

ok so i decided to clean the tank going to keep doing it and see if that helps before adding more fish because every time i do i get white spot!!!

i think it may have been the phosphates http/freshaquarium.about.com/od/watercare/a/phosphates.htm as we had most these problems!!! anyway few pictures of our now happier fish

nice clean tank = happy fish

chive and onion 2/4 corys

cheese the mother cory she's the oldest

pepperoni the baby (tomato died 2days ago now!!!)

this is bill as ben swam off !!!!

so hopefully the algae will keep away for a while and my fish will be happy

 

[aaronnorth]

it isnt the Phosphate, PO4 doesnt cause algae (nor does nitrate). My tank (see sig) had 2ppm of PO4 but no algae growth. check out some of these aswell, most are run using Ei (estimative index) method, which is when you add nitrate & Phosphate every couple of days.

http/showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/2008...e=view-showcase

Diatoms is caused by undetetcable ammonia spikes, hence why they are common in new setups due to the instability of bacteria. Your tank is established, so somewhere along the line ammonia must of been present, i see you have a java fern, is this healthy? As rotting plants produce ammonia. Is there any excessive organic waste about, is the filter & substrate free of waste.

 

[Fisses]

well the phosphate contribute towards the growth of algae as the tank was being treated for white spot for three weeks it hadn't been cleaned so i'm guessing this contrbuted towards the algae growth! the water had a green tint, there was obviously fish and food waste present as it hadn't been vacuumed for the treatment period and we had a fish die that i thought looked as though it was having trouble breathing (rapid breathing motions darting to the surface!!!) so this would make sense

the plant it is completely healthy and is continously re-rooting spouting from the leaves and kept under control

as in previous posts the ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 5