algae on gravel?

steve-0

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i am starting to get a bronish green residue on my gravel in my tank, i do regular water changes and cleanings. Is it algae , and should i go get an algae eater to control this
 
Sounds like brown algea which is usually caused by insufficiant lighting but can also be a sign of extra hard water so it may be a good idea to get a test kit for GH (general hardness).What lighting are you currently using and what size is the tank?Increasing the lighting will prevent the algea from returning and vacuming the gravel will remove whats already there.
 
the tank does recieve a fair amoun tof sunlight and i have a bright flourescent light on it........It does get a lot of light. It's a 10 gallon
 
ill go get test kits during the week because walsmart is closed today. would a algae eating fish help?
 
To be honest im not sure that fish will eat brown algea (which is just a discriptive name as true brown algea is actually seaweed).A good going over with the gravel cleaner and a small water change should sort it out.

Aquariums recieving direct sunlight is not a good thing,this its self will lead to future algea problems,you say that it has bright lighting?How many watts is the tube?A 10g tank should have a minimum of 20 watts of light.
 
it doesnt say the wattage on the flourescent builb but im sure its over 25 watts. I thought at first that it was too brihgt ...........Im pretty sure its due to the unlight so ill just close the blinds during the day and see what happens
 
You need to know a little about photosynthesis. If your tank is getting enough light and you are still having trouble with brown algae, then the phosphates in the gravel must be quite high. Brown algae is actually quite detrimental to your fish, because it is consuming oxygen instead of releasing oxygen. No algae eater will touch brown algae. What the main misconception about algae eaters is they eat algae is not strictly true. They have rasps in their mouths so what they do is rasp this microlayers of algae from the surface algae grows on. You will notice that they generally will consume only green algae. That is because they are after the chloropyll
within the plant. Like any herbivore, they do not have the mechnisms in their gut to digest cellouse which make up the main stay of any plant. So yes whilst algae eaters eat algae, they are pleased with other foodstuffs offered to them, including believe it or not carnivorous food.
Phosphates can be removed by proprietory resins, but if it is phosphates that's causing you this problem, you need to eliminate the problem.
 

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