Gravel For Sand

[SLIM]

Crypts and a african tiger lotus. I also have some driftwood covered in plants but have no idea what they are.

 

[StandbySetting]

They should be fine in that case then.

 

[SLIM]

They should be fine in that case then.

Cool

Assuming your right and it is circulation and lighting, by repositioning the outlet and reducing lighting, how soon do you think il see results? Days or weeks?
And once it has gone, how long should I have my lights on? How much light is too much?

 

[StandbySetting]

It'll take a few weeks, leave the lights on for about 6 hours a day, what is the volume of the tank, and how many watts of light are over it? And are the bulbs T8's or T5's?

 

[SLIM]

2x 39W T5's

260L

So 6 hours a day whilst im battling the algae, then slowly up to 10 again? Is that right?

 

[StandbySetting]

Don't go up to 10 again, you have a lot of light over your tank, I personally would keep it at 6 hours as the light over tank is very intense, you could add some floating plants to cut down on the light which would allow you to go slightly higher.

 

[aaronnorth]

You're right in thinking that brown algae is present in new tanks, the silcone is leached from the seals of the tank and individual algae cells use it to form their outer membrane - however ammonia, excess lighting and poor circulation are also a cause, so it would be worth reducing lighting, and increasing circulation.

Although that is true, Si isn't just released over a few short weeks, it is always there, also most substrates are made up of silicate compounds. ADA aquasoil contains phyllosilicates, and sand which is usually quartz, is a form of tectosilicates.
These stay in the subtrate for years, but we only get diatoms for a few weeks...
In fact it is possible to prevent diatomic algae by running products such as purigen and ammonia remover in the filter upon startup (and of course keeping up wiht routine maintenance), this has proved sucessful with many people.

So diatoms are not caused by silicates, but they will feed off them once the diatoms have become established from another factor.

This applies in exactly the same way as other algae...
Algae is not caused by nutrients, but they will feed off the nutrients once they have become established from another factor.

Thanks, Aaron