Would Brow Algae Affect My Nitrite Levels?

[Dibbs123]

can Brown Algae conrtibute to Ammonia and convert to Nitrites?? Have allot of brown algae on an ornament in the tank. tank still in cycle but been changing the water 50% 3 time a day for two weeks and levels still climb in the morning.

Should I remove the large ornament that has brown algae on or clean it?? will this affect the good bacteria

 

[Truck]

no its more the opposite, the ammonia is causing the algae

 

[Dibbs123]

no its more the opposite, the ammonia is causing the algae

Hi,

Im not showing any ammonia only Nitrites? I realize that the Nitrites are converting the ammonia but it has not gone up for three weeks.

 

[Truck]

there is still ammonia in your tank besides the 0 reading, its undetectable

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, agree with truck, its usually very small variations, often in undetectable levels of ammonia, that help to trigger algae, which like to take advantage of various imbalances when there are not a lot of plants to stabilize the tank.

When you are cycling, you are either adding your own ammonia or getting it from fish. Its then converted to nitrite by ammonia oxidizing bacteria (we like to call them A-Bacs for short) and if there are enough of a different species, the nitrite oxidizing bacteria (N-Bacs) then the nitrite(NO2) will get converted to nitrate(NO3) and that will slowly build in the tank. A tank that is cycling will typically build up a population of A-Bacs first, leading to a period of time when ammonia can be all processed to zero but there are lots of nitrites(NO2) still sitting around. That sounds like the stage you are experiencing currently. If you have more than a very small fish load while "fish-in" cycling, the nitrites can be pretty hard to control, even with frequent water changes. But of course its important to manage to do enough of those water changes to keep nitrite below 0.25ppm to avoid suffocation of the fish.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Dibbs123]

Yes, agree with truck, its usually very small variations, often in undetectable levels of ammonia, that help to trigger algae, which like to take advantage of various imbalances when there are not a lot of plants to stabilize the tank.

When you are cycling, you are either adding your own ammonia or getting it from fish. Its then converted to nitrite by ammonia oxidizing bacteria (we like to call them A-Bacs for short) and if there are enough of a different species, the nitrite oxidizing bacteria (N-Bacs) then the nitrite(NO2) will get converted to nitrate(NO3) and that will slowly build in the tank. A tank that is cycling will typically build up a population of A-Bacs first, leading to a period of time when ammonia can be all processed to zero but there are lots of nitrites(NO2) still sitting around. That sounds like the stage you are experiencing currently. If you have more than a very small fish load while "fish-in" cycling, the nitrites can be pretty hard to control, even with frequent water changes. But of course its important to manage to do enough of those water changes to keep nitrite below 0.25ppm to avoid suffocation of the fish.

~~waterdrop~~

Thanks for the help