Brown "algae" on back of tank

[sniper-sam]

Hi guys
As the title suggests, and it's only appearing on the back of the tank, not the from or the sides.
The tank is a Jewel Vision 450 with Discus, bogwood, giant Vallis and Anubia, substrate is gravel. I also have 2 Eheim 2180 external filters and a UV steriliser operating.
Just before this mornings water change, which is done weekly @ 25% I carried a water test, the results were that the water on Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate stayed clear and the PH was around 7.5.
I think I've covered everything so if anybody could help me out with getting rid permanently it would be much appreciated

 

[bigbadfish711]

Hi guys
As the title suggests, and it's only appearing on the back of the tank, not the from or the sides.
The tank is a Jewel Vision 450 with Discus, bogwood, giant Vallis and Anubia, substrate is gravel. I also have 2 Eheim 2180 external filters and a UV steriliser operating.
Just before this mornings water change, which is done weekly @ 25% I carried a water test, the results were that the water on Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate stayed clear and the PH was around 7.5.
I think I've covered everything so if anybody could help me out with getting rid permanently it would be much appreciated

Are you saying that your Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate are zero? i do not know of any test kit that when testing it stays clear. What are the reading exactly?

What kinda light levels do you have? Some times is my every low lighted tank I get brown algae growing on every thing. Also in this tank my nitrates are normally about 10.

 

[J.Lake]

sometimes the brown algae is due to long term exposure to nitrate

 

[sniper-sam]

Should ammonia and nitrite not be zero anyway? Which shows up clear on the kit. And nitrate there was a slight tinge in the water.
Think you've hit the nail on the head reference lighting, LFS said the same, and I've only just replaced a defective light unit, so I was only running half the lighting.

 

[aclockworkorange]

How long has your system been running? Often times newer tanks will get bouts of brown algae. Even more mature systems get it from time to time.

Luckily, it's very easy to clean off. You also might want to get a bristlenose pleco, or possibly some otocinclus (not sure if the discus would bother the ottos as they're quite small).

 

[shellies215]

If you have a UV sterilizer, there should be some kind of screen or quartz sleeve that needs to get cleaned. Also you said ph was 7.5 , Just wondering if discus are ok at 7.5, have they turned black?, or do they show their normal colors?

 

[sniper-sam]

Tank has been running for 2 years now. 1 year with 1 of the filters and 1 year with them both.
Have considered a couple of pleco, might go down that route.

 

[sniper-sam]

If you have a UV sterilizer, there should be some kind of screen or quartz sleeve that needs to get cleaned. Also you said ph was 7.5 , Just wondering if discus are ok at 7.5, have they turned black?, or do they show their normal colors?

Quartz sleeve and UV lamp cleaned and replaced recently. According to discus sites 7.5 is within range but I believe so long as you don't mess around with levels they can tolorate most.
Discus are all healthy, even had egg laying last night.

 

[shellies215]

Oh, ok. I don't know a whole lot about discus, I thought they needed way lower, like 6.0, but I agree in most cases, with most fish, stability is key

 

[azura]

usually the water rich in phosphate n nitrate is perfect environment for brown algae to groom.
cmiiw