I am not sure if I am posting this in the right section but here is goes anyway. I have a 75 gallon tank that has been up and running with fish for about a month (I did a fishless cycle that took a few weeks). I have 3, 3-4 inch red bellies in it with a fluval 405 and a aquaclear 110 running. When I added the fish I also added some amazon swords and one of the leaves on one of the plants was slightly brown but I did not think anything of it at the time, no plant is perfect. Well now a month later it spread to not only to the other plants but the entire tank, all the rocks, glass, driftwood, and filter intake/outtakes. I scrubbed it all of at the last water change but it came back within a week or two. I just did a fifty percent water change and removed the plants and scrubbed again. Is there anything else I can do?
brown algae
- Thread starter mindgame
- Start date
answer these questions.. please
what are ur water parameters?
what is ur lighting?
are u using Co2?
are u dosing any ferts?
possible cause of problem...
- feeding to much
- to much light
- not enough ferts
- to much ferts
- need co2
what are ur water parameters?
what is ur lighting?
are u using Co2?
are u dosing any ferts?
possible cause of problem...
- feeding to much
- to much light
- not enough ferts
- to much ferts
- need co2
- PH - 7.8 to 8
- nitrite - 0
- nitrate - 20 to 40
-ammonia - 0
-The light is very old and came with the very old tank that I got of craiglist so I'm not really sure what it is, but it says 32w aqualamp on the bulb.
- no ferts or CO2
- I feed frozen shrimp once a day and I only give them enough so they always finish it all fairly quickly so I dont think I am over feeding.
Hope this helps
- nitrite - 0
- nitrate - 20 to 40
-ammonia - 0
-The light is very old and came with the very old tank that I got of craiglist so I'm not really sure what it is, but it says 32w aqualamp on the bulb.
- no ferts or CO2
- I feed frozen shrimp once a day and I only give them enough so they always finish it all fairly quickly so I dont think I am over feeding.
Hope this helps
mindgame;3296886; said:
ur nitrate isn't dangerously high or anything.... but usually the plants decrease it.. that's weird ... its 20 - 40ppm... can u tell me a bit more about ur plants?
my only suggestion to u at this time is to do a little bit more water changes.
Yea I am not sure if that nitrate reading is really that accurate. My test kit is very old and it seemed weird that i would have a nitrate reading at all after doing a 50 percent WC. As for the plants all I know is that they were Amazon Swords (Echinodorus Amazonicus I think) and all I did was stick them in my gravel right before I added the piranhas after the fishless cycle and the brown algae seems to have spread from them. I took them out today with the WC.
mindgame;3296938; said:
wow 20 - 40 PPM after a 50% water change!!!! wtf!!! the test kit is messed up!! or worse..the tank is... maybe its ur tap water?
can u tell me about the current status of plants?
also a few more questions that need answers...
what substrate are u using?
are u using root tabs?
Deaths Sting;3297005; said:
I tossed the plants. They were covered so badly by the time I did something about it that it seemed like a lost cause. I'll get some more once I figure out how to rid my tank of this nasty brown algae.
I have gravel from petco about as fine as you can get before going to sand.
I have no idea what root tabs are (I really know nothing about caring for plants. I just want the algae taken care of and I figured you guys would know it the best in the planted tank section)
I also did a search on MFK for brown algae and there was another thread about this and they blames it on diatoms? Does anybody know anything about that?
i also get brown algae, all my param are normal, might be the type of light or how much? i dunno. Never had any problems with my fish so im not assuming its bad
mindgame;3297070; said:
u should use root tabs if ur using inert gravel...especially if u have amazon sword. u say u know nothing about caring for plants but yet u kept them?
i think u should do some research on ur own before u purchase more.... u will not run into so many problems and the hobby will be more enjoyable.
diatoms are a form of algae.. plankton is also made up of it as well
I have a similar problem in my 10 gallon tank, and the algae looks brown and hairy!
I've read that this is because of a lack of C02 gas or too much light!!
I've read that this is because of a lack of C02 gas or too much light!!