Brown Algae

[Bigtdotcom]

hi guys im having a problem with a type of brown algae in my tank. Tank has been running for about 4 months and is cycled no ammo or nitrite....nitarte never about 20, usually around 10. the brown algae is mostly on the back of the tank and on the fake plants and driftwood. I have been removing the plants and cleaning them and leaving them out in the sun but the algae returns in a a week or 2. Can anyone recommend how i can rid my tank from this algae? is there any fish that will eat it? My stock constis of a few american cichlid juveniles, clown loaches, ghost knife and L333 pleco. Most days the lights are on for 6-8 hour but on my days of could be on for 12 or more. The tank is in my garage and and it is generally pretty dim in there. I have just got my driftwood seet up nice and really hoping i dont have to pull the whole tank apart.
Thanks

 

[Keemofish4ever]

hi guys im having a problem with a type of brown algae in my tank. Tank has been running for about 4 months and is cycled no ammo or nitrite....nitarte never about 20, usually around 10. the brown algae is mostly on the back of the tank and on the fake plants and driftwood. I have been removing the plants and cleaning them and leaving them out in the sun but the algae returns in a a week or 2. Can anyone recommend how i can rid my tank from this algae? is there any fish that will eat it? My stock constis of a few american cichlid juveniles, clown loaches, ghost knife and L333 pleco. Most days the lights are on for 6-8 hour but on my days of could be on for 12 or more. The tank is in my garage and and it is generally pretty dim in there. I have just got my driftwood seet up nice and really hoping i dont have to pull the whole tank apart.
Thanks

I nice little Flagtail would help you but they get big in time....

 

[SandNukka15]

What kind of lighting are u using and what size tank?

 

[krichardson]

Yep,sounds as if your tank is receiving a lot of light and there is some substance or other in the water that is feeding the algae.

 

[duanes]

Much of brown algae can be diatoms, which can live in low to moderate light conditions, and use silica as opposed to nitrate. Sometimes increasing light will help reduce it. But frequent partial water changes are probably a more important deterrent.
That said, there are thousands of different species of algae, and color of often just a by-product of environmetal conditions.

 

[Twonvito]

I have brown algae in my big tanks and my rainbow cichlids love. I have green algae in my small tank and the snails eat it up. Due to the low lighting I have in my big tanks and early morning when I let the sun shine is the cause of my algae blooming. I clean my tanks twice within 3 weeks.

 

[Bigtdotcom]

What kind of lighting are u using and what size tank?

4ft 55 gal with 3 foot light with 2 globes, 1 x aquaone tropical and 1 x aquaone sunlight
The light unit was brought 2nd had and the globes came with it so not sure how old they are?

Much of brown algae can be diatoms, which can live in low to moderate light conditions, and use silica as opposed to nitrate. Sometimes increasing light will help reduce it. But frequent partial water changes are probably a more important deterrent.
That said, there are thousands of different species of algae, and color of often just a by-product of environmetal conditions.

From the the reaserch i have done it sounds like diatoms...Mostly brown and grows in a sheet, usually on the back wall closer to my light. What is silica and how can i reduce its levels in my tank. The room the tank is in is dim most of the time.


So im a bit confused?? should i increase or decrease the lighting? Also when i tool fake plants and decorations out on the tank they smelled pretty bad....just like normal tank smell but much stronger.

I recently killed off black beard algae in my fighter tank by double dosing with flourish excel and was hoping there was a similar method for removing what ever type of algae i have.

A little bit of topic but i added a new clown loach about a week ago and it seems that he brought white spot with him ( didnt have and spots when o brought him) I was planning to treat it (like i have in the past) by raising the temp to 30-32 degrees and vacuuming my sand every couple of days. I know salt can aid in the treatment of whitespot and was wondering if the salt may also kill off the algae??? kill 2 birds with one stone

 

[duanes]

Silica is kind of ubiquitous, but the best way to get rid of it (and nitrates) are lots of water changes.
And by vacuuming the gravel at the same time, you remove ick cysts that are "dorment" in the substrate. Just because you don't see ick on a fish, doesn't mean it isn't there. One of the first places ick cysts attach are the gill rakers, hidden. Whether you raise up or lower lighting, may be immaterial, compared to doing water changes. I do 30% water changes every other day and vacuum as part of my normal routine. You know algae is in the ocean, and even in lakes so salty, that other life can't survive (Lake Natron in Africa, saltier than the ocean, with water temps over 35'C (100'F, the cichlids that live in its cooler periphery eat algae), so salt is not an algae cure, it just adapts to water chemistry conditions.
But adding it for ick is reasonable, but 3ppt (parts per thousand, salt is effective at killing emerging ick (the ocean is @35ppt)

 

[Bigtdotcom]

Thanks for the info dunes... i will continue with the w\c. How do i go about working out 3ppt? I have read on some other site that 1 teaspoon per gal of water...is that pretty much the same as 3ppt? what is the best type of salt to use? i have some aquarium salt but it is prob 10 years old will it still be safe to use? I have clown loaches, ghost knife and L333. 55gal tank so 55 teaspoons of salt? Tank is grow out will be setting up my 125gal in the new year.
Thanks for all the help

 

[Chockful O Phail]

The aquarium salt should have a normal dosage on it. I think it's 1tbsp per 10 gallon but with loaches you want to half doses so in a 55 a little over 2tbsp dissolved in water then added will be fine. I could be off it's been a while since I had to deal with ich. When raising the temps that high add an extra air stone. Though the loach can easily take it the BGK might not. There is a sticky in the diseases &a fish health section