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Help! I was looking in my tank and getting ready to add new (fake) plants to my tank to finish off the decorating, and I noticed this rust brown stuff growing on one of my dragons and one of my plants. It comes off easy enough, but I'm noticing a lot of it. More than I can take off quickly enough.

Anyone know what this stuff is?

Ammonia: 0

Nitrites: 1.0

Nitrates: No bloody idea. I'm still waiting for the nitrites to convert into the damned stuff.

Tank Type: Eclipse 37.

Carbon Filter: Right Size H.

Filter tube type: No clue. Whatever it was that came with the tank.

Light Type: Flourescent.

Light Strength: No clue. How do I tell?

Heater: 150 watt set at 78 degrees.

So, can anyone tell me what this brown stuff is? Please? And can I get rid of it? And if I can get rid of it, should I get rid of it now, or wait until the eternity it is taking to convert the nitrites to nitrates is ever done?

Brown algae is pretty common in tanks, I tend to ignore it.

Floro lights have wattage based on length so a 2' bulb is 24 watts, unlike screw in bulbs that have different wattages. What size bulb, and more importantly how old is the bulb?
Although floros usually never burn out they still lose their kick in aquariums, this is more of an issue with planted tanks of course and not with plastics.

Personally I would not mess with it till you have your tank settled down.


I was just reading your post in photo booth, seems you're not using an ammonia source? You have to keep feeding the bacteria, thought I had mentioned it before but with my brain these days who knows . My suggestion, small sprinkle of fish food to the tank once a day if you don't have any unscented, uncolored ammonia in the house.


^_^

Um, well, I used the Cycle. I asked the fish guy at the store and he said not to add food. He said just to wait it out until the nitrites change over to nitrates on their own. And he said not to add any more Cycle.


But thank you for the help with brown stuff. So, it's algae huh? So I guess that means that the nitrites should be converting soon if algae is starting to grow? Yay!

As for the lights? I have no idea how old they are. They came with the tank and I have no idea how long the tank was in the store.

Well as TW mentioned in your photobooth thread, unless they've gone an changed the formula Cycle is for assisting in a cycled tank not for cycling an empty tank. Confusing I know. It needs an ammonia source to work. This is likely why you're seeing a longer cycling process. Your tank temp seems fine, lower temps can lead to a longer process but 78 seems about right. You're not doing any water changes right?

On the original issue of the algae sounds like diatoms to me and I've had it in every tank I've had, usually decreases naturally once the tank is more firmly established. There are filters designed to remove it but tend to be on the pricy side.


^_^

OK. So, it should eventually lessen? Good to know.

No way. I haven't changed the water since doing the almost total water change after I finished treatment for all the remaining parasites in the tank to ensure the remaining meds cleared out. After that, for the past 7 weeks now, I haven't changed the water once. I'm dumb, but I'm not that dumb!

The most that I've done has been to pull one bucket of water out when I've gone to add new decorations but that's only so that I don't overflow the water over the sides of the tank onto the floor, and when I'm done messing with the tank I always pour that water back in so that I'm not adding any new water. So, unless pulling that one bucket out and repouring it back in is what's doing it, then no. And I'm assuming not because if it was to affect anything, it would have affected the ammonia too, right? But it hasn't. The ammonia is still at 0.00 and the nitrites have been holding steady at 1.00.

I read that link you provided. It's definitely NOT a lack of light, I can gaurantee that. But if by silicates it means something like the aquarium sealant, then I'm wondering if it's growing because of that dragon I put back in the tank that has the sealant on and around it's mended arm. Thing is, this isn't the dragon that the stuff is growing on. It's the other dragon and plants on the other side of the tank. But it did coincide with growing only AFTER I put the mended dragon back in the tank. Weird.

OK, so if I do a "pinch" of food, how big is a "pinch?"

Hi,
The "brown stuff" is perfectly normal in a beginning
aquarium. It is actually a growth of diatoms and is
frequently, incorrectly, called brown Algae. The diatom
is a very tiny creature that thrives in an environment
that has allot of silica available. With fresh, brand new,
gravel and its dust, in the water, the diatoms are living
the good life and gorging on the silica. Regular water
changes will eventually dilute the amount of silica and
they (the brown stuff) will disappear. The small catfish
called and "Otto" loves the stuff. A group of 3 or more
of them will polish it off in a short time. Your problem
is that the tank has not cycled and thus, you cannot put
fish in the tank, yet.

Various types of algae the causes and cures and pictures:
http://www.aquariumalgae.blogspot.com/

Instead of adding another post, I'll just add to this one.
To determine "light strength" as you term it, simply turn
the hood over before the lights come on and read the
writing on the bulb. It will describe the bulb and some
where also tell you the number of watts each bulb is.

If you have more than one bulb, total the wattages of the
bulbs and then divide that total by the number of gallons
capacity, the tank is. That will give you the number of
watts per gallon of light that you have on that tank.
Divide the watts by the gallons.
1.5 watts or less is considered low light and you would
choose "low light" plants for it. 2 watts is considered
medium light and you could choose medium and low light
plants for the tank. 3+ watts is considered high light
and could plant low, medium, and high light demand plants
in it.

The "silica" that I was mentioning in this post is a
compound of Silica and Oxygen (SiO2). The diatoms use it
for form their skeletons.

Hope this helps.
Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Yeah, that helps a lot, thank you Frank. However, I don't think I'll be able to get more than one algae eater. I already have the other "spots" in the tank slotted for specific types of fish and won't have the room for anymore than one algae eater. Having read up on the link that Babel provided, I could maybe try a Siamese Algae Eater since the link on the "brown algae" said that it's a good fish for that kind of algae? Would one get lonely or would one be alright?

I tried adding some food to the tank for the nitrites to "feed" on. I just hope it wasn't too little or too much. How much is a "pinch?"

A pinch is really just a pinch. Stick your finger and thumb in and take a little pinch out, crush it up really good so it decays faster. I'd say about what you'd feed to your fish.

Silica isn't from the silicone, don't worry about that.

I've found Malaysian Trumpet Snails seem to help a bit with the diatoms, they don't add anything to the waste amount really and do help dig through the substrate (like earthworms for the tank).

Ah, and wasn't trying to say you were dumb

^_^

Lol. I know you weren't. I'm just saying, lol. I don't know a lot about fish, but I do know a few things (like about not doing water changes when I'm treating with meds or trying to establish the tank. Though the latter is new knowledge, lol).

Anyway, OK. I don't think I've been using enough food then. I've barely been putting any food in the last two days. I'll put a little more in today/tonight.

Thanks Babel!

Silica is used in production of silicone though, and is a byproduct of burning silicon. Both being silicon based compounds. Glass is obviously made of silica, diatom skeletons are made of silica, stuff is EVERYWHERE! Fortunately it's about the most inert stuff on the planet.

Seem to be some evidence that drinking water with higher levels of silica decreases your chances of getting dimentia...So maybe you should eat the diatoms instead of just cleaning them up?

hey, I had a coworker that had a drink with BGA in it


^_^

YUCK! That's gross!

OK, do I make a new thread, or do I just add a new question here? I'll just add a new question here...

So, The past week or so I've been seeing this weird white stuff that looks like cottony salt all over the bottom of my tank amongst the "gravel", as well as sitting on the leaves of my plants. Anyone have a clue what it is? If I had fish in the tank, I'd honestly think it was a form of ich, but since I have no fish in the tank, wth is it?!

You could try some rams horn snails to help with the algae for now. They are one of the best snails ive seen slean up algae.

I'd rather not use snails and snails are notorious for acting like rabbits. I don't want things multiplying in my tank. Plus, my tank is still cycling, so until the nitrites drop to 0.00 and I can get some nitrates in the tank, I don't think anything will survive in there.

But thank you.

Still need to know what the cottony, salt-like (now almost looking like soggy bread crumbs) stuff is.

Any chance of a photo?

I've had growths on new driftwood no matter how often or well it's pretreated, but that doesn't sound like what I've seen, and I don't remember you having wood in the tank right?


Don't totally reject snails, especially in a non planted tank. I have Malaysian Trumpet Snails in my tanks and I LOVE THEM!

^_^

Sounds like decaying food. Sometimes it gets moldy-looking like that.

><>

I don't have a photo of it. It's all over the leaves of some of my plants, but it comes off really easily, and it's also in between the "gravel", and I know it's not rotten food because at the time this stuff started showing up, there was no food in the tank. It's been there for about a week and a half now, and I didn't start adding food (per Babel's instructions) until about three days ago now. So it's definitely not rotten food. And no Babel, I don't have real wood in the tank. I have resin wood, lol. All of my decorations are fake. Plants, wood, etc. The only real decoration I have is the "wonder rock" and the black slate. I'm wondering if it's coming from the "wonder rock"

I'll do my best to get a photo but it's going to be hard.

OK. FINALLY got photos. I'm sorry they're not better quality, but I did the best I could:



I know the spotty stuff on the gravel looks like reflections but they aren't. That's the white stuff I can't identify. All I know is that it is NOT rotting food. There was no food in the tank at the point this stuff started showing up.


And this is the "wonder rock" that I'm wondering if all this white fluffy stuff is coming from.