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im noticing a brown algae is starting to form on the sides of my tank? i heard that this could be iron since i have well water and not city water? since the tanks been setup around a month i think its to early for a algae eater, any good medication help? Thanks

Here is a great article (written by FP's own trystianity) that talks about algae. Brown algae is the first one discussed. You should be able to find some tips about controlling it there.

As far as the iron question goes, I don't think that that would have a large impact on the growth of brown algae. As the article says, brown algae often appears in new aquariums with excess nutrients. Personally, I have never heard of well water minerals causing massive algae outbreaks.

HTH.

Joe Potato

interesting article Thanks joe!

Joe
I have also saved that it looks fantastic and full of good info

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
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I have a few problems with that article.

Diatoms
Diatoms and algae in general are capable of photosynthesizing at considerably lower light levels than plants. Restricting light will hurt plants, not the algae. Algae does not have the energy reserves that higher organisms possess, so they can be killed off with complete darkness while plants will survive. If you have a FO aquarium, you must remember that algae may still be able to photosynthesize at the restricted light levels. Diatoms in particular are easily out competed by other algae and plants, so the effort should be made to provide stable conditions for your plants or perhaps more desirable algae.
Limiting silicates isn't practical though it is possible. Phosphate isn't in cheap fish food, it is in all fish food.
I also wasn't aware that increasing the water flow in an aquarium discouraged diatoms. I guess it?s possible, but how do you maintain a high flow throughout the entire aquarium and keep your placid lake dwelling fish happy? Once an algae has found a home, it will produce a natural cement and spread, even through turbid areas.

Green algae
Conditions that support plant life also support algae, but remember that algae can use very low light levels. It?s difficult to maintain algae free fish only aquariums because you have a constant influx of nutrients from the fish. Those nutrients will be used unless you can get rid of them quickly.

cynobacteria
I don't believe that about DOCs. Cynobacteria photosynthesizes. Maybe saltwater cynobacteria uses DOCs as light does not penetrate water too far. I believe we're talking about freshwater here. Limiting DOC in a freshwater aquarium is also difficult. Activated carbon can do the trick, if only temporarily.

I don't like this article. Waging a war against algae with a FO tank is difficult and requires careful monitoring and restricting of the nutrients (or turning off the ligts). Many new hobbyists don't have this discipline and rightly so. It?s a lot of work to do all those water changes! Algae eating fish and inverts are a help, but eventually an algae comes along that they don't eat and you will have a rough time getting rid of it. To control algae you need to control the nutrients (not a simple matter of overfeeding!). The best way to do this is through plants. Besides sucking up nutrients that would otherwise go to algae, they often produce chemicals that inhibit algae. A good plant that everyone can use is duckweed. It can quickly cover the surface of your water and be a nuisance, but it?s better than algae. Duckweed floats and can be scooped up with a net and tossed in the trash. Another method of controlling algae is with algae. Some stuff, like beard algae or cynobacteria is particularly unsightful and tough to displace. So, you can use other algae, like thread algae, to keep the other nastier stuff from taking over. For a better solution to algae, you should visit the planted aquaria forum. Two references I always enjoy pointing people to are: the skeptical aquarist]http://www.skepticalaquarist.com[/link] and [link= the krib]http://www.thekrib.com[/link]. Another site I will start to guardedly recommend is [link=the age of aquariums

One last thing: there is no fish safe copper treatment, just different degrees of poison. Some fish can withstand some copper, some can't.

edit: I missed a /

[span class="edited"][Edited by hazywater 2004-08-30 03:05][/span]