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My tank is about 6 or 7 weeks old. I started it with bio-spira.

55 gal, penguin 330, small power head, artificial plants. I have a school of 10 black skirts, 3 small pictus cats, two small angels.

Water parameters are:
ph- 7.4
ammonia- 0
nitrite- 0
nitrate- 20ppm
temp- 76
25% weekly water change

The Question: I have heard the the 'brown algea' is part of the cycling process and soon other forms of algea should starve out the brown stuff. How long does this take? Is there anything I need to do to help it? Should I increase/decrease my water changes. Should I use a treatment for algea? It is really looking nasty in there and I am wanting to clean it up but I know it is better to let it happen naturally. What do you guys think I should do? Thanks

Last edited by FISH MAISTRE at 14-Feb-2005 11:46

With artificial plants you are either going to have brown algae or green algae. If you have too low of light for green algae you'll keep the brown algae. If you increase the light you should get green algae but with no plants that will also take over. It took my new tank 6months to get past brown algae. I still have to keep algae eaters in my tanks or even with plants I get lots of brown and green algaes. My tapwater is high in phosphates and silicates. Try some otocinclus or bristlenose plecos. There is also filter media that will remove phosphates and silicates. The other options is algae killing chemicals but I know nothing about those. Keeping your nitrates down with more water changes might help but then if you have high silicates in your water which brown algae loves you'll only be adding food. I've been told having no light at all on the tank will keep brown algae from growing but brown algae for me grows in my water buckets kept in the closet. It also grows in my covered filter so I'd have to disagree.

Decrease feeding, increase water changes, and add a phosphate remover if compatable with your fish. Clown loaches aparently cannot handle phosphate removers, you didnt list your stock so I cannot say for sure.
It's not really part of the cycling process, more something that just happens in an overfed under maintained tank with nothing else to consume the excess.

^_^ [hr width='40%']"Somewhere beyond happiness and sadness
I need to calculate,what creates my own madness...
and I am waiting for disaster"

Babe, I did list my stock. Overfed? -maybe Undermaintained? -surely not

I don't think lights are the problem and I'm pretty sure it's not the tap water. No problem in my other tank. I don't have any "real" plants in my other tank either. I do a 25% water change at least once a week sometimes twice a week. It may be the lights I guess. I'll try a plant bulb and see how that does. If I get a pleco that thrives on brown algea will I have to trade him in after the green algea takes over?



Also, I had a 'common' pleco in there to eat the excess but he died just the other day and from what I have leaned on that post (bottom feeder frenzy) I may have starved him. Would he not have eaten the brown algae?

Last edited by FISH MAISTRE at 14-Feb-2005 14:42

Last edited by FISH MAISTRE at 14-Feb-2005 14:42

Feel free to deny the cause. IMO that's close to overstocked, and the pictus will need to be in a larger tank. They are active fish and need more than 12" depth.

Excess phosphates and sillica in fish food will cause the outbreaks. You might want to try changing the brand of food you feed. Have your LFS test your tap water, some water supplies carry phosphates.

^_^[hr width='40%']"Somewhere beyond happiness and sadness
I need to calculate,what creates my own madness...
and I am waiting for disaster"

Babe, I understand that the pictus cats will need a bigger tank as they grow but right now they are only 3 inches long, the angels are the size of a nickel and the black skirts are about 2 inches long. Do you really think that I am overstocked? I am pretty sure it's not the tap water or my maintaince regime as I would surely have the same problem in my other tank as well. Your comment on the food I am feeding raises quite a question though. I haven't even given any thought to that. Yes, I do feed them very well, too much maybe. I have no problem with ammonia, nitrites, and/or nitrates. I tested my water at nitrate 20ppm but it was right before I did my weekly water change. Usually it drops to about 10 ppm which from what I've read is pretty good. Correct me if I'm wrong but if I were grossly over feeding, ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates would not test that well. I kinda think now that it my be the lights or the food I'm feeding. When I stop by the lfs later I'll ask them about phosphate and silicate content in the food I'm using and see if there is a better choice as far as food is concerned. Thanks for all your help

I think a plant bulb would grow even more algae. Maybe it's blue light algae doesn't use very well? I can't remember. A bristlenose will only get around 5 or 6" so they won't outgrow your tank. There are also many other plecos that only get around 8" or less. The commons (there are several species labelled this) generally get at least 12" maybe even several feet long. A phosphate or silicate remover won't hurt anything since you have no plants so it might be worth trying to see if that's the problem.

I still say it's the excess food. If you have enough filtration than your biofilter will convert everything and it wont show up on your tests. Doing water changes will keep nitrAtes down but may not be enough for keeping the phosphates down, especially if you have alot of phosphates in the food and or the water supply.

Example.
I had someone care for my fish while I was away a year ago. I gave them visuals as to how much food to feed. I'm fairly positive that they increased the ammount. Nothing else had changed in the tank that had been running almost a year, I return home to a large ammount of diatom alge. Added a small ammount of phosguard to my filter, week or so later everything was fine.

^_^ [hr width='40%']"Somewhere beyond happiness and sadness
I need to calculate,what creates my own madness...
and I am waiting for disaster"

Maybe your right, Babe. I'll try a few things and see what happens. I'll probably try that phosogaurd first, it'll be cheaper than new bulbs. I'll let you know in a few days how it goes. If that stuff works, you think it's over feeding then? Thanks for the help.

Fish,

Some info on Brown (diatamaceous) Algae from TropicalTank:

"Brown algae" (diatoms)

This is often the first algae to appear in a newly set-up tank, where conditions have yet to stabilise. It will often appear around the 2-12 week period, and may disappear as quickly as it arrived when the conditions stabilise after a couple of months. It is essential to minimise nutrient levels to ensure the algae disappears - avoid overfeeding and carry out the appropriate water changes, gravel and filter cleaning, etc. Limiting the light will not deter this algae, as it can grow at low lighting levels and will normally out-compete green algae under these conditions.

If brown algae appears in an established tank, check nitrate and phosphate levels. Increased water changes or more thorough substrate cleaning may be necessary. Using a phosphate-adsorbing resin will also remove silicates, which are important to the growth of this algae. However, as noted above, it is essentially impossible to totally eliminate algae with this strategy alone. Due to its ability to grow at low light levels, this algae may also appear in dimly lit tanks, where old fluorescent bulbs have lost much of their output. If a problem does occur, otocinclus catfish are known to clear this algae quickly, although you may need several for larger tanks, and they can be difficult to acclimatise initially.

There are some very plausible theories as to why this algae often appears in newly set up tanks and then later disappears. If the silicate (Si) to phosphate (P) ratio is high, then diatoms are likely to have a growth advantage over true algae types and Cyanobacteria. Some of the silicate may come from the tapwater, but it will also be leached from the glass of new aquaria, and potentially from silica sand/gravel substrates to some extent. Later, when this leaching has slowed, and phosphate is accumulating in the maturing tank, the Si ratio will change in favour of phosphate, which is likely to favour the growth of green algae instead.

__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

"Due to its ability to grow at low light levels, this algae may also appear in dimly lit tanks, where old fluorescent bulbs have lost much of their output. If a problem does occur, otocinclus catfish are known to clear this algae quickly, although you may need several for larger tanks, and they can be difficult to acclimatise initially."

Both these statements I've found, IME, anyway to be compleatly false. The ottos didnt touch it a bit, nor did increased lighting have any effect.

^_^
[hr width='40%']"Somewhere beyond happiness and sadness
I need to calculate,what creates my own madness...
and I am waiting for disaster"