another brown algae story

Q&A about aquarium maintenance

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capncalyx
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2005 12:29 pm

another brown algae story

Post by capncalyx »

Pam -

The tank is now a year and half old and well cycled. Its a 55gal with African cichlids ( im sorry i dont know anything more specific) - i believe lake Malawi though ( some of them move rocks around a lot!). Anyway i cant stop the brown algae. I scrub it weekly and do large water changes weekly. I keep all levels low but have a little trouble with nitrite but not bad. I will not use chemical drops and have recently been advised to get a large snail and/or change bulb spectrums and/or get a bristle nose pleco. Which will make more mess the snail or pleco?? About 6 months ago i think you advised to leave the lights on 24/7 to let it grow so the cichlids would eat it but im not sure i like the idea of my entire aquarium covered in algae. Its already all over the plants (fake) and everything else. What should i do?? Thanks!!

Andrew
Pam Chin
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Post by Pam Chin »

Hi Capncalyx,

Usually you see brown algae in newly set up tanks. But, since your tank has been set up for quite awhile, we can eliminate that. The next step is too look at your water conditions, it is often caused by phosphates, this can be in your water source. You can eliminate that by adding a phosphate absorbing media in your filter. It can also be caused by overfeeding your fish, they are eating more and they adding to the bioload in the tank. Both of these issues can be resolved by feeding less food and increasing the amount of water you change and/or clean your tank more often. For example if you are only changing 10-20% of the water each time you do a water change, you are only diluting the problem. Work your fish up to larger and more frequent water changes.

It can be caused by not having the correct lighting, and by leaving your tank light on for 24/7 until the green algae over takes the brown algae is another way to fight it. You don't have to leave them on forever, but just until you get the green algae growing which is good. Then you can back off on the light.

Everyones water is different, so there isn't a set answer to the problem. It is trial and error, you will just have to experiment with it. Also consider adding another filter, especially if you are having an ammonia issue. It is possible that your filter isn't cutting it.

I would not recommend adding chemicals either, this is some thing that you should be able to control.
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Pam

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