Algae in Mbuna tank

[JustOneMore20]

I already have an algae problem in my 55g Mbuna tank. Its brown algae...maybe diatoms?

My lighting is 2x32w normal fluorescent bulbs....around 9300K I think.

I have some Corkscrew vallisneria and a couple stems of Hygro in the tank.

Fish are 9 Yellow labs and 4 Albino Socolofis. I was feeding once a day...but I'm going to cut back to every other day. I checked my nitrates and they are only 15ppm. Ammonia and nitrItes are 0. pH is 7.6.

Any ideas on what I can do to get rid of this stuff? I'm gonna do a water change tomorrow night. It covers everything...the glass, the rocks, the heater....its nasty!

Tank has been setup for 2 weeks.

Any thoughts?

[DeFeKt]

I would wipe it off and continue with regular waterchanges if it bothers you.
Just remember to do a pwc and vac up the excess algae that falls off else it will just be food for more.
I would also tend to look more into your maintenance schedule rather then cutting back on feeding.

How long has the tank been setup? Just wondering because it has taken me a year to grow even a slight shadow of algae on my rocks, even running double the amount of your lighting.
I love it, it adds character and the mbuna graze on it all day. specially the youngn's

Matt

[JustOneMore20]

The tank has only been setup for 2 weeks. And the algae gets worse every day...I wipe it off the front and it comes back the next day.

I wouldn't mind it if it was about half the amount. It pretty much coats all the rocks and the heater.

I'll wipe it off and do a water change tomorrow...then maybe another in a few days and see if that helps. I just wondered if there was something else I could do... I'm used to algae being a bad thing (darn planted tanks).

Thanks!

[DeFeKt]

wow that is fast..

would sunlight be an issue?
maybe try a phosphate remover of sorts?

I can't even get that sort of growth in a WAY overstocked tank

[JustOneMore20]

would sunlight be an issue?

Nope....the tank is in the basement and gets zero sunlight.

I'll check my phosphates and see if that may be the cause.

I can't even get that sort of growth in a WAY overstocked tank

I'm sorry! I wish I didn't have so much algae growth!

[maxwell1295]

New tank = Diatoms

Not much you can do if that's what it is. You can wipe it off but it does grow back rather quickly. eventually it will just die off. You just have to wait it out. Check for a major imbalance in nutrients is definitely worth a try.

[JustOneMore20]

Not much you can do if that's what it is.

Thats what I was afraid of. This is some serious growth though...so I thought I'd ask.

Thanks for the help!

[Voodoo Chilli]

How long are the lights on during the day?

[JustOneMore20]

The lights stay on for 10 hours. It is set on a timer.

[maxwell1295]

Is the algae brown only? Have you checked your phosphates? My tap is high in phosphate and I have dealt with diatoms in all of my tanks for the first few weeks. It eventually goes away but it takes some time. I have it now in my 55g. I wipe it from the glass, butI don't mess with the stuff on the rocks. My little Red Zebra likes to nibble on it so it must be worth something.