Help! I think i have brown alge in tank.

[Jmd]

I have a 65g tank that's been set up about 3 months. I had a 75g b4 this & it started leaking so we transferred everything, a lot of the water too, to this new one. The old tank was established and set up for about 4 months. Same filters from old into new and everything. I have something brown growing on fake plants and think its alge. What do I do about it and is it harmful? I have seen oto's being added was sometimes helpful but not sure if i can with current stock. I also have been having a problem with nitrates even with weekly PWC and a media that supposed to help control this. Would live plants help?

3 small angels
3 cardinal tetras
3 mollies
1 platy
2 serpae tetras
1 pleco

 

[NFrons51]

Get a Chinese algae eater, I got one in my 55 gallon tank when I had a brown algae outbreak in my tank, there small and incredibly cheap, you can get them at petsmart for 2 dollars

 

[Jmd]

Do u know if those are ok with what I have?

 

[NFrons51]

They should be, there pretty peaceful fish and will get rid of the algae pretty quick too

 

[Convict2161]

Please don't get a fish to try and solve a tank issue. CAE can be very aggressive and are even listed as "semi aggressive"

What I would do is try and find out why?

Tank parameters? Lighting schedule? What's your water change schedule like? How often do you feed? Is your tank near a window where it may be getting some direct sunlight?

I'd answer all these questions and we can figure what's going on before adding another fish let alone a CAE.

Just my opinion.

 

[Convict2161]

They should be, there pretty peaceful fish and will get rid of the algae pretty quick too

I have to respectfully disagree. CAE are not peaceful. Now... Siamese algae eaters are peaceful BUT... I still wouldn't add a fish to try and solve an issue. The issue is still present and will just keep coming back.

 

[Jmd]

Ammonia is always at 0 as well as nitrites. Nitrates haven got up to about 80 before water change. PWC 30% weekly. Not sure why this is. Lights are LED strip but I'm not sure on wattage. They are on about 10 hrs a day while I'm at work & then I switch it to the blue lights for night for hour or so then off. One small corner does get a little sunlight for about an hour a day. I feed pleco once every few days & flakes for the others a small amount daily.

 

[NFrons51]

I have 2 angles, 2 dwarf gouramis and 5 silver dollars and the Chinese algae eater is fine and not showing any signs of aggression towards them

 

[Rivercats]

Does the algae rub off easily between your fingers? If it does it is most likely diatoms BUT a picture and answering the questions above would be a big help. It will also allow for positive identification of the algae. If it is diatoms they will eventually go away on their own as the excess silicates in the tank water are depleated. Running your lights 6-8 hours max daily goes a long way in keeping algae growth under control. If you don't have any live plants then you can use some phosphate removing media to your filter as it also absorbs silicates. I don't like using those types of chemicals so I would try reducing your lighting daily. A timer makes this very easy to do.

As for CAE's, they get very large over time and as they grow and mature they do tend to get very aggressive and also lose their appetite for algae. If you really want to put something useful in the tank to "help" with the diatoms I would add a couple Nerite snails. They can't breed in freshwater and will not only eat diatoms but will eat bio-film (which all tanks have) and green dust and green spot algae.

But truely we need to identify the type of algae.

 

[Jmd]

Ammonia is always at 0 as well as nitrites. Nitrates haven got up to about 80 before water change. PWC 30% weekly. Not sure why this is. Lights are LED strip but I'm not sure on wattage. They are on about 10 hrs a day while I'm at work & then I switch it to the blue lights for night for hour or so then off. One small corner does get a little sunlight for about an hour a day. I feed pleco once every few days & flakes for the others a small amount daily.

Here is where I answered questions asked. Let me see if I can get a pic.

 

[Jmd]

Can you tell from this?

 

[Rivercats]

I would say you have diatoms also called brown algae.

 

[Jmd]

And it will go away on its own? It's been there a few weeks and I clean it with PWC. Think I'm going to switch to live plants anyway. Like the look of them better. Any ideas on the nitrates getting high? Will live plants help this without chemicals?

 

[Rivercats]

Running your lights 6-8 hours max daily goes a long way in keeping algae growth under control. If you don't have any live plants then you can use some phosphate removing media to your filter as it also absorbs silicates. I don't like using those types of chemicals so I would try reducing your lighting daily. A timer makes this very easy to do.

As for live plants they are better for a tank anyway but you will still get diatoms with live plants due to the silicates in the water which only diatoms use. If you go planted then you don't want to use phosphate removers.

What are your nitrate readings?

 

[93MSB]

1. reduce your light schedule
2. do more pwc's to get the nitrates down to atleast 10-20ppm
3. pull the decor out of the tank carefully so as not to remove any of the diatoms until they are out of the tank, then rinse them off real well. do this for a few weeks, they will probably come back but bloom less each time until they're gone

 

[Jmd]

Nitrates when tested before last water change were like 60. Overfeeding maybe? Feed daily, could try every other day.

 

[Rivercats]

Just feed lightly and do a 50% WC every week which will keep your nitrates low. Also have you ever tested your tap water to be sure it doesn't have any nitrates in it? If you haven't it would be a good idea.

 

[Convict2161]

Diatoms. Will go away in time. Please don't add a CAE. I have 2 in my mixed African cichlid tank and they have a bad attitude lol.

 

[93MSB]

another thing is diatoms aren't good at holding on to things so if you increase your water flow/current they will have a harder time clinging to decor

 

[Jmd]

Thanks so much. Will adjust flow & up the PWC for a while.