Brown algae bloom

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dragonrider420

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Aug 1, 2017
Messages
88
Location
Toronto
I have a brown algae problem. Any advice on how to get ride of it?

I clean the tank once a week at a 50% water change. I’m running a planted tank. Should I get some algae eaters?





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It will go away when its ready bud. Sometimes ‘cleaning’ the tank can upset the balance and cause blooms/cycles. If your tank is newly planted it can be quite normal.
 
How old is the tank? Brown algae (to me) sounds like diatoms -- which will go away on there own. They are common in newer tanks.

Pick up a few oto cats and watch them eat it all away ;)

I notice you have CO2. Inconstant CO2 levels can / will cause algae issues. How are you monitoring your CO2 usage?

How long are your lights on for?
How are your plants doing? Unhealthy plants will "release" carbohydrates, sugars etc. that can algae will utilize. Healthy plant's will not.
 
How long should they be on for? My ph goes from 7.0-6.8

What lights are you running? With high enough light you should be dropping pH a full 1.0 -- so from 7.0 - 6.0 as the lights come on for the day.

Are you fertilizing the tank? If so how much how often?

Do you know the degassed pH of the tank water?
What is your water source?
Do you know the gH and kH of the water?

If algae is an issue, 6 hours a day max. You can slowly increase this, but typically 8 hours a day is more than enough light.
 
I fertilize iron everyday to every other day. I use trace and flourish 1-2 times a week. Root tans for the substrate.
 
I would give it some time with the lights cut back to 6 hours per day.

Ensure the plants are growing well afterwards and you can bump the lights up slowly to 7-8 hours, 10 if you are feeling ambitious.
 
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