slimy brown algae

[aquanaut]

Hello

As title says I have algae problem. I am no chemist ( lol ) by any means, so I need this in plain english. How do I keep it under control. These are my params as of this morning... cleaned all algae from tank and rubbed off the leaves plants... little streams of bubbles are now coming from some plants.

29 gallon 96 watt CF 10000k Marineland canister Temp 76.5 stable

pH 6.8 Ammonia 0 Nitrites <0.3 Nitrates 5.0 Po4 0.1 Kh 5 dkh co2 24ppm approx

Various plants only ones I know are Wysteria {sp} and Moneywort and some sort of small Sword
and a couple others all growing quite well I might add.

Is there something Im missing... Nutrients I use are Flourish and I have a gravel and Flourite base 3-4 inches.

Only fish I have right now are 4 small Red eye Tetras.

Thanks guys kinda long post

 

[rocketfu]

Sounds like you have a diatoms. If you have a new tank, they will die off in a couple of weeks.

 

[Purrbox]

While the algae that you are currently dealing with is diatoms and will go away on it's own in a few weeks, there are somethings that you'll need to get balanced to prevent future outbreaks.

You state that you're using Flourish. Do you mean specifically Flourish Comprehensive or the Flourish line of Ferts?

Since your tank is still cycling it's a bit hard to tell where you Nitrogen is at. 5ppm Nitrates would normally be considered a bit low on its own, but with Nitrites I'm not sure if it would still be considered low or not. Once your tank is finished cycling you'll want to maintain a ratio of 10-20ppm Nitrates to 1ppm Phosphates. I would recommend dosing your Phosphates up to 1ppm and your Nitrates up to 10-15pmm. This will leave some room for error with the Nitrites. After the cycle you'll be able to fine tune your Phosphate and Nitrate dosing to achieve the appropriate levels.

Make sure to read the stickies on Fertilizers and CO2 if you haven't already. Lots of great information there.

If you aren't already you'll also want to start dosing Potassium. Potassium should be dosed to 10-20ppm, more if you start to see a deficiency.

You CO2 is a bit low. Ideally you want to maintain between 30-35ppm CO2. If you're using pressurized CO2, just up the amount of CO2 that you're injecting slightly. With a DIY CO2 setup you'll want to look at adding another 2 Liter bottle or finding a more efficient method of diffusion.