How to get rid of Brown Algae?

[Samuel Lee]

hi guys,
just set up the 4ft tank 4x1.5x1.5 with 2x30watt FL and 144watt PL C02 2bps for 10hrs a day the tank is abt 2weeks old and my hairgrass and glosso is being attack by brown algae, need advise on how to get rid of them had been trying to pull out the infected plants but need advise on a more effective way from you guys, thanks.

[PeterGwee]

Beginners Info Sheet
Tank Dimensions (LxWxH):
Lighting Intensity(No of Watts) :
Type of Lighting (FL/PL/MH) :
No. of Hours your light is on:
CO2 Injection Rate (bps) :
Type of CO2 (DIY/Liquid/Tank) :
Method of Injection (e.g. Diffusor/Reactor):
Substrate Used :
How Thick is your base fert :
How thick is your gravel :
Liquid Fertilizers Used :
Frequency of fertilization :
Tank Temperature :
Type of Filter (overhead/internal/canister) :
Filter media used :
How long has your tank been set up :


Chemical Properties (Fill what you can)
Carbonate Hardness (kh):
Total Hardness (gH):
PH :
NH4 (ppm):
NO2 (ppm):
NO3 (ppm):
PO4 (ppm):
Fe (ppm):

Bioload (Your Fish and Plants)

Please fill up the form....

[vinz]

Brown algae? Can give a better description, i.e,what does it look like? Clumps? A sheet?

Given it's a new tank, most likely its diatom algae. A few Otocinculus (local name xiao jingling) should take care of it. About 4 to 6 of them.

[Samuel Lee]

Beginners Info Sheet
Tank Dimensions (LxWxH): 4ft x 1.5ft x 1.5ft
Lighting Intensity(No of Watts) : 204watts
Type of Lighting (FL/PL/MH) : 2x30watts FL/ 4x36watts PL
No. of Hours your light is on: 10hrs
CO2 Injection Rate (bps) : 2bps
Type of CO2 (DIY/Liquid/Tank) : 5liters tank
Method of Injection (e.g. Diffusor/Reactor): External Reactor
Substrate Used : Lonestar x 3bags
How Thick is your base fert : 3iches
How thick is your gravel : range from 2 to 4iches
Liquid Fertilizers Used : Flora by seachem
Frequency of fertilization : 1st dose on 16th march
Tank Temperature : 26c
Type of Filter (overhead/internal/canister) : eheim 2028
Filter media used : standard ehiem media
How long has your tank been set up : 2weeks


Chemical Properties (Fill what you can)
Carbonate Hardness (kh): 6
Total Hardness (gH): nil
PH : 7.5
NH4 (ppm): not check
NO2 (ppm): not check
NO3 (ppm): 2ppm
PO4 (ppm): not check
Fe (ppm): not check

Bioload (Your Fish and Plants) 3otos 6sae 30 yamatoes
plants: Aponogeton ulvaeus, Bacopa myriophylloides, Bac. monniera, Blyxa japonica,Crinum calmistraum, Cyperus helferi, Echinadorus horemanii"Red", Echindorus uruguayensis, Eleocharis vivipara, Glossostigma, Limnophila aquatica, Ludwigia inclinata, Myriophyllum matogrossense,Nuphar japonicum, Nymphaea zenkeri Red/Green, Vallisneria torta.

[vinz]

Increase CO2. pH at 7.5 and KH at 6 means CO2 at about 5.6ppm. Unless something other then KH is buffering your pH, you do not have enough CO2. You should be aiming for 20 to 30 ppm of CO2 (about 6.8pH, 6KH). Read this.

Does the standard Eheim media include a black sponge? If so remove it... it is suppose to work like activated carbon and will remove your trace elements. Other then that, what is the standard media?

Stop or reduce fert for a few more weeks.

Anyway the above is general tips only, not specific to brown algae... it should improve plant growth and help with the algae problems. You tank should still be cycling, so you are gonna get NH3/NH4 and NO2 spikes... so observe your fishes and shrimps. Lower the pH sooner to reduce the ratio of toxic ammonia to non-toxic ammonia. Keep the temp low for the same reason.

[Samuel Lee]

Hi Vinz,
the standard ehiem media i refering to is the blue and white sponge with ehfi mech and ehfi substrate,yes the tank is at the cycling stage, anyway about the algae it stick to the leave of the plant and is brownish in color speading from hairgrass to glosso and now even the xmos is having it.

[likchan]

hi
i believe i have the same problem as you when i started 3 weeks ago but luckily for me a introduction of 150 malayan shrimps and a 20% water change and overnight no more alage for me from then on. i also stop the liquid fertiliser at the moment and monitor.

hope it works for you also!!!!!!!

chan

[modyas]

Hi likchan,
where did u get so many malayan shrimps? how much did they cost?

[Samuel Lee]

Hi Modyas,
you can try petmart check LFS for address, just got 100pieces for $10 hope they can solve my brown algae problem. CHeers

[PeterGwee]

Ermmm...you got 100 shrimps in there while your tank is still cycling? The sudden increase in bioload is not going to do your tank much good....you might see massive deaths of critters due to NH4/NH3 or N2 spikes.

[CK Yeo]

if your "brown algae" growing in turfs from one spot? mostly along the edge of the leaf? If so, congrads, you have BBA.[]

If not, and the algae growing is cotton-like and gets tangled among the plants, then maybe you have a flying fox or false SAE, cos the real SAE will eat it.

in anycase, I will increase the CO2.

ck

[scang7]

looking at what our friend is having, think i have BBA in my tank too..edge of nana has brown algae..

what can i do?

Beginners Info Sheet
Tank Dimensions (LxWxH): 2 x 1x 1.5
Lighting Intensity(No of Watts) : 1 x 36W PL and 1 x 15W FL
Type of Lighting (FL/PL/MH) :
No. of Hours your light is on: 10 hours (3-6-7 formula)
CO2 Injection Rate (bps) :
Type of CO2 (DIY/Liquid/Tank) IY
Method of Injection (e.g. Diffusor/Reactor): inverted bell
Substrate Used : sera florapot
How Thick is your base fert : 1 in
How thick is your gravel : 4 in
Liquid Fertilizers Used : sera florena
Frequency of fertilization : daily of 2.5ml
Tank Temperature :28-29
Type of Filter (overhead/internal/canister) : canister
Filter media used : bio ring, white and blue sponge provided by eheim
How long has your tank been set up : 3months old but major rescape 3 weeks back



Chemical Properties (Fill what you can)
Carbonate Hardness (kh): 4
Total Hardness (gH): 6
PH : 6.8
NH4 (ppm):
NO2 (ppm): neligible
NO3 (ppm): 10ppm
PO4 (ppm):
Fe (ppm):

Bioload (Your Fish and Plants)
1 otto
25 neon
6 rummy
5 guppies
1 upside down catfish
2 lemon algae eater

[PeterGwee]

Scang7, do a test on PO4 to determine whether there is imbalance in nutrients....

[Samuel Lee]

Hi guys,
just an update on my tank, had push my CO2 up and now Ph is 6.8 and KH 6, NO3 is at minimium. The malayan shrimps did help in clearing the brown algae and i believe the CO2 play a major role too. Thank You guys for the advise

[geoffrey]

----------------
On 3/20/2003 5:49:15 PM

Hi guys,
just an update on my tank, had push my CO2 up and now Ph is 6.8 and KH 6, NO3 is at minimium. The malayan shrimps did help in clearing the brown algae and i believe the CO2 play a major role too. Thank You guys for the advise
----------------

CO2 is the way to go and with enriched CO2 and strong light, other nutrients tend to deplete alot quicker. You may want to keep an eye on those. How much is NO3 at minimum? I won't want to push NO3 below 5ppm if I were you.

[unicorn]

Samuel,

As the rest says, the CO2 increase is the first step. Your CO2 quantity seems marginally adequate reading from your PH and KH values. If your not familiar with the CO2 ppm, the easier way is to aim for PH 6.5.

Next step you'll have to check your nitrate and phosperous value they are a big culprit for algae. but judging from your tank which is 2 weeks old. Your plants are pretty week. Therefore, limit your fertilization. Do a partial water change and do not include the fertization process, and observe the result for 1-2 days. Oto and shrimps can only do that much, and they would usually go for the younger algae. Therefore, to a certain extend, cutting the affected plant or removing the entire driftwood is neccessary.

Hope it helps.

Cheers

[danny]

Just my experience. I have been using the so called FeiFeng for algea control. Because I am keeping Discus in my planted tank, any shrimp I put in is food for my Discus. So malayan and yamato are out for me. I amaze me how good a hunter my Discus are. I can put in 100 malayan and can't find them after 3 days. My background is very densely planted. The Feifeng is very effectively in consuming almost all form of algae and it has not damage my plant so far. One draw back is the its size, but I have not seen it bothering my cardinal so far.

Hope this helps.