Reply With QuoteI would suggest adding Otocinclus into the tank. They eat up the brown algae.
Recently set up my 2ft planted. water was brownish initially but not cloudy. then it got more and more cloudy. did water change, fed less, more light etc. still not working.
2ft x1.5.1.5 tank
Arthur bower aquatic compost top with lapis sand. (forgot to wash the lapis sand before filling up with water)
2x24W T5
Bioload is the same as the old smaller 2ft tank.
I do not intend to test the water chemistry. Is there any other way i can do to control the brown algae without having to set up the whole tank again?
Could the aquatic compost be leaking nutrients / chemicals that cause the brown algae bloom?
Too much silica / phosphate?
I was trying to control green spot algae in my old 2 ft tank before transferring everything to the new tank. now I am fighting a battle with algae of different color.
Last edited by minute_me; 29th Jul 2011 at 22:15.
I would suggest adding Otocinclus into the tank. They eat up the brown algae.
There are four ottos , 1 sae and 1 bristle nose pleco in the tank. i don't think they can clear the algae bloom.
Hi there , Usually all tanks will go through various stages before they are fully cycled and matured. The only way it works to stop algae to groom is to control the nutrients, add a few scavangers , keep the environment stable and have patience and it will be back to normal. Good luck !
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Did you forget to add plant? *quip* Don't forget to grow them by providing sufficient CO2, lights, and nutrients. New tank - how long did you keep your lights on?
colin | The Wilderness and Forest | FTS
There are quite alot of plants inside.
As i use aquatic compost, I think the lapis sand above is not thick enough to cover the compost. I noticed my ghost fish likes to burrow the lapis sand in its "cave". this may be a cause for the cloudy brown water. So i added more lapis sand so the bottom layer of compost is not easily distubed the fish dig into the sand.
I have also added seachem phosguard to my filter ( to soak up the phosphate). Not sure if there is excessive phosphate cos i did not test the water chemistry.
The water has since cleared a little today compared to past few days where it got more and more cloudy everytime i do a 20% water change.
The cloudiness has almost cleared but water is still not crystal clear.
This happens over a 2 day period after i implement the above remedy. However I doubt the phosguard has anything to do with this.
I think the cloudiness could be due to the disturbance of the substrate rather than brown algae bloom.
I have added an internal filter to provide more circulation. Maybe this has helped clear the cloudiness faster.
I think so too : ) Good to know your progress. Cheers
colin | The Wilderness and Forest | FTS
Quite. Clear now and water not so yellow. But still not crystal clear.
Before, visibility was like 5cm .
Aquatic compost??? Sounds like a Diana Walstad 'el natural' setup to me. Looking at your pic, my humbled opinion is that the lapis gravel layer is too thin.Originally Posted by minute_me
Long time back, I tried nursery compost (J Arthur Bower - multi purpose compost, IIRC) and my lapis was at least twice the volume over base compost, to minimize excessive nutrient leeching into the water volume. It can be a pain in the rear end if not done correctly.
Give it time for your setup to stabilize. Add red ramshorn snails or more otocinclus, whichever you're more comfortable with, to help clear diatom/diatomeous algae.
I'm back & keeping 'em fingers wet,
Ronnie Lee
My 1 feet wastland tank the compost was 2cm , the lapis was around 1 inch.
Took 2 weeks for plants to grow well with DAILY wc 20 pct. ( well 2-3 green army cup). You need maybe 1cm more lapis if you have plants with runners growing. Else when you trim out shooting runners in unwanted places. Hell shall break lose.
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"if he cant be bothered to take the time to write his question properly, why should I take the time to answer him."
Yes, it was a mistake for using too little lapis sand to cover the compost, especially the area where the ghost fish like to stay. It kept stirring up the sand which caused the cloudiness.
the top layer of lapis sand now is not as thin as it looks in the picture. the compost is actually about slightly less than an inch and the top layer of lapis is at least 1.5 inch. At the area where the ghost fish likes to hide, i have put pebbles so that the ghost fish cannot dig into the sand disturbing the compost layer.
Water is still a bit brownish, probably comes from the compost layer.
As for snails, well they don't survive long in the tank as there are several loaches inside. So hopefully the 4 ottos and 1 bristlenose can keep the algae in check.
you can try L183, they do wonder.
The L183 is a bristlenose!
I'm back & keeping 'em fingers wet,
Ronnie Lee
What is brown algae?, anyway : )
colin | The Wilderness and Forest | FTS
It should be noted that brown algae is usually a bad sign and if possible, i would strongly suggest you test your water. I would expect your nitrate level to be quite high ( please do update us on this point if you decide to test your water )
Green algae on the other hand is usually a good sign.
Like most bros here, i would suggest adding to OTO, Plecos or snails to eat up the algae. However, to prevent brown algae from growing and encourage green algae, you should go to the root of the problem, which is most likely your water parameters
Hope it helps there ~
Maybe can add in more tall growing plant to take up all the nutrients and it might help to control the brown algae growth...
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I honestly do not think that is a good idea because it is almost like adding a big fish to take up all the oxygen so the small fish would not have any.
You can read up on more information found at the links below
http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/ma...algaebrown.htm
http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/algae.htm
Hope it helps
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