My tank gets lots of what looks like brown algae. (brown spots, spreading to whole areas; slimy feeling.)
The strange thing is that my tank is not newly setup, nor does it have an ammonia problem.
It's a 65g tank and I have two 4" Plecos and 4 Ottocinclus. I would've thought that they would be enough to keep it at bay, but they do virtually nothing. I get noticeable spots on the walls of the tank within a week after cleaning.
The tank has two florescents -- "natural sunlight" (20W) and the original "All Glass Aquarium" (25W) that came with my hood. Both run about 14 hours/day. In addition, the room gets good daylight all day with the tank receiving up to an hour of direct sun every day.
This is about the best picture I can get. You can even see where it grew around a couple of suction cups that have since been removed.
I had an algae problem in my small tank at work and picked up a gold snail from petsmart. I had both a brown and green algae problem and the snail cruised around eating all the brown algae but none of the green stuff. Could help out with your brown algae problem.
Brown algae usually indicated lack of light. And I'd have to say the 20W over the 65g tank is very little light - Am I assuming correctly that you do not have live plants in there?
If this was my tank: I'd get a unused/ new sponge, wipe down the glass (filter will pick up what's floating around) exchange the light bulbs for something more intense and then go from there.
I'm running 32W and 40W each 4 ft over mine.
The problem with algae is: You have access nutrition that aren't absorbed by plants and a light that enables their growth more then others.
brown algae is a sign of low levels of undetectable ammonia and/or light factors coup[led with a nutrient imbalance. im going to assume you have two florecents one for each side of the tank. i would upgrade to a fixture that spans the entire length of your tank and houses two t8 bulbs.
from the amount of sunlight and coupled with the floro light though just sounds like a nutrient imbalance which is causing the algae to bloom.
Thanks.
So do you think the nutrient imbalance is caused by too much feeding? The water is crystal clear.
regarding lighting...
I have two full-length florescents now. (actually two individual single tube fixtures)
As I said above, one is a GE natural daylight and one is All-Glass Aquarium "Aquarium light" (kind of purple-ish compared to the other light, so probably more of a spread-spectrum bulb.)
What K (color) rating bulbs would you recommend for this tank?
If you have very FINE stem plants, maybe they'd mess with it. But if you'd get plats such as Hygrophilia or Swords you won't have a problem.
Here's 2 good site with names & pictures of plants Sweet Aquatics Aquarium Plants
I introduced some snails, common pond and ramshorn. In 3 days the brown algae is pretty much gone. Of course I have 21 snail egg packets hanging in the dark under my wood piece...
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Tropical Fish Keeping
597.8K posts
83.7K members
Since 2006
forum community dedicated to tropical fish owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about species,breeding, health, behavior, aquariums, adopting, care, classifieds, and more! Open to fish, plants and reptiles living in freshwater or saltwater environments.