Brown Algae

Tetrabetta12

Hello Everyone!! I am having a slight problem right now. Im having a brown Algae problem in a Tank that is 6-7 months old now. The Algae is not on my glass, but it is thickly coating my plants. After i noticed the problem i changed my florescent bulbs as they were a few months old. I replaced them with 2 10 Watt full spectrum bulbs and have not seen any of the Algae going away. My Nitrates are at 10ppm. Should i just scrub the algae off the plants?

Boredomb

I would definitely wipe it off the leaves as too much buildup can cause problems for the leave/plant.

Can you post a pic of the algae/tank?

Tetrabetta12

Ok, ill try wiping the plant's Leave. Ill post pics of the plants once get home from school. Should i remove the plant to do this, or should i wipe it off in the tank?

Boredomb

No leave them in the tank. Also what size tank is this? How long has the algae been going on? What kinda of lights are they exactly? Do you use fertilizer?

Tetrabetta12

It is a Aqua culture 10 gallon tank with Crypts, Wisteria, and swords in it. It has a factory dual fluorescent outlet in it. Each bulb is 10 watts and there are 2 of them so 20 watts for this tank should be alright.

Tetrabetta12

Also, i use no fertilizer and the algae has been going for about 3 weeks now. ever since my old bulbs lost their spectrum. But i have brand new ones in it now.

Byron

Seeing the photo might help, as by "brown algae" I am wondering if you mean a green or red algae as opposed to diatoms. There are many types of green/red algae, and some to me look brown. If this is what it is, I doubt you will get it off the plants. But the photo will help here.

When the lighting becomes old it loses intensity, and this can cause algae to increase because the light is no longer sufficient intensity for the plants. The algae that is there will not go away; the aim is to stop it from increasing with the new light, which should happen if this was the issue.

Do you have fluorescent tubes, or screw-in bulbs?

Byron.

Tetrabetta12

They are screw in bulbs Byron. Ill have pics up tonight.
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Tetrabetta12

The are fluorescent screw in bulbs, sorry
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Byron

That's fine. Compact Fluorescent bulbs. I was previously thinking that if you had two fluorescent tubes you might have too much light, but two CFL over a 10g is fine, I have the same.

I'll wait for the photo to comment further on the algae.

Byron.