Brown Algae (Cyanobacteria)

[DH247]

How have you guys dealt with this stuff? It's just prolific and it covers the plants in about a week. I recently added a bit brighter light (I'm up to shy of 2W per gallon) and the stuff has been more prolific. This says to me that I've got high phosphate levels, which would make sense as I use tap water straight up. After doing some homework I'm going to start using RO mixed with tap. Probably 60:40 RO:tap to help bring down the nutrient levels. Any ideas and experiences would be greatly appreciated! Thanks,

Cam

 

[aquaticclarity]

DH247,

Is it Cyanobacteria or a diatom algae?

Cyanobacteria will have a very strong smell to it if you pull even amount of it out of the water. It is also slimmy to the touch. It comes in dark green (blue-green), a lighter green, and a red. It's easily treated in the sort term by adding erythromycin at 400mg per 10 gallons. Try to manually remove as much of the "algae" as possible as it will foul the water quickly once the erythromycin starts to kill it. (I read that Cyanobacteria grows well in very acid water AKA blackwater were there is very little to no competition from higher plant life true algaes. Does anyone know if this is true?)

The diatom algae is also a fast growing nuisance. It will be brown in color and "powdery" or "gritty" to the touch. The best way to remove it is mechanically with a 1-5 micron filter.

Your right, using R.O. water will help reduce nuisance algae in the long run. You also need to balance out the lighting and fertilization rates. If you are not injecting CO@ you may need to cut back on the amount of light you are providing the tank. Reducing algae and having healthy plants is a tightrope walk of finding the right balance of limiting factors...light, CO2, and nutrients. It’s an ever-changing dance that can be rewarding and maddening all at the same time.

Jeff

 

[DH247]

Having felt the stuff, it is a little gritty. Thank you very much! That will help in keeping the stuff under control.

I will also look into a CO2 system to try and accelerate the growth rate of the plants to more effectively compete with the algae :frown:. Plus it'll help lower the pH a bit .

Hmm... more research into diatom algae! I was pretty sure that it was cyanobacteria but I found nothing that mentioned the texture... very cool :wink:, thanks!

Cam

 

[fishgeek]

any algal suggests that you nutrient and light levels are not balanced

if you believe you have higher phosphate levels in your water(test it) then i would suggest using fertiliser to increase the other macronutrients to a similar level rather than just diluting everything in the same proportion and still having the imbalance(just at half strength)

if you can purchase a basic macronutrient fertiliser
in terrestrial plants these would be N,P,K nitrogen phosphate and potassium
we dont want to add any real levels of nitrogen to a fish tank
also of use would be carbon, oxygen, magnesium, sulphur,calium and iron
the carbon and oxygen should be available through surface exchange
higher levels of carbon come with C02 supplementation
water changes in harder water area's will supply some of these nutrients though not at a balnced level and so after time something will be "used up" first limiting plant growth and leaving other nutrients in excess

regular water changes can lead to less time with any one thing "used up" ie keep replenshing all things
equally adding fertilisation(i use a chempak trace elements mix with no phosphate or sulphue and a few others that i didnt list also i have carbon supplementtaion very low) will up all levels allowing faster growth of plants and hopefully competion against alaga

i still find that after water changes my plants pearl more so there are things in my tap that are utilised by the plants

hope that is of some use
andrew

 

[AdamT]

I developed a nutrient imbalance that screwed up my plant growth. I solved it by discontinuing my old fertilizer and moving to a new one. Perhaps the new one is better, or maybe it just hasn't had a chance to run to imbalance yet.

The old fert was a collection of kent products. The new one is just one bottle of something made locally "Pure Aquatic Gold" or something like that.

How long has your tank been up? If it hasn't been up for long then maybe it's just part of the cycling process. If it's been functioning mostly acceptably for more than a year I'd call it a nutrient imbalance. 2W / gallon isn't too much - I run a 30 with 2x55 watts and my yeast CO2 reactor is usually empty.

And is your algae eating livestock doing OK? Amano shrimp, flying foxes, ancistrus temniki, snails - all of these combine to fight algae in my tanks. Having any element of this group nonfunctional means algae is coming...

UV sterilizer and RO helps too.

Just some of my techniques.

 

[Left C]

How have you guys dealt with this stuff? It's just prolific and it covers the plants in about a week. I recently added a bit brighter light (I'm up to shy of 2W per gallon) and the stuff has been more prolific. This says to me that I've got high phosphate levels, which would make sense as I use tap water straight up. After doing some homework I'm going to start using RO mixed with tap. Probably 60:40 RO:tap to help bring down the nutrient levels. Any ideas and experiences would be greatly appreciated! Thanks,

Cam

Brown algae is really diatoms. It's usually seen in new tanks or sometimes when certain changes occur. High silicates can cause it. It usually goes away on it's own and can be easily wiped up. Otocinclus sp will eat it.

Here's two sites with some good algae info:
http://www.aquariaplants.com/alqaeproblems.htm
http://www.plantgeek.net/article_viewer.php?id=9

I hope that this helps you.

 

[DH247]

Awesome. Thanks very much guys! I am switching to RO water vs using my tap water and using a balanced fertilizer to make sure my plants are competitive. I am also considering putting my tank divider back in to separate my 2 pairs of aggies, in which case I would do a big cleaning of all the stuff in there to get rid of as much of the algae as possible. Cheers,

Cam

 

[wackytpt]

A penny of my thought

When I experience the BGA for my 3ft planted tank. What I did was to do a total blackout of the tank.

I switched off the lights for 4 days and used newspaper to cover up the glass of the tank.

By the 4 or 5 day, almost 80 to 90 percent of the BGA is gone.

 

[DH247]

Hmm... that sounds like an option as well. As it were, I have been using a fertilizer system that has been working pretty well to stabilize my nutrient levels. I have also introduced a couple fresh water clams to help filter 'little things' out of the water. Seems to be working so far. So time will tell!! Thanks,

Cam