Anna_&_Chris Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 Hey there, undying problem,algae... in my case alot of it,some people love to grow it for fish but i dont, i will clean the tank once a week with like 40% water change and in 3 days my coral is already brown instead of beging white as when i just cleaned it. I am not talking about getin rid of algae fully but at least make my clean tank last longer,what should i do? i reduced light to minimum just to check, even had no light on for a couple days when went away, came back and everythin is covered in algae.. nothing special but just that brown one.. even my aragonite now it turning brown !!! I love my fish but i just simply dont have time to spend 2 hours cleaning te tank every 2-3 days ! i was thinking maybe thats because : my filtration is not goo enough ,the filter does 900 L\P ,the tank capacity is 200L so its bit more than 4 times an hour.. should be enough... ive got 7 fish in there... so my main suspect is filtration.. Dont know what kind of light it is but as i figured it doesnt mater. Feed them once a day with cichlid pellets (btw fish is eating fine now.. dont know what it was b4..) tested ammonia and there is none... nitrate nitrite al none,ph 8-8.5,everything seems to be in order but the algay just keeps coming on me. of course i know that its normal o have algay but trust me not THAT much in such a short period of time, its just stupid.. Any ideas at ALL? im thinking about installing my other external filter there as well.. it does 1200 L\P so in total itl be 2100 L\P which should really keep it clean.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthewY Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 Dont know if this is correct but i keep hearing that UVC filters would take care of alot of algea issues.... aswell as the bonus of killing any other bad stuff in your water... Though in saying this... I never used any and came close to buying a filter with UV-C built in until I noticed it was only UV-C LEDs, not a tube. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 Is this a marine or freshwater tank? If it is freshwater and a new tank, brown algae is common for a while. It will diminish as the plants grow and the tank matures. Just wipe off as much as possible and add fast growing plants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tHEcONCH Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 Is this an African Chiclid tank? Do you have any plants in it? I notice you have another thread asking about fish 'flashing' - perhaps you need to start by telling us more about your set-up and your water values so that we can get a good idea about what's going on. Pics would be great too if you can post them up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casper Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 Possibly try Blacking out the tank completely for a couple of days? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 I saw the post re the African tank after I posted before. Blacking out a tank does not work for brown algae, that is for cyano. If you have white substrate in your tank it will always get covered in algae. It shows up more easily on white. White never stays white. It is not a good colour for a substrate either as fish prefer a dark substrate and will appear pale s they try to blend in with the white to camouflage themselves from predators above. White is for marines. When I had my African setup the white limestone rocks I used to raise the pH always went dark reddish/brown, which was good as far as I was concerned. Darker and gave the fish something to graze on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixon1990 Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 I have found that blackouts do work on brown algae. I did a blackout on t=my fry tank and the algae died after about A week Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 I have found that blackouts do work on brown algae. I did a blackout on t=my fry tank and the algae died after about A week its more likely that what ever was feeding the brown algae (nutrients in the water) was reduced than the light affected the situation. Light creates green algae, often over feeding creates brown algae. I have arogonite as a substrate (white) & have not had any problems with it going brown or green. I feed to a minimum, 3 small feeds a day. Here's a pic of my tank after 6 months i think, as you can see its still white. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 Thanks Smidey, I have brown algae problems and I noticed they were not present when I have had similar tanks without lighting. What you say finally answers that question. Now to find the answer to the question that your answer raises... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 Looking good smidey. That is the first I have ever seen stay white :-? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 Looking good smidey. That is the first I have ever seen stay white :-? my lfs also has arogonite & it does not discolour either. mabe it has something to do with the hard water here. i have 2100LPH on this 200L tank which probably doesn't make any difference to this particular issue but it may do in the end. i did have a theory on here about a year ago that high filtration reduces algae but got laughed at. my LFS runs a sump on their 200L +- african tank with a big pump. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gannet Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 ok here we go, i used to look after 5 malawi tanks with wite agronight sand and coral, i found that the coral and sand would go brown after a couple of days, i was doing daily gravel cleans as it was in a shop and the boss wanted it to look clean at all time (fair enough) once a week the sand was fully done, RE the coral well what i was doing is once a week or so just turning the coral over so the brown wasnt in the direct light, about 3-5 day cycle, this also ment that the tank didnt get boaring... hope this helps a bit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henward Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 i have never had an algae problem before. but when i see it starting, i do two thisng first, water change, and less length of time ofr lights to be on. plants will stop them too. but perhaps your light is too bright, wrong bulb do you use proper aquarium lighting? or house hold tubes? that would be a problem also, put in a pleco:D to suck the walls perhaps? or if the problem really really persists... but in a whale shark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 Is your tank in direct sunlight and have you tried testing phosphates? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna_&_Chris Posted February 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 havnt tried testing phosphates but no my tank is not in direct light , my room doesnt get any direct light at all. only for 5 mins in the morning... the tank capacity is 200L , i had white sand before and it stayed white and never had algae on it , and aragonite stayed white until after the last time i cleaned the tank ,it started goin brown.. yea i turn the coral over as well . i only have fake plants in the tank coz they rip the natural ones out. And definately dont overfeed,only feed once a day... And the setup is not new either ... what to do what to do.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casper Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 Looking good smidey. That is the first I have ever seen stay white :-? ours seems to have stayed white Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeous Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 i like your tank 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 lol mine stays white too I had problems with algae in my tank too I changed food and it disappeared I was having huge problems with phosphates, do you have any algae eaters in your tank? Do your peacocks actually eat the plants? Ive only had trouble with mbuna eating plants and have managed to plant a few plants around in my peacock breeding tanks and have them live, might be an option to soak up some nutrients so the algae has less food? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna_&_Chris Posted February 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2008 they dont eat it but they just rip it into pieces. now ive got hair algae on the glass ! what do i do with hair algae? dam somethings happening to my tank.. how do you test phosphates? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted February 8, 2008 Report Share Posted February 8, 2008 Do you have any bristlenoses or anything in there? Just use a phosphates test kit if you dont own one im sure someone around you does you can borrow, or take some water to your LFS and ask them to test it for you.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna_&_Chris Posted February 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2008 nah i dont have bristlenoses,the fish seems to be picking the algae but still not enough of course.. do bristlenoses ACTUALLY noticably keep it cleaner? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted February 8, 2008 Report Share Posted February 8, 2008 They sure do I keep them in all of my african tanks and they make a huge difference mine have even got so used to it they breed in the african tanks, yes the africans do graze on the algae but if your only keeping peacocks they're not as big on algae as mbuna and even they don't seem to do much by themselves my suggestion to you would be get some bristlenoses to munch on all the algae they don't eat all types but certainly keep things alot cleaner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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