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Is this brown algae?

4K views 18 replies 9 participants last post by  accordztech 
#1 ·
Many people say this will go away after a few weeks, but I had it for a few months. Maybe since january. It wont go away. I tried more surface movment, more water flow, and no changes. I also tried moving the light higher. It sits on the rocks, and my wood, and on the glass in the back. If I put my starogene in my shrimp tank they clean it up within an hour, but how do I get it out of my tank? It seems to stunt the growth of the plant because in my shrimp tank it grows like there is no tomorrow.

This tank has been setup for a year now, and I dose a modified version of EI w/co2 and high light. But with the pictures I see of brown algae mine doesnt match this.

*Dont worry about the BBA, there is only 2 spores like that in the tank that im to lazy to get rid of*


 
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#5 ·
All sand is silica sand. The silica in sand is not soluble in water at all. If it were sand would dissolve over time. In fact very few silicate salts are soluble in water and they're relatively easy to precipitate out. It's possible that you're adding silicates with water changes if you're using tap water and it contains silicates, but you wouldn't know that without testing the water.

If your water has very high silicates you might be able to see that via precipitation. Depending on the salts you have available to test it you'd drop a few crystals in a glass of your water and dissolve them completely. If you get a cloudy mixture or small particles/flakes falling to the bottom something precipitated out of the solution. For silicates I'd try something like Epsom salts or calcium chloride (ice melt salt.) Either one could form a precipitate with other ions in the solution, but in drinking water you'd be most likely to get MgSO4 or CaSO4.
 
#6 ·
So is there a kit i can get locally to test for silicates?

It seems to take a little effort to rub it off of my plants

Also does high silicates pose a problem for fishes health wise? I noticed my fish are lazy and lame now.

The only thing i can think of that changed before this all happens was that my UV sterilizer went out. I ordered another bulb and it will be in this friday
 
#10 ·
I added some stuff to remove silicates, phosguard. It helped a little bit, especially when I put a clean plant in there. But the brown returned after a week.

Im tired of this brown stuff. It seems to stunt growth. Im strongly thinking about removing my sand all together.
 
#11 ·
I've had an ongoing issue with this as well. A few months now. It seems to have an affinity for older leaves. I am using Schultz Aquatic Plant Soil as my substrate. It is a frustrating algae, as all sources tend to say that it is only an issue in new setups.
 
#15 ·
Could try a 3 day black out I had diatom, thread, and fuzzy algae after the black out it's all got I started a better regime of dosing and haven't seen any algae since my MTS took out the little bit if fuzz on my java.
I think of the blackout like a reset button for aquariums. A blackout is a little easier than taking out all the sand too I have pool filter sand in my setup and I was on the edge of change out the substrate until I did the black out.
 
#16 ·
I may just try that. I am about to rescape it. Im going to put all the diatom infected plants in my shrimp tank. The shrimp clean it up over night. Hopefully it will give it a head start.

I stopped dosing a few months ago. Maybe a little bit of csm+b a month but barley any.
 
#17 ·
Looks like nitrobachter to me. I would do a good cleaning of your filter and re-add the phosguard. Silica sands will leach enough silica to create a problem and they do in fact break down. Thats how silica gets into your tap water and how it became sand from rock. If its diatoms a few 50% wcs will do it as well as an otto cat. Thhis has all been said in here before but its the only things that work for me without doing the blackout. I agree with the blackout but it doesnt solve the root of the problem.
 
#18 ·
today I noticed that my brown algae has come off of most of my plants. I dont know if its because I added some very active cories (they nibble on plants) or its because I pointed my water outlet towards the bottom of the tank.

I also added a little bit of glosso just to see if it would grow while being coverd with diatoms.
 
#19 ·
Well I think I found a solution, on top of the things I already did. My water level was really low, and usually I point the jet bar down so it doesnt make the trickling water noise. Well after a week of that, I noticed all my datoms on my glass....however they are off of my plants! I can actually look at the tank where good water flow is and notice that the diatoms are on the areas with less water flow.

Now even my glosso, and my starugene is growing faster.

I made sure I havent done anything else, I havent even dosed for months.
 
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