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Is this BGA?

1009 Views 4 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  BG1772, 
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I have had a problem on my 40gal tank with some brown / redbrown algae. I have been trying to figure out what kind of algae this is. Is there anybody that can identify this algae?

It is brown/redbrown in color. My siamensis, shrimp, and ottos don't seem to touch it. It seems to mostly grow on older leaves and rocks.

I have CO2 and increased the level recently as I saw a post where somebody had something that looked similar to what I have and that was the recommendation. Increasing the CO2 did not seem to make a difference.

I do not have testing equipment, so I am planning to take a water sample to my LFS.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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legomaniac89
It's not BGA. Blue-Green algae is, well...blue-green in color ;). It's a thick slime that smothers everything it comes in contact with.

Does this algae wipe off easily when you touch it? It may be diatoms, and if that's the case, it should fizzle out by itself in a couple weeks.
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B
It does not seem to wipe off very easily, but it does come off. I went to my LSF and they thought it was diatoms also. The guy recommended a phosphate sponge. He said that recently there has been a huge problem in our area with high phospate levels in the water supply and I am not fortunate enough to have a RO system. Hopefully this will wipe it out.
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P
Definitely diatoms. BGA when wiped off comes off in a slimy sheet, plus it smells horrible.
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B
Thank you for replying, it is very helpful. I have had a planted tank for a while, but am still learning.

This is a great site!
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