[ClayT101]

I redid my aquarium recently. I changed the substrate, drilled it and fixed the top. Anyhow, I have a ton of algae now. It is a 220 gallon, with 8 96 watt (I think 96 watt) 6700k T5 flourescents. 4 bulbs are on for 2 hours, 8 bulbs for 8 hours, and 4 bulbs for 2 hours. I am sure it is excess nutrients, but I am not adding anything. I have even turned off the CO2. Please help. Here is a video. I just got these royal blue uatuma discus.

http://youtu.be/FA5BtmDQYrA

 

[DGarone]

I'm pretty sure that turning off the CO2 is just about the worst possible thing to do in that situation. If anything, I think increasing it would be better. But perhaps someone else with more experience can weigh in.

 

[Fiftymeatballs]

Nice group of discus, they look very skittish and need to settle in for sure. As for algae it looks like diatoms. They usually occur in any new setup. Especially those with excess silicates which I suspect in your case since you put in new sand substrate from what I can see in the video. Diatoms also occur in lower light tanks, that's not your issue you have a lot over that tank.

Don't shut off your C02, keep it stable otherwise your risking other types of algae popping up. Considering your going to be doing a ton of WC for your discus I think that with some time and manual removal it will back down. Whenever I see algae I attack it, remove as much as you can while trying to fix the problem. In your case water changes and manual removal should work. If you want a quick fix phos-zorb I believe removes silicates. But it also will limit your phosphate so you might have to dose more. A 6-8 hour photo period is what I run on new tanks as well, they need time to adapt.

 

[ClayT101]

Diatoms? I thought diatoms just made a slime layer on surfaces. This is long brown filaments.

 

[salix]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatom


Looks like diatoms which turn into hair filament algae.

and a link to someone that had a similar problem as yours.

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/algae/89705-brown-junk.html

 

[ClayT101]

That was a very helpful link.

My African cichlid tank also has diatoms, but I just lived with it.

Is there anything that removes phosphates from the water, or a method to test for it?

I will begin my google search now...

 

[Fiftymeatballs]

You need phosphate for plant growth, limiting it is ok but eliminating it will kill your plants even faster. Your substrate is giving off silicate, brown algae must have silicate present for growth. The same thing happened in my 120 discus tank with a sand bottom. With time and water changes it goes away. If your tank currently is covered with algae like in the video you posted, remove it manually right away and then change the water after.

 

[Steve001]

I redid my aquarium recently. I changed the substrate, drilled it and fixed the top. Anyhow, I have a ton of algae now. It is a 220 gallon, with 8 96 watt (I think 96 watt) 6700k T5 flourescents. 4 bulbs are on for 2 hours, 8 bulbs for 8 hours, and 4 bulbs for 2 hours. I am sure it is excess nutrients, but I am not adding anything. I have even turned off the CO2. Please help. Here is a video. I just got these royal blue uatuma discus.

http://youtu.be/FA5BtmDQYrA

Let things run for awhile longer and maintain the routine used before this overhaul. Removed the algae. Turn the co2 on. I suspect this is a temporary situation.

Why do you run the lights 2,8,4, not 2,8,2?

 

[ClayT101]

You need phosphate for plant growth, limiting it is ok but eliminating it will kill your plants even faster. Your substrate is giving off silicate, brown algae must have silicate present for growth. The same thing happened in my 120 discus tank with a sand bottom. With time and water changes it goes away. If your tank currently is covered with algae like in the video you posted, remove it manually right away and then change the water after.

Ok. I will do that this weekend.

Why do you run the lights 2,8,4, not 2,8,2?

That is correct, it was a typo.

Thanks