# Does high flow cause/encourage algae ?



## Mortis (3 Oct 2009)

As the title says, will a higher amount of water movement cause algae or encourage algae that is already there to grow ?

I was just wondering what the thoughts on this were. Im using an external filter for the first time and noticed that there is some gren dust/diatom type algae growing inside the intake/outlet tubes but there isnt any growing inside the tank itself. This got me thinking and Ive always noticed algae growing close to or on the inlets and outlets of filters belonging to me as wells some friends and LFSes. The water flow is also most 'concentrated' near inlets and outlets and within the filter and are kind of like choke points.

Is there any explaination for this ?


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## Dolly Sprint 16v (3 Oct 2009)

Maybe this will answer your question.

viewtopic.php?f=19&t=7346&start=0

Paul.


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## Mortis (3 Oct 2009)

Yeah, that thread didnt really go anywhere. It doesnt answer any of my questions. All I got from it was that BBA is sometimes seen in area where there is high flow and that you should use whatever fertilisation/planted tank method/theory that you feel is appropriate.


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## aaronnorth (3 Oct 2009)

Mortis said:
			
		

> As the title says, will a higher amount of water movement cause algae or encourage algae that is already there to grow ?
> 
> I was just wondering what the thoughts on this were. Im using an external filter for the first time and noticed that there is some gren dust/diatom type algae growing inside the intake/outlet tubes but there isnt any growing inside the tank itself. This got me thinking and Ive always noticed algae growing close to or on the inlets and outlets of filters belonging to me as wells some friends and LFSes. The water flow is also most 'concentrated' near inlets and outlets and within the filter and are kind of like choke points.
> 
> Is there any explaination for this ?




In places such as in front of a powerhead or filter then algae can grow, because the water parameters there are fluctuating all the time. However, water flow doesnt encourage existing algae to grow.


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