# Brown algae and brown hair algae



## Joost (11 Apr 2015)

Hey ukaps members,

I built a new aquascape about 9 days ago. The materials used in the hard scape are ADA Aqua Soil as well as large and smaller sized lava rocks. The idea is to use only one plant species, in this case hemianthus callitrichoides.

Moving on to the problem I'm currently facing: brown algae and brown hair algae. Obviously, it's the reason I created this thread. Information regarding my aquariums specifications are listed below.

Substrate: ADA Aqua Soil
Lighting: 2x Compact Fluorescent Bulb 20 W (height: ~42 cm from the substrate in the front and ~29 cm from the substrate in the back)
CO2: Pressurized (yellow drop checker when the lights come on, ~4 bps), Up Aqua Inline Atomizer
Filter: SunSun HW302 rated at 1000 liter/hour (probably around half or 2/3 in practice)
Plant species: Hemianthus Callitrichoides
Fertilization: Standard EI dosing (54L aquarium volume) https://www.thenutrientcompany.com/aquarium/calculators/ei_calculator/



The heater is set at 24 degrees Celsius and the dimensions of the aquarium are 60 cm x 30 cm x 30 cm. The lights are on for 6 hours. Pictures are illustrated below.





 

 

 

 



Hope you guys can help me out!


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## Jose (11 Apr 2015)

Lower light intensity. 

Do as many water changes as you can and dose EI right after.

Never understimate co2 and flow. keep an eye on this. Dropcheckers arent very useful in reality. pH pen is a better idea.


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## Christos Ioannou (12 Apr 2015)

Is photo taken right after a wc? Because even glass perls 
Sunsun has a spraybar in the box you may want to try that. And of course the lights. Try even 14w at least to befin with. Then possibly 18w. Too cheap the cfls to risk anything 

Also set temp to lower since gasses dissolve better in lower temp water.


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## sciencefiction (12 Apr 2015)

Joost said:


> Moving on to the problem I'm currently facing: brown algae and brown hair algae.


 
Ammonia, ammonia, ammonia production. Your tank is new, your filter not established and your plants not enough or growing fast enough to additionally help with that.  Time and patience and give the plants all they need. You've planted the one plant only which happens to be a moderate to slow grower. It won't be much help with mopping ammonia in a new tank where the soil is leaching ammonia and it's naturally produced by decomposition.

Get floaters or a some fast growing plant you can throw in, doesn't even have to be rooted,  on a temporary basis to keep the tank stable. If not, you have to wait it out until the tank is stable but if you can't get the plants growing healthy in the mean time, it may be hard.


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## Joost (12 Apr 2015)

Hey guys,

Thanks for the quick advice. I've made a couple of changes changes based on your advice:

- Added floating Egeria Densa stem plants.
- Installed a spray bar in the back instead of a single output. The water now flows from the back of the aquarium to the front.
- Raised the lights.
- Lowered the temperature to 22 degrees Celsius (or should I lower it even more?).

Also, how often would you recommend me to do a water change?


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