am I loosing the battle against brown algae?

[Martin in Holland]

yellow stones are getting brown faster than I can clean them...plants are still brown and even new leaves seem to get covered fast...
The plants are growing nice, great roots CO2 is high, spraybar from the back to the front over the whole length, EI ferts,
Twinstar does not help against this type of algae for sure....

The only thing I can think of are the lights (2x54W 6hr) . Those are cheap Chinese T5's ....I did read somewhere that sometimes not enough light could also cause of brown algae growth.

 

[kirk]

How big is your tank?

 

[Rob P]

I feel for you mate. In the last 3 months I've had BBA, stag, hair, thread and 'brown' algea. I've battled and won against most of these but the brown algae is the one i cannot totally get rid of and as you say it covers everything. Not as bad as once was in mine but still, there in places and slightly annoying...

How long have you had Twinstar running? I purposely left my rocks uncleaned when I installed it just over a week ago and i'd say it is now starting to do a number on them. Seems a few Twinstar users have seen more delay in it having an effect than others as well?

Likewise on the lights. I get this even when TMC's at 20% doing bi daily 50% water changes and in shaded areas as well which often makes you wonder how it could be too much light... !!

Hope you get it sorted!

 

[tim]

IMHO without light algae can not grow, t5's especially high output t5's whether Chinese made or not is high lighting. I never suffered diatoms when I had low light t8 tubes.

 

[Martin in Holland]

My tank is 120x55x45 high
Twinstar is running for 2weeks now
On the plus side, my otos aren't hungry

I'm still hoping the brown algae will go away after some more weeks...

 

[Martin in Holland]

I am going to try to give my tank a bit more light ....I know what you will say....but here is my theory, by giving my plants more light they would hopefully outgrow the brown algae instead of the other way around. I will also up the EI dosage by half ...lets see what will happen
At the moment I have brown plants instead of fresh green, I don't even dare to post pictures of my tank

 

[Nathaniel Whiteside]

I am going to try to give my tank a bit more light ....I know what you will say....but here is my theory, by giving my plants more light they would hopefully outgrow the brown algae instead of the other way around. I will also up the EI dosage by half ...lets see what will happen
At the moment I have brown plants instead of fresh green, I don't even dare to post pictures of my tank

Your lights sound too high. How long has the aquarium been established?
Diatoms?
Why not maintain current lighting and dose liquid carbon too? Then if you see an improvement, you'll know it was too much light

Post a picture. You wuss!

 

[Martin in Holland]

Your lights sound too high. How long has the aquarium been established?
Diatoms?
Why not maintain current lighting and dose liquid carbon too? Then if you see an improvement, you'll know it was too much light

Post a picture. You wuss!

What do you mean to much light...3.6W per liter for 6 hr even to much?....already do flourish excel overdosing....I know that the first action with algae is less light, but I also know that sometimes you can get brown algae with not enough light.

and I'm no wuss...just that my tank is only brown with more brown...haha

 

[Ady34]

Hi,
whilst I don't think your lighting is high, increasing it is unlikely to help.
How high above the water is your lighting unit and what turnover is your filter. I'm guessing your tank is around 300 litres which with 2x 54w t5 tubes isn't excessive IMO. Mark Evans used the same amount over his 120cm but raised to over a foot from the water surface and had excellent results so I don't think you need more light. I'd look at co2 again, either dustribution or quantity. Perhaps also increase water change frequency until the issue is resolved.
It is your tank however and experimentation is learning so you could always try the extra light and see
Cheerio,
Ady.

 

[Martin in Holland]

Hi Ady,
I have 2 filters each with a turnover of 1550 l/hr both have a CO2 diffuser from 2 separate pressurized bottles, the CO2 is as high as the fish can handle. The filters outflow is thru 2 spray bars from the back aiming to the front. The water here (China) is high in silicic acid, but I change water anyway twice a week....I thinking of getting some silicate adsorbing resin if I can find it.
The lights are about 10 inches above the water.
Could it be that I didn't pack enough plants in the tank so the algae didn't get enough competition from the start?

 

[Martin in Holland]

a picture of the beginning

and this is now after brushing most stones. It's difficult to see, plant did grow they just look as brown as the substrate...haha...
There has been about 4 weeks in between pictures.

 

[Nathaniel Whiteside]

I'd say with a plant mass such as that, your lighting is excessive, for the time being. Cut it back to one tube, let the roots develop for a couple of weeks, then stick the bulb back in if you wish.

Also, as far as I'm aware, silica can be a cause of diatoms (I've read!) so this could exacerbate the brown algae.

 

[Andy D]

Let's see what Clive has to say about it - Diatom dilemma... | UK Aquatic Plant Society

 

[Martin in Holland]

Pulling the Clive card on me...hahaha...ok ok...I will dimm the lights
The roots are well developed (I rearanged a few and saw they had super good root system)

 

[Martin in Holland]

I want to get more plants into the tank (I am hoping that more plants will give me a better balanced tank), but is it wise to do this now or better wait until the brown algae problem has been resolved?

 

[Aquadream]

My tank is 120x55x45 high
Twinstar is running for 2weeks now
On the plus side, my otos aren't hungry

I'm still hoping the brown algae will go away after some more weeks...

The light you have over this tank is way too powerful for a start up. You may have to lift it up by 30 cm or more above the water surface if that's possible. If not take out one of the tubes.

 

[ceg4048]

I completely agree with Aquadream.You need to do a 3-4 day blackout, after which the PAR levels should be lowered.

You are in PAR denial. There is no pill for this....yet....

Cheers,

 

[Martin in Holland]

The light you have over this tank is way too powerful for a start up. You may have to lift it up by 30 cm or more above the water surface if that's possible. If not take out one of the tubes.

I completely agree with Aquadream.You need to do a 3-4 day blackout, after which the PAR levels should be lowered.

You are in PAR denial. There is no pill for this....yet....

Cheers,

No no, no denial anymore after they pulled the Clive card on me....I already did lower my light output as much as possible ...5 hours now only 2 tubes running (can't take one out cause for some reason the whole system doesn't work at all if I do) and also hang my lights higher 30cm above water level.....
I will do a black out for 3 days (covering the whole tank with black paper and some black KT board)...after this I can/ will cover parts of the lights to lower the light output as not to stress the whole system to much with to much light output

Thank for your reactions guys

 

[Martin in Holland]

Behind all this there is a fish tank hiding ...I'm sure I saw it a few minutes ago

 

[Rob P]

Good luck Martin!!

Make sure that gas is off and have you put an air pump on or lifted your outlets?!

Really hope for a positive result for you