Dr Mike Oxgreen
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I set up a new nano tank about a month or so ago, and I'm getting exactly the type of algae that the OP has illustrated in his photos: brown, fine, cotton-wool like growth on the wood and some plants. It can be removed fairly easily, but regrows incredibly quickly and seems concentrated in the middle of the tank. Definitely not BBA or anything like that.
Let me give some details:
Tank - 40x25x25cm, 25 litres (but probably only about 18-20 litres of water).
Filter - Eheim 150 'classic' 2211 external canister, with water returned through a lily pipe.
Lighting - Beamswork 1200 lumen 6500K LED, plus Interpet 2x36cm 'bright white' LED (believed to be 800 lumen, and probably about 6500K). Photo period 10 hours. Difficult to compare wattages between LED and T5, but if we assume that T5 tubes are about 70 lumens per Watt, then I guess my lights are roughly equivalent to about 28 Watts of T5, so perhaps just over 4W per US gallon. Quite a lot, but I'm aiming for high light and I believe nano tanks need more light?
CO2 - Pressurised, from a Soda Stream cylinder. About 1 bubble per second at the moment, but will probably reduce it slightly when the fish are added. Drop checker is a yellowy-green at the moment, at the other end of the tank from the lily outlet. Solenoid comes on 2 hours before the lights, and goes off at the same time as the lights. There's quite a mist of CO2, and quite a lot of oxygen bubbles as well.
Water - A mixture of rainwater and tapwater, to give a GH about 7 degrees and KH about 4-5 degrees. Ammonia fluctuates between zero and about 0.5-1.0 because I'm dosing with a couple of drops of 35% ammonia solution daily to keep my filter fed - obviously this will cease when the fish are added. Nitrite unmeasurable. Nitrate about 20. pH about 6.0-6.5. Temperature 25. I'm currently doing big water changes of about 12 litres every few days to try and combat the algae, but it's not working!
Substrate - I've used a fine-grained 'soil' substrate as my only substrate. The product I used specifies that it can/should be used as the only substrate.
Plants - HC, Glosso, Crypt wendtii 'brown', Pogostemon erectus, Eliocharis acicularis and parvula, Anubias nana 'mini', couple of sprigs of hornwort from my pond. The HC and Glosso are doing well, bubbling nicely and needing regular trimming, but the crypt isn't doing much (although it also hasn't lost a single leaf). The hair grasses are only just starting to get going, and the poor Anubias is getting a bit enveloped by the algae. The pogo initially melted badly but has stabilised and is now sending down masses of roots from the nodes in the stems.
Fish - Currently none, but I have 8 Boraras brigittae, 8 blue cherry shrimp and 3 Otocinclus arriving on Friday. I'm aware that the otos will need feeding with algae wafers, courgette, spinach etc. Actually, I say 'none', but there are some snails, and I spotted a damselfly nymph (probably from the pond hornwort - maybe not my best idea).
Fertilisation - TNC Complete, after every big water change.
So, any ideas what the cause of my brown cotton-wool is? I've read elsewhere on UKAPS that ammonia is considered to be a major culprit; am I overdoing the ammonia drops, or should I continue until the fish are added? Should I increase my fert dosage? I've also read that certain types of brown algae may be typical in a new tank (due to silicates?) so will it simply go away eventually? Will the shrimps and/or otos eat it?
Any advice and/or reassurance gratefully received!
I set up a new nano tank about a month or so ago, and I'm getting exactly the type of algae that the OP has illustrated in his photos: brown, fine, cotton-wool like growth on the wood and some plants. It can be removed fairly easily, but regrows incredibly quickly and seems concentrated in the middle of the tank. Definitely not BBA or anything like that.
Let me give some details:
Tank - 40x25x25cm, 25 litres (but probably only about 18-20 litres of water).
Filter - Eheim 150 'classic' 2211 external canister, with water returned through a lily pipe.
Lighting - Beamswork 1200 lumen 6500K LED, plus Interpet 2x36cm 'bright white' LED (believed to be 800 lumen, and probably about 6500K). Photo period 10 hours. Difficult to compare wattages between LED and T5, but if we assume that T5 tubes are about 70 lumens per Watt, then I guess my lights are roughly equivalent to about 28 Watts of T5, so perhaps just over 4W per US gallon. Quite a lot, but I'm aiming for high light and I believe nano tanks need more light?
CO2 - Pressurised, from a Soda Stream cylinder. About 1 bubble per second at the moment, but will probably reduce it slightly when the fish are added. Drop checker is a yellowy-green at the moment, at the other end of the tank from the lily outlet. Solenoid comes on 2 hours before the lights, and goes off at the same time as the lights. There's quite a mist of CO2, and quite a lot of oxygen bubbles as well.
Water - A mixture of rainwater and tapwater, to give a GH about 7 degrees and KH about 4-5 degrees. Ammonia fluctuates between zero and about 0.5-1.0 because I'm dosing with a couple of drops of 35% ammonia solution daily to keep my filter fed - obviously this will cease when the fish are added. Nitrite unmeasurable. Nitrate about 20. pH about 6.0-6.5. Temperature 25. I'm currently doing big water changes of about 12 litres every few days to try and combat the algae, but it's not working!
Substrate - I've used a fine-grained 'soil' substrate as my only substrate. The product I used specifies that it can/should be used as the only substrate.
Plants - HC, Glosso, Crypt wendtii 'brown', Pogostemon erectus, Eliocharis acicularis and parvula, Anubias nana 'mini', couple of sprigs of hornwort from my pond. The HC and Glosso are doing well, bubbling nicely and needing regular trimming, but the crypt isn't doing much (although it also hasn't lost a single leaf). The hair grasses are only just starting to get going, and the poor Anubias is getting a bit enveloped by the algae. The pogo initially melted badly but has stabilised and is now sending down masses of roots from the nodes in the stems.
Fish - Currently none, but I have 8 Boraras brigittae, 8 blue cherry shrimp and 3 Otocinclus arriving on Friday. I'm aware that the otos will need feeding with algae wafers, courgette, spinach etc. Actually, I say 'none', but there are some snails, and I spotted a damselfly nymph (probably from the pond hornwort - maybe not my best idea).
Fertilisation - TNC Complete, after every big water change.
So, any ideas what the cause of my brown cotton-wool is? I've read elsewhere on UKAPS that ammonia is considered to be a major culprit; am I overdoing the ammonia drops, or should I continue until the fish are added? Should I increase my fert dosage? I've also read that certain types of brown algae may be typical in a new tank (due to silicates?) so will it simply go away eventually? Will the shrimps and/or otos eat it?
Any advice and/or reassurance gratefully received!
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