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Brown dusty 'algae'

rudirudi

Member
Joined
17 Jan 2012
Messages
60
Location
Ipswich
Hi
My tank has been running for about four weeks I have various plants,all doing ok,but there is a dusty brown 'algae' on the leaves,if you rub the leaves it comes off,is this some sort of diatomic algae,similar to the stuff you get in marine tanks when they are cycling,and will it go away with no intervention from me.

Cheers

Rudi
 
Cheers Spider
2xT5s on for 10 hours,2x150w halides on for 4,maybe I'll reduce the time on the T 5's.

Cheers

Rudi
 
That is a STONKING amount of light mate ! I would do as skele suggests. But your other criteria would be helpful to know. Tank size, CO2 injection method and data etc. :)
 
The tank is 6ft x 2ft x 2ft,thats about 650 litres,I am injecting Co2,Im putting it through a Sera diffuser that is attached to an Eheim cannister,its running at about 3 bubbles per second,my drop checker does'nt seem to alter in colour,so either Im not putting in enough Co2,or the diffuser is not very effective,(thinking of getting a diffuser that goes in the tank to see if this has any effect) any comments,tips would be very welcome.

Cheers

Rudi.
 
rudirudi said:
The tank is 6ft x 2ft x 2ft,thats about 650 litres,I am injecting Co2,Im putting it through a Sera diffuser that is attached to an Eheim cannister,its running at about 3 bubbles per second,my drop checker does'nt seem to alter in colour,so either Im not putting in enough Co2,or the diffuser is not very effective,(thinking of getting a diffuser that goes in the tank to see if this has any effect) any comments,tips would be very welcome.

Cheers

Rudi.

3bps for 650L wont even touch it :( That volume would need CO2 at a rate that you could not count the bubbles to reach lime green on the DC. I have 175L and 3bps is about half what I need. What CO2 system are you using ? I would suggest that pub gas cylinders would be the cheapest way, although Fire Extinguishers would not be too much. But if you have one of the off the shelf canisters then it will be costly to get refils via your LFS.

I am sure someone else will jump in and add to this post, but I have mentioned the basics.

Bear in mind, the shorter your light period and the lower your light intensity, the lower the CO2 and fert requirement will be :thumbup:
 
Just keep cleaning the dust off the rocks etc and gently wiping off the plants (I use peice of filter floss), regular water changes and replace/clean filter floss and eventually after a month of two it goes away.

I have been told, and sounds plausible that it is caused by silicate in the water and you can stop it by using silicate absorbing media in your filter when you first set up your new tank. JBL do something along these lines.

But I think it absorbs phosphate as well so not compatible if you are using Ei ferts when starting a tank.
 
Try an up in line diffuser. I've found they are more effective. This assumes you are using an external canister filter. You also want to ensure you have enough flow and to the right areas otherwise the CO2 you add won't be effective.
 
Thanks for the replies,I have 2x500 Co2 cylinders (theory was when one empties I can put the other one in,I take the empty bottle to a local fire extinguisher company,they fill it up for a fiver)So I take on board I will have to up the amount of Co2 I inject.I have 3 cannister filters-1xFX5 Eheim 2071 and an all pond solution 2000,with a Koralia 2300 powerhead.I have been looking for a bigger Co2 bottle,I shall defo look at a different type of diffuser.I have been cleaning the leaves of the plants and they do look alot better.
 
spyder said:
ian_m said:
I have been told, and sounds plausible that it is caused by silicate in the water and you can stop it by using silicate absorbing media in your filter when you first set up your new tank.

This debate comes up every now and again. http://ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=18067

A quick forum search for silicates will show similar stories. :thumbup:

And the upshot as far as I remember is that high silicates do not give rise to brown diatoms right ?
 
I used RO water to fill the tank,took about 3 days,would you have silicates in RO water?
 
Antipofish said:
spyder said:
ian_m said:
I have been told, and sounds plausible that it is caused by silicate in the water and you can stop it by using silicate absorbing media in your filter when you first set up your new tank.

This debate comes up every now and again. http://ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=18067

A quick forum search for silicates will show similar stories. :thumbup:

And the upshot as far as I remember is that high silicates do not give rise to brown diatoms right ?

I'll go along with the excess light theory I think, it gets way to technical for me. :lol:
 
Antipofish said:
And the upshot as far as I remember is that high silicates do not give rise to brown diatoms right ?

In the world of the aquarium that seems to be the case. In reality things are, not surprisingly more complex. I don't think there should be any doubt that silica, in whatever form is major trigger in diatom blooms but you won't always see it unless other factors are in play simultaneously such as light intensity, light period, total light and maybe even current velocity, temperature and other nutrients.
 
sWozzAres said:
Antipofish said:
And the upshot as far as I remember is that high silicates do not give rise to brown diatoms right ?

In the world of the aquarium that seems to be the case. In reality things are, not surprisingly more complex. I don't think there should be any doubt that silica, in whatever form is major trigger in diatom blooms but you won't always see it unless other factors are in play simultaneously such as light intensity, light period, total light and maybe even current velocity, temperature and other nutrients.

Just as well we are talking about the world of the aquarium then, LOL. I am happy to accept what ceg says about it and denounce silica being an issue. Its one less thing to worry about :thumbup:
 
sWozzAres said:
don't believe everything you read on t'internet ;)

LOL. You disagree with Clive on this then ? One of our resident experts and acknowledged Guru ? Everything he has told me so far has been correct, or more importantly, worked. Got no reason not to believe him :geek:

Actually, a very easy test would be for someone with high silicates to get diatoms, then add silicate removal media, and see if they go away all other things being equal. Of course, brown diatoms often go away of their own accord.

I am beginning to wonder if RO water is the ultimate solution; you know, eliminating the need to worry about "maybe's", but we are on a water meter here :(
 
I don't think anyone knows why diatoms appear in new tanks. You can look at their life cycle and ecology and try to map this into an aquarium but it never seems to fit.

I was looking through my microscope the other day and noticed an organism that had diatoms in it's "stomach".

So certain microscopic organisms consume diatoms. Someone should cultivate them and sell them in a bottle!

Anyway, new tanks don't have these microscopic organisms, or at least not many. It's going to take them a while to increase their numbers.

So perhaps diatoms grow in every tank regardless of nutrients/light etc but it's the organisms that keep their numbers down. New tanks don't have these organisms so diatoms resume their usual routine of cell division/reproduction resulting in their numbers increasing until the microscopic organisms catch up and eat them all.
 
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