brown algae

rduic · 03/04/2008, 01:45 PM

i keep gettign brown diatom algae and some hair algae in my 150 gallon tank.

its plumbed into my old 65 gallon tank which has been up for 2 years now!

the 150 gallon had been up for 3 months now, theres coraline growing on the rocks but i keep getting algae.

my water quality is amazing, its a mostly sps tank and i cant even test on my test kit nitrate and phosphate!

how long before thsi alage stops?

i even notice small amounts of cyanobacteria.

help, today im goign 2 vaccume the sand where the algae is and scrape all the glass!

Blown 346 · 03/04/2008, 02:12 PM

Since theis tank is new a few weeks or up to a month. Just becasue your phosphate and nitrate levels are reading zero, doesnt mean there not there. The algae can actually comsume those as fast as they are being produced which will cause a zero reading.

Guyerson · 03/04/2008, 03:42 PM

I agree - I had a serious green hair algae problem in my first tank and was still getting zero phosphate readings. When I swithced over to a new tank I took a toothbrush and removed all of the hair algae from the LR and started fresh with a new sand bed. Found that my phosphates were saturated within my sandbed in my old tank. New tank has been up and running for a while now without any sign of green hair or diatoms!

demonsp · 03/04/2008, 03:44 PM

You need to test nitrate and phosphate.
What do you test for and the readings?
Whats used for water flow?
Water source?
Has it even finished cycling?

JKDMan · 03/04/2008, 04:03 PM

as far as i know its useless to test for phosphates if your having a alge problem because the alge consumes the phosphates to grow , giving you a reading of 0 even tho alge is growin, if you have a low reading for phosphates in your tank, it means there is more in the water than the alge can consume meaning that you would acctually have a large amount in your tank

03/04/2008, 01:45 PM	#1
rduic Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: windsor Posts: 58	brown algae i keep gettign brown diatom algae and some hair algae in my 150 gallon tank. its plumbed into my old 65 gallon tank which has been up for 2 years now! the 150 gallon had been up for 3 months now, theres coraline growing on the rocks but i keep getting algae. my water quality is amazing, its a mostly sps tank and i cant even test on my test kit nitrate and phosphate! how long before thsi alage stops? i even notice small amounts of cyanobacteria. help, today im goign 2 vaccume the sand where the algae is and scrape all the glass! __________________ determination beats ability 100% of the time

03/04/2008, 02:12 PM	#2
Blown 346 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Rockford, Illinois Posts: 6,596	Since theis tank is new a few weeks or up to a month. Just becasue your phosphate and nitrate levels are reading zero, doesnt mean there not there. The algae can actually comsume those as fast as they are being produced which will cause a zero reading.

03/04/2008, 03:42 PM	#3
Guyerson Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 31	I agree - I had a serious green hair algae problem in my first tank and was still getting zero phosphate readings. When I swithced over to a new tank I took a toothbrush and removed all of the hair algae from the LR and started fresh with a new sand bed. Found that my phosphates were saturated within my sandbed in my old tank. New tank has been up and running for a while now without any sign of green hair or diatoms!

03/04/2008, 03:44 PM	#4
demonsp Moved On Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: el paso tx Posts: 7,634	You need to test nitrate and phosphate. What do you test for and the readings? Whats used for water flow? Water source? Has it even finished cycling?

03/04/2008, 04:03 PM	#5
JKDMan Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 187	as far as i know its useless to test for phosphates if your having a alge problem because the alge consumes the phosphates to grow , giving you a reading of 0 even tho alge is growin, if you have a low reading for phosphates in your tank, it means there is more in the water than the alge can consume meaning that you would acctually have a large amount in your tank