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questions regarding brown algae - brown diatoms

Discussion in 'Aquarium Equipment & Decor' started by Anonymous, Feb 26, 2009.

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  1. Anthony

    Anthony Active Member

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    Humm, okay. I was beginning to wonder if the difference in pH killed the BB (beneficial bacteria) basically starting your tank all over again. The algae you have is what a lot of newly setup tanks get. I'm not sure if you guys had it when you first set it up. I would think if you keep the pH stable it should go away on it's own in 2 weeks or so.
     
    Anthony, Feb 27, 2009
    #21
  2. Anonymous

    Anonymous Thread Starter Guest

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    Yeah, we had some very light brown and green when the take was first established years ago. We could have a bacteria bloom after the pH recovered. We lost some fish too when we fixed the issue. We will have to do frequent water changes again for awhile.
     
    Anonymous, Feb 27, 2009
    #22
  3. Anthony

    Anthony Active Member

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    Yeah, going from a pH of 6 to 7.4 so quickly will cause problems.
     
    Anthony, Feb 27, 2009
    #23
  4. Anonymous

    Anonymous Thread Starter Guest

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    Yeah it was only over a few days, so I am thinking so too.
     
    Anonymous, Feb 27, 2009
    #24
  5. Anonymous

    Anonymous Thread Starter Guest

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    We did add Cycle to the tank as well.
     
    Anonymous, Feb 27, 2009
    #25
  6. James0816

    James0816 New Member

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    Definately looks like diatoms. Just doesn't explain why it is so hard to remove. Thats what's puzzling me. You can remove diatoms with your finger.

    On a side note...tinkering with the PH by using chems is not a good idear.

    Is your PH naturally low?
     
    James0816, Feb 27, 2009
    #26
  7. Anonymous

    Anonymous Thread Starter Guest

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    It is normally around 7 and so we had no clue why it dropped to 6. We did a water change, within 1 day back to 6. We then felt we were stuck. We hate using chems at all. But dying fish was worse.
     
    Anonymous, Feb 27, 2009
    #27
  8. Anthony

    Anthony Active Member

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    What is in the tank ? No driftwood or anything like that ?
     
    Anthony, Feb 27, 2009
    #28
  9. Anonymous

    Anonymous Thread Starter Guest

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    Rock and gravel. We thought it could have been the rock so we replaced it with fake stuff. The pH is stable now, even with water changes.
     
    Anonymous, Feb 27, 2009
    #29
  10. James0816

    James0816 New Member

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    thats good...how bout from the tap?
     
    James0816, Feb 27, 2009
    #30
  11. Anonymous

    Anonymous Thread Starter Guest

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    The water is 7.2 from the tap.
     
    Anonymous, Feb 27, 2009
    #31
  12. James0816

    James0816 New Member

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    hmmm...you mentioned rocks...were they in the tank all along or added fairly recently? Or any additions prior to crash?
     
    James0816, Feb 27, 2009
    #32
  13. Anonymous

    Anonymous Thread Starter Guest

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    Tank had been established with no changes in 2 years. That is why we were in shock. Normal weekly water changes and monthly filter cleanings. The same ole, same ole....then boom.
     
    Anonymous, Feb 27, 2009
    #33
  14. Anonymous

    Anonymous Thread Starter Guest

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    Oh...real plants that have been in there forever too....forgot to add those.
     
    Anonymous, Feb 27, 2009
    #34
  15. James0816

    James0816 New Member

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    The PH crash is the link...the cause is the mystery. Nothing new added so that rules out foreign object. Weekly water changes rules out OTS. You haven't used chems before the crash.

    By chance do you test your KH?
     
    James0816, Feb 27, 2009
    #35
  16. Anonymous

    Anonymous Thread Starter Guest

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    We think the rock had an unknown core leaching heavy metals in the tank. The KH was low, we had to change the carbon to bring it back up. There was too slow a rebound so we added the buffer (1/2 or less dose) to not lose any more fish (it worked).
     
    Anonymous, Feb 27, 2009
    #36
  17. James0816

    James0816 New Member

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    well.....i'm at a pass....i'm tapped out. lol

    as long as it is stable...that's good.
     
    James0816, Feb 27, 2009
    #37
  18. Anonymous

    Anonymous Thread Starter Guest

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    Looking at it from a Chem degree back ground. SOmething happened to my carbon (bad batch, something) that killed the bicarb system and lowered the KH so much it killed the pH. There was no buffer. Water change, filter cleaning and carbon change, and buffer added to a new cycling plus food for diatoms. Two weeks pass and silica is gone, diatoms begin to die. It dies on the original algae that was already there (forms strange film that is hard to remove). The tank is cycling still as I can still see the bacterial bloom (light white cloudy water) from adding cycle with water changes after the bust.

    At least you made my brain work...LOL!!
     
    Anonymous, Feb 27, 2009
    #38
  19. TexasFish

    TexasFish New Member

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    Brown Algae

    About four weeks ago I noticed some brown alge growing on the upper part of my tank. I scrubbed it off but it came back in about two weeks. It didn't appear until after I added salt to the water to help a couple of fish fight off their ich parasites. After reading some articles on brown algae, I discovered that high levels of silica will promote this growth.
    When I purchased my salt, I made sure that it was non-iodized, however it did contain calcium silicate as an anti-caking agent. I am suspecting that the addition of this calcium silicate started my brown algae problem because my water chemistry has been good (ammonia and nitrites < than 0 ppm, nitrates < 10 ppm).

    My question is, does anyone think I need to add some chemical filter media that will remove the silica or will my weekly 20% water changes eventual solve the problem.

    150 gallon freshwater tank (plastic plants)
    10 Harlequin Rasboras
    8 Rainbow Fish
    5 Emerald Corys
    3 Cuckoo Catfish
     
    TexasFish, Sep 24, 2009
    #39
  20. James0816

    James0816 New Member

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    Diatoms normally go away on their own. I'm not one for using any chemicals/additives to my tanks so my advice would be to continue with your routine maintenance. When you see a small brown spot...just wipe it off. No biggie.
     
    James0816, Sep 24, 2009
    #40
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