# Brown hair algae attack!



## iKuik (Apr 24, 2010)

Okay, my 150 gallon newly setup tank (1-2 months) is getting covered in brown algae! Its growing hairy like too......

It looks like this, but its mostly on the rocks I have...










I only have 6 otocinclus in the tank currently, but It is sort of outta control now.

The only tank specifications I can give are these:

Size - 150 Gallons (48x24x30)[Lxwxh)
Lighting - 4x 54W T5HO @ 5000K
pH - 7.8
Ammonia - 0.10 - 0.25 (This might be the cause)
Nitrite - 0.0 ppm
Nitrate - 40 - 50 ppm
Substrate ~120 lbs of eco-complete
Medium to low planted with mostly slow growing plants....

Any help is greatly appreciated!


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

I'm no expert but this is a common problem with newly started tanks...maybe a lighting problem,it's usually caused by inadequate lighting amongst a few other reasons, I get it in my tanks as well. I usually wipe it and vacuum it. also high ph promotes algae growth, you may need to use some buffers to help get things in order,I believe you need to check the dkh & gh for this... its helped my tanks. heres a couple useful articles I found on Brown Algae:

Algae control in the aquarium
Algae Reference - Brown Algae

Hope this helps a little , I'm sure plenty of answers will be along soon


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

If your tank was cycled properly, you should not have any ammonia, especially since you have plants. Are you sure that test kit is accurate? 

Also, are you dosing? 
Injecting CO2? Excel? 
How often/how much/ and how are you changing water? 
What is your photoperiod?

You say you only have 6 otos in the tank (btw, otos will not eat black brush algae (looks like that's what you have besides the brown algae in the tank)? What are the other inhabitants?


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## iKuik (Apr 24, 2010)

Not dosing anything, I change the water every week to 1.5 weeks @ 30 - 50% of water changed... usually 30%. 

Photoperiod is from ~10:00AM to 10:00 - 11:00 PM (I plan to get a timer soon...)

I did cycle for a while (1 months around), and I meant to say that I only have 6 ottos in the tank for algae eating fish... the main population are 13 Burundi fronts. 

The ammonia testing is very thorough, but I may have messed up on it... I will double check that...


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## iKuik (Apr 24, 2010)

By the way the fronts are only 2 - 3 inches...

---> I also have to say that all of this algae is on my rocks.... none of it is on the plants yet... I added the plants about a week and a bit ago.

In that case I am not sure if it is black brush algae, but I am not expert in any way  I would just love to be rid of this. 

Is my lighting in the wrong spectrum? I thought anywhere from 5000K - 7000K is good for plants.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

The lighting is fine. I think the photoperiod is way too long if you're using all the lights and not using CO2. I'd cut it back to 10 hours total max, or even to 8 hours, and consider only turning 1/2 the lights on for 4 of those 8 hours since you're trying to keep it low tech.

The reason I ask about the water change is that I am assuming that you're going straight from the tap and using conditioner. In non-CO2 tanks which gets too much light you'll sometimes gets this problem because there is a surge of CO2 as the water degasses out of the tap.

I think the main thing you need to consider is a reduction of the overall photoperiod and see what happens. If the algae is just on the rocks, take them out one by one (or all at once and do a 1:10 bleach water solution to kill it all and then soak in a double dose of prime for 5 minutes and replace in the tank. You want to limit the spread of that algae.


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## Rastapus (Apr 21, 2010)

Agreed! That's a long photoperiod for sure. That is likely the culprit.


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

kinda what I was thinking as well. Had that same problem awhile back.


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## iKuik (Apr 24, 2010)

Thanks I will buy a good timer and do 4 hours on, 2 off and 4 on again... sound good? 

What kind of timer works best for this?


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Any timer will work, as long as you have enough cycles. Just depends on how much you want to spend. A $6 cheap mechanical will do just as well as a fancy digital one.


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