# Brown Hair Algae + Dirt substrate contemplations



## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Which liquid fertz are you dosing? My guess is that they are primarily just micro's Which is where part of your problem might lay. As for your lighting, you could try to cut back by an hour or two. The brown algae that is not hairy, is it easily removed by wiping it with your finger? If so it is probably just diatoms which will fade on their own after a while.


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## boringname (Nov 11, 2010)

The experts say its a myth that phosphates lead to brown algae. But when I add PH Down to my tanks I get a Brown Algae outbreak and the best explanation for that is the phosphates in the PH Down.

The experts say brown algae is only a problem in new tanks. I have old tanks with brown algae problems.

Anyway, I bought Excel to accelerate plant growth. 2-3 weeks in my plant growth is the same but the brown algae went away.


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## DarkCobra (Jun 22, 2004)

Hi Primed88, welcome!

What is your total wattage of T5HO lighting? (The main problem probably lies here.)

Also, what liquid ferts are you using specifically, and what's your water change protocol?



boringname said:


> The experts say its a myth that phosphates lead to brown algae. But when I add PH Down to my tanks I get a Brown Algae outbreak and the best explanation for that is the phosphates in the PH Down.


The old phosphoric acid based pH Down caused various green filamentous algae for me. But note that this only seems to occur with phosphoric acid, which presumably reacts to form all sorts of different kinds of phosphates. Specifically, potassium phosphate doesn't cause this issue, and that's what's normally used as fertilizer.

Note also that pH Down was reformulated to be sulfuric acid based a few years ago, so depending on how recent your bottle was, you may not have been adding any phosphates at all.


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## Primed88 (Mar 12, 2011)

Hey again guys.

The pics as promised 


















The swords are in a bad state but they have been since I put them into the aquarium. They just don't take to my conditions and I'll be replacing them with the repens next week. 

My water change is weekly and I remove a replace a third or just under each week. 50-60 liters

My fert is tropiflora. I tried using seachem, in fact everywhere I looked recommended this brand but when I tried it, it melted my plants so I went back to tropiflora. Also I prefer the fact that it doesn't contain nitrates.

My algae seemed to go down by increasing the light from 8 hours to 10 as advised on my general aquatic forum.


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## DarkCobra (Jun 22, 2004)

Still no indication of your lighting wattage. You did seem to indicate in your first post that you have high light, so I'm going with that for now.

Above medium-low light, "liquid CO2" (probably EasyCarbo given your location) starts becoming insufficient. At high light you _must_ use real CO2. Proper amounts of nitrates, potassium, and phosphates are also more critical.

Swords have special needs. They're root feeders, and need root tabs or some other substrate fertilization to thrive, generally regardless of nutrients in the water.


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## Primed88 (Mar 12, 2011)

My apologies darkcobra

my wattage is 2 x 35 watt T5 and as you guessed I'm using easy carbo


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## DarkCobra (Jun 22, 2004)

Unless your lights are suspended some distance over the tank to reduce the intensity, that tank will require real CO2.

Can you raise the lights, or place a few layers of plastic window screening under the lights to block 33-50% of it?


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## yajur (Mar 4, 2011)

may i know what is the name of the plant in pic 2 ?


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 4, 2008)

yajur said:


> may i know what is the name of the plant in pic 2 ?


Looks like _Crinum calamistratum_ to me.


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## Primed88 (Mar 12, 2011)

Yup it's a calamistratum.

If I change my substrate to a nutrient rich dirt would the excess nutrients spurn other forms of algae to grow?


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## tanganyikatapwaterman (Dec 4, 2010)

*brown Algea*

Same problem.
Resolved algea problem with SWITCHed OFF lights.7month tank real360L/95g get only 2x50W hologen bulbs from ceiling.
Everthing come clear and plants like Pteropus latifolia,anubias still grow.
Like Primed88 , im using fertilizers as Easy-Life ProFito n(micro-weeekly) and EasyCarbo (macro-daily).
Start to use 2x36W+reflectors 865daylight spectrum lights for a 14days!
Result +brownAlgea.
www.Easy-Life.nl disoppoint me with recomendation by email : ''better use full dosage of EasyCarbo and ProFito but start uing your 2x36W lighting unit!''
Now i do like Noahma said-clean all plant with finger help.

Am i doing wright use this way to resolve this problem:
Clean off brownAlgea from plants,use 1/2 dosage of micro and macro fertilizers.Old regime waterchanges 14%weekly ,now do twice a week.
And LIGHTs : start with 1x36W about 3-4h than 6-8,8-10hours AND only then 2x36W about 5-6,finaly 8-10hours a day!?


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