hey everybody, i am having wierd algea problems. i have a new 28 gal. fish tank with two fishes and 3 snails. on my sand and now on the glass i have some copper color spots every where, and they are increasing. someone told me that it is because of the quearz in the sand and within 6 weeks it should go away when the quartz from the sand runs out. is this correct? also i have some live rock and now near it is growing a grey colored patch, which was small and beginning to get bigger. it has some hairs growing off of it, which are getting bigger, is it because of the live rock and will it go away or what will make it go away, the snails are not eating it, will the shrimp eat it? please help, thanx.
Weird Algea problems
- Thread starter mkpatel
- Start date
how old is your tank? it's really hard to say for sure without a pic to identify what type of algae it might be. without a good id on the algae, it makes it hard to pin point what the source is and treatments. most algae will thrive off of phosphates. diatoms feed off of silica (aka quartz). if you can, post some pics and we will try and work the situation out.
The Kapenta Kid
New Member
It sounds like diatom algae to me which indeed uses the silica in sand (quartz) to grow. But don't wait for the quartz in the sand to run out--it is the sand :mrgreen:
It usually goes away on its own as the tank gets older, but you can always keep turning the affected sand over which disrupts its growth.
The hairs gowing out of it sound like hair algae, which will eventually replace it, and be your next problem.
Welcome to aquarism :mrgreen:
Just stay calm. The fact that stuff is growing, even if it isn't the right stuff, indicates that you have a living biotope. It is just a question of eventually steering it in the right direction.
It usually goes away on its own as the tank gets older, but you can always keep turning the affected sand over which disrupts its growth.
The hairs gowing out of it sound like hair algae, which will eventually replace it, and be your next problem.
Welcome to aquarism :mrgreen:
Just stay calm. The fact that stuff is growing, even if it isn't the right stuff, indicates that you have a living biotope. It is just a question of eventually steering it in the right direction.
sometimes people mistake diatoms for looking like little hairs when they're not. I did when I first started. Take a picture of it and then we can tell you what it is.
http://www.xtalworld.com/Aquarium/hitchfaq.htm
Take a look at this link... down at the bottom are a list with pics of the most common Algea in our tanks. which one does it look like?
http://www.xtalworld.com/Aquarium/hitchfaq.htm
Take a look at this link... down at the bottom are a list with pics of the most common Algea in our tanks. which one does it look like?
The Kapenta Kid
New Member
You mentioned the algae had reached your fake plants.
I'm no purist but I thought that all things in nanoreefs: rocks, algae, macroalgae (plants), inverts, even fish, for practical reasons had to fulfill some bio-purpose in the ensemble. Fake plants, as far as I know, are just surfaces for algae to grow on, so probably not a good idea for any reef tank--altho they work fine in many FW setups.
Maybe more experienced members can comment.
I'm no purist but I thought that all things in nanoreefs: rocks, algae, macroalgae (plants), inverts, even fish, for practical reasons had to fulfill some bio-purpose in the ensemble. Fake plants, as far as I know, are just surfaces for algae to grow on, so probably not a good idea for any reef tank--altho they work fine in many FW setups.
Maybe more experienced members can comment.
i don't think that fake plants will have any negative side effects in a tank. They aren't much different than PVC or any other plastic surface. It is a place that algae may tend to grow but you should be able to clean them off with pipe cleaners fairly easily. Some of the fake plants/coral are hard to distinguish from their real counterparts.
The Kapenta Kid
New Member
Oh I agree, fake plants can't do any harm and they can indeed look very realistic. I was coming more from the position that a Nanotank is a tiny environment, so everything that goes into the tank and thus takes up some of this precious space should pull its weight. A real macro-algae like Caulerpa or Halimeda will do its bit in consuming nutrients to deny them to nuisance algae, a fake plant makes no bio-contribution and just provides a surface for nuisance algae to grow on. Of course, if they got coated in coralline that would be a different matter. Just a thought :mrgreen: