Algae nightmare: Please help

[DiscusBR]

Good job!

Thank you, Judy, for your generous feedback and thank you all members who contributed to this thread. I learned a lot from all of you.

[DiscusBR]

16 days after adotping the 6 measures, I am happy to report that my brown algae problem has been solved. I still get algae in my 3D background, but very very little when compared to what I had befofe. And my sand is white after all these days, which is quite unbelievable. As I said, I think more water movement was a key factor. And I guess Flourish Excel was aslo important.

[boxhead1990]

phosguard is only a temp fix to phosphate problems rowaphose is s better product phosguard is only meant to be used for a few daysand then thrown away rowaphose can be used for months


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[Trier20]

less light more wc's

[DiscusBR]

I came back from a two-week trip today. During my absence, a friend came and did one 50% WC. I fed the fish once a day and left lights on for 4 hours/day. Those who read the beginning of this thread know that when I did this in the Christmas/New Year break my tank was completely covered by brown algae. Horrible sight, as the pic shows. This time I got some brown algae in the background and in the sand, but nothing compared to the disastrous situation I found back then. So the measures were quite effective.

However, I want to get rid of the algae problem completely and I brought a Phosban 150 reactor from my trip. I just installed it. I hope it will be the final solution.

[xschug3]

Has the phosban 150 reactor helped? I read through this whole thread because I have virtually the same problem you have. I also use PFS as substrate and have a canister filter and have 2 TFHO 54watt bulbs on my 84 gallon tank. I have bad brown (rust) algae. I have always thought the tank circulation was poor using the Fluval 405 canister filter. I will try increasing my flow using a powerhead. I hope that does the trick. I don't even have fish in the tank because I don't want to add fish with such bad algae problems. I leave the lights on for 6 hours per day. I learned a lot from this thread....

[DiscusBR]

Yes, the Phosban reactor helped. With increased water cirulation after the introduction of a powerhead, use of Flourish Excel, weaker lighting (one instead of two T5 HO 54w bulbs), and the Phosban reactor, I have solved my brown algae problem.

[xschug3]

DiscusBR, thanks for the reply. How did you set your light up to use only 1 bulb?? I've tried using only 1 bulb but when I remove 1 bulb, the other will not work. Both bulbs must be plugged in to complete the circuit for them both to work.

I'm hesitant to wrap the bulb in foil to block the light because I don't want the bulb to overheat and burst.

Thanks for your help!

[DiscusBR]

DiscusBR, thanks for the reply. How did you set your light up to use only 1 bulb?? I've tried using only 1 bulb but when I remove 1 bulb, the other will not work. Both bulbs must be plugged in to complete the circuit for them both to work.

I'm hesitant to wrap the bulb in foil to block the light because I don't want the bulb to overheat and burst.

Thanks for your help!

Sorry, I can't help you with that. Mine worked fine with just one bulb.