Brown Algae On Lugwigia Repens Red

HI All,

I'm experiencing some brown algae, it only seems to be on my lugwigia repens red though. I tried wiping it with my fingers but basically comes right back, seems to be getting a little worse too. Any ideas on why this would just target this plant?

The tank has been up and running since December of last year, slowly started putting plants in around end of Jan/early February. The repens are one of the more recent plants which I put in about 3-4 weeks ago.

Think I need more light, less light, better light? Wavemaker for a little more flow?

Tank setup:
45 Gallon (36 length, 24 tall, 12 depth)
Penn plax 1000 canister filter(Media: Sponge, pond sponge, poly fill, bio rings, matrix)
Emperor 400 (Media: Matrix, bio rings, and filter floss)
36" Beamworks EA FSPEC LED light (Times on: 9am - 2pm, 4pm - 9pm)
2 bubble stones
Tank kept around 78 degrees
Weekly water changes (25% - 50%)
Flourish dosed 1 - 2x a week
Excel dosed sporadically
Osomocote plus root tabs (4 in the tank right now)
No Co2.

Fish Stock:
- 5 albino cories
- 1 bristlenose pleco
- 1 electric blue acara
- 2 opaline gourami
- 6 checkered barbs
- 6 cherry barbs
- 2 nerite snails

Plant list:
- Lugwigia repens
- Java moss
- Java Fern
- Anubias Nana petite
- Jungle Val
- On the way (S repens and Amazon Swords)

Thank you!

 

If your substrate is sand or any color other than natural, OR you have non natural ornaments, any of that could contain high amounts of silicates. Silicates are food for brown powdery stuff.

 

If your substrate is sand or any color other than natural, OR you have non natural ornaments, any of that could contain high amounts of silicates. Silicates are food for brown powdery stuff.

Seems I left out my substrate! I use fine black diamond blasting sand, about 40lbs worth. I have no decorations other than the plants and driftwood.

Weird that it's only on the repens red though. So basically could be the BDBS substrate contributing to this? Any proven way to lessen silicates? Is it just more frequent water changes?

 

Well, I was just throwing something out there for you. Your source water could even contain high silicates.
Is it possible you just can't see it as well on the other plants? What leads me to believe it is brown algae (some call it diatoms on here), is that you can wipe it off easily and it comes back.

 

My water source is 3.5ppt (m?) silicates. SeaChem phosfree is supposed to remove it after a few days, but don't leave it in, since it removes phosphates before it removes silicates...
Do it after water change and don't fertilize for 3-4 days you are running it. But, if you water has it, it will come back.

 

Well, I was just throwing something out there for you. Your source water could even contain high silicates.
Is it possible you just can't see it as well on the other plants? What leads me to believe it is brown algae (some call it diatoms on here), is that you can wipe it off easily and it comes back.

Thank you for the response!

I've checked my others and don't immediately see it, unless it's just very little on them. Thought maybe because they're pretty much the tallest plants in the tank right now and in the back/center of the tank may be due to being closer to the light.

 

My water source is 3.5ppt (m?) silicates. SeaChem phosfree is supposed to remove it after a few days, but don't leave it in, since it removes phosphates before it removes silicates...
Do it after water change and don't fertilize for 3-4 days you are running it. But, if you water has it, it will come back.

I'll check this out. Is there a specific test kit for silicates in water?

 

There are a ton of causes for algae, and it's hard to diagnose a lot of the time. The only sure thing we can say is healthy, actively growing plants do not get algae.

Ludwugia is a step up from the easier plants you have, so they need more light, ferts, and CO2. Try to concentrate on growing healthy plants, and algae will go away on its own. I would start with getting a more complete fert and dosing excel daily

 

From what I've read, there aren't really any accurate tests for silicates. I've read a few that just ran the phosfree for a week or so, or just waited it out, removing the diatoms carefully from the tank each time. Lots of people say it will go away after a few months, and it did in my smaller 10, but so far, my 55 gallon is not getting much better. But, that tank has plants and I dose ferts. Diatoms require silicates to grow/survive, so I'm assuming since my 10 gallon cleared up, my 55 should eventually... I did run the phosfree for several days, hard to tell if it helped, I think I need to run it longer but it was a temp setup on a powerhead.

 

I ended employing a few oto cats and they got the job done!