How To Reduce Nitrates And Phosphate

I have heavy brown, grey, sometimes green, but mostly brown algae problem in my tank, it's a 15 gallon whcihI had established for a year now. My tap water contains high level of nitrates, not sure about phosphate as I have not tested it, the tap water is soft.

How can I deal with this problem? I also have a lot of light, I've been told light doesn't really matter when dealing with algae but only the nutrients in the water do. I have an anubias and cryptos, covered in algae, my valls and amazon swords died because of the algae, it's a really pain scrubbing them off.

Will a pothos plant get rid of this problem?

 

Light has a lot to do with algae. First thing I would do is reduce the time your lights are on... I was dealing with a bit of BBA and was running my lights 12hrs a day so I cut it down to about 9 hrs and added a couple Siamese algae eaters and within 2 weeks Black beard algae was gone.

 

I have heavy brown, grey, sometimes green, but mostly brown algae problem in my tank, it's a 15 gallon whcihI had established for a year now. My tap water contains high level of nitrates, not sure about phosphate as I have not tested it, the tap water is soft.

How can I deal with this problem? I also have a lot of light, I've been told light doesn't really matter when dealing with algae but only the nutrients in the water do. I have an anubias and cryptos, covered in algae, my valls and amazon swords died because of the algae, it's a really pain scrubbing them off.

Will a pothos plant get rid of this problem?

Hello Rack...

I control algae by removing and replacing most of the tank water weekly. The water change removes the added nutrients the fish and plants don't use and guarantees a steady water chemistry. There is nitrate reducing filter media that will help too. Companies like HBH and Acurel have good products.

The best house plant for reducing nitrogen in the water is Chinese evergreen.

Old

 

Diatoms (also know as Brown Algae) is very common in new tanks. While unsightly, it is harmless and will go away on it's own eventually (when all the silicates are depleted). Diatoms actually thrive with less light, as opposed to green algae, which thrives on more light.

So I would focus on reducing the light to help minimize the green algae, and just wait it out with the diatoms.

 

Light has a lot to do with algae. First thing I would do is reduce the time your lights are on... I was dealing with a bit of BBA and was running my lights 12hrs a day so I cut it down to about 9 hrs and added a couple Siamese algae eaters and within 2 weeks Black beard algae was gone.

My light is medium to high, either way I only leave it on for 8 hours maybe less. Can't put Siamese eaters in a 15 gallon.

Diatoms (also know as Brown Algae) is very common in new tanks. While unsightly, it is harmless and will go away on it's own eventually (when all the silicates are depleted). Diatoms actually thrive with less light, as opposed to green algae, which thrives on more light.

So I would focus on reducing the light to help minimize the green algae, and just wait it out with the diatoms.

I had my tank for a year now, the diatoms are long gone.

 

Try adding some floating plants. Duckweed, frogbit, red root floaters etc. are all good plants for taking nutrients out of the water and they help “filter” the light so less reaches the algae below.