[Wet Thumb Forum]-Red/brown algae on plant leaves

[Rider]

I spoke too soon. I have the green pea soup almost under control, but now I have a thin coating of some sort of algae on the leaves of some of my plants. It is a reddish brown colour. I fear that it will coat the leaves so heavily that it will stop photosynthesis.

I will try to reduce blue light, aerate the water to oxidise the iron, plant more milfoil.

Any commnets so far? Am I on the right track?

Also, I found that the pH is quite high, about 8. How can I get the pH down to an algae unfriendly level?

[Rider]

I spoke too soon. I have the green pea soup almost under control, but now I have a thin coating of some sort of algae on the leaves of some of my plants. It is a reddish brown colour. I fear that it will coat the leaves so heavily that it will stop photosynthesis.

I will try to reduce blue light, aerate the water to oxidise the iron, plant more milfoil.

Any commnets so far? Am I on the right track?

Also, I found that the pH is quite high, about 8. How can I get the pH down to an algae unfriendly level?

[OwenG]

Rider,

This algae has been common in all my tanks when newly setup. The leaves it affects never recover, so what I do is wait until the plant develops a new, unaffected leaf or two then prune the affected leaves. Eventually, with good plant growth, the algae will disappear. I've never had to adjust lighting, aeration, etc to handle this particular algae.

As far as PH, if its really high (an 8 isn't the end of the world), I add a little bit(tablespoon) of vinegar, wait 30 minutes and test the PH again. When I set up a new tank, my PH runs a little high for the first couple of months before it settles down to a stable 7.2-7.6.

[dwalstad]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Rider:
I spoke too soon. I have the green pea soup almost under control, but now I have a thin coating of some sort of algae on the leaves of some of my plants. It is a reddish brown colour. I fear that it will coat the leaves so heavily that it will stop photosynthesis.

I will try to reduce blue light, aerate the water to oxidise the iron, plant more milfoil.

Any commnets so far? Am I on the right track?

Also, I found that the pH is quite high, about 8. How can I get the pH down to an algae unfriendly level? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

First, you don't need to aerate to oxidize iron. The aerator is removing precious CO2 and driving the pH up. If the fish are alive, you can be sure that there's enough oxygen in the water to oxidize iron!


Are some plants growing well? Do you have any floating plants. Remember pH won't matter to them as they can get CO2 from the air. If you can get some emergent plants going, then they can counterbalance the algae and protect the other plants in your aquarium.

Hard to say more without knowing more about your tank. If the tank is getting window light, you may have more light than you need. You might be able to turn off one of the lights. I think you'll have to play around a little to get it established.

[MyraVan]

I'm pretty new to this planted tank business, only adding plants to my 20gal tank in November last year. I had an amazing amount of brown algae, but it's slowly fading away. I've removed the worst affected leaves, and the new ones aren't turning brown. I've heard that otos love brown algae, but if you don't want to put them in your tank, just wait. It will go away.