# How can i get green algae/not brown, on the rocks



## Guapote (Jan 31, 2011)

Whenever I have any algae growth, it is always brown algae.
What would it take to not get any brown algae, but a nice covering of green algae all over the rocks?
Please explain what conditions Green vs Brown algae prefer

Thanks


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## potatoes (Jun 25, 2010)

you _want_ algae? Ok, just let me take care of your tank for a while. lol jk. I know cyanobacteria, i.e. bluegreen algae thrives when nitrates are low, and it would look nice on rocks, but it wont stay on the rocks. If you manage to get the desired algae, how do you plan on restraining it to the rocks? I would buy a few marimo algae balls from your lfs, cut them up, and make a matt over the rocks. You could also use some type of moss (fissidens?) for the algae look without the algae


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

This is an interesting question. We are all so paranoid about algae that we cannot see that some forms of it can be attractive.

The only practical suggestion I can make is to find a tank with conditions that are similar to yours and that has the type of algae that you want. Scrape as much of it as you can from that tank and seed yours with it. I think you could just dump it in and let it colonize the stone on its own.


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## Glaucus (Oct 11, 2009)

extend the lighting period or increase intensity to the point where plants don't have any use of it anymore; 12+ hours a day should do it. Up the nitrates to at least 10ppm while lowering your PO4 anywhere from 0 to 0.4. Stirring up the substrate every now and then will help to create a nice nutritious bed onto hardscape objects and makes green algae flourish. Let us know how it goes.


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## Guapote (Jan 31, 2011)

ok thanks. reason is mainly that due to the fish I keep, i cant keep plants. But i recently saw a pic of a tank with very simple plants and loads of green algae, which would work brilliantly with the fish. Also i really miss having greenery in the tank and think the water quality would benefit even from the algae. Thing is i rarely ever get any algae at all, only a miniscule amount of the brown stuff. Heres the pic i found for my inspiration....


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## MrBlackThumb (Aug 30, 2005)

Who wants to volunteer trimming plants in that tank?


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