# 9325K = brownish algae growth for me



## JPowers (Jul 25, 2007)

Moderators: This started as a lighting post, but other topics were covered. Please move it if you don't feel it's appropriate here. Thanks!

Hello, this is my first post and I hope not to annoy you with my newb questions and long post. I've always been successful at keeping healthy fish, but plants have been a frustration. A few years ago I decided to turn my 20 gallon long into a planted tank, because I figured the lighting didn't have to be exotic, since the aquarium is very shallow. The tank used to be saltwater, and I had 2 50/50 and 1 actinic Coralife bulbs. The LFS told me that the 50/50s were the best, and that the actinic would help with reddish plants. I bought some Seachem Flourite, and although the results weren't artistic, most plants were actually growing quite well. (I later found out that actinic is useless, and the daylight spectrum was allowing the plant growth.)

Moving time came, and I decided to add another bag of Flourite to allow for more root growth, as well as purchasing the All-Glass 55w 9325k fixture, and 2 GE florescent 9325k tubes, because of the positive reviews. Some people think they're too pink. My rainbows in my larger tanks hate them, but I absolutely love the color these bulbs produced in this particular tank in my harlequin rasboras and neons. Cheap fish, I know, but they're still attractive in schools!

Anyway, after keeping plants in buckets while trying to eradicate the majority of a Malaysian Trumpet Snail population by picking them off the glass every night and feeding them to my other tank with Clown Loaches, I manicured the remaining plants and planted them. There was WAY too much Java Fern, so I threw these clumps into my other tanks. Although I've always seen brownish algae on the leaves, the problem got much worse. I thought maybe it was time to add nutrients, so I followed Seachem's dosage schedule by reducing it for a smaller tank:

Flourish - 1.25ml 1-2x/week
Flourish Iron - 1.5ml 6x/week
Flourish Excel - 1.5ml 6x/week
Flourish Potassium - 2.5ml 2x/week

This only made matters worse. Algae growth accelerated. My Clown Pleco keeps the driftwood spotless, but the Otocinclus have been pretty useless. I even tried someone's method of using Flourish Excel to kill algae, but ended up killing one of my Corys.

I tore the tank down and put everything into a 29 gallon. A large power filter was removed, I added a surface skimmer to my Fluval 104, along with a spray bar to distribute the water more evenly without adding oxygen. The only power filter I have is the same as a Penguin 160 without the bio-wheel. The fish are very healthy, but almost all the plants are dead. The Java Fern stuck to the driftwood isn't growing, and is covered in brownish algae.

Do I still have too much oxygen from the power filter causing too much surface agitation, or is the overwhelming amount of 9325K spectrum too much? What I'd like to do is buy a 6700k 55 watt bulb for my All-Glass fixture, and keep the 2 GE 9325k tubes. I've seen pictures of this combo and it looks nice. I really appreciate the help, and sorry for the long post!


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## K20A2 (Aug 12, 2006)

How much total light did you have over the tank?

I didn't see you write anything about injecting CO2 into the water, are you?


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

Tallying up from your post...

1x actinics (grows algae)
2x 50/50 (half of it will grow algae)
2x 9325k good lighting

so you have 5 different bulbs over a 20g and two of them being 55w 9325k bulbs add all the others....lets say they are on the low side being about 18w you have way too much light over your tank especially if you aren't injecting co2 to the point where no fish would survive.


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

If you have brown algae in a new set up this is not unusual. I dont think it is from the 9325 bulbs althou actinic lighting is for marine set ups and not planted tanks. Blue light will encourage algae growth. And as Elikewhoa says, you have too much light.

Brown algae is actually diatoms and can be caused by high silica. Change your marine lights out and reduce the lighting period and do water changes regularily. Otos will gobble this stuff up. It should dissappear within a few weeks.


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## JPowers (Jul 25, 2007)

K20A2,
Right now I have a 55 watt 9325k fixture, and another fixture with 2 regular florescent 20 watt GE 9325k bulbs. I don't have a CO2 system, but plan to use Excel again once I figure this problem out.

eklikewhoa,
I'm sorry I wasn't clear, or perhaps it was too much information. Over a year ago I *had* 2 50/50s and 1 actinic that happened to be left over from my salt water setup. What I'm trying to say is that although the 9325k bulbs are supposed to be better, most of my plants grew much better with the old bulbs, and everything dies with the 9325k. Even the huge clumps of Java Fern that I moved to my other tanks are growing like weeds in my el-cheapo Wal-Mart 55 gallon with 2 15 watt All-Glass bulbs and a 40 watt Penn-Plax Aquarilux.

Newt,
I'm religious about weekly water changes. Please read the information that I clarified above and let me know what you think.

Any thoughts on using products like Seachem Purigen, or Fluval's new nitrate remover? I use a small pouch of Purigen in the Fluval 104, and HBH's Phosphate reducing pad in the power filter in the hope that this would solve the algae problem.


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

Sorry, I guess I'm slow this morning; I'm still not clear on exactly how much light you have... 

Is it 2x 55w + 2x 20w for a total of 150w over a 20g tank?


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

Without proper dosing/co2 the intense lighting is burning out the plants.....like being forced to grow with no food.


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## K20A2 (Aug 12, 2006)

I once tried to push the limits by giving my tank more light without adding CO2. The results were disastrous. This very well could be your problem.

If I were you I would run only the 55w 9325K fixture until I got a steady supply of CO2 going into the water.


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## rs79 (Dec 7, 2004)

Brown algae (diatoms) only happen when there's not enough plant biomass to suck up all the ammonia (perhaps not even measurable) from a new tank. 

Lose the actinics, tjey do no good whatsoever. Add a bunch of floating plants like water sprite, Salvinia or water lettuce to suck excess ammonia out of the tank and the nasty brown stuff will go away. You can also double dose the excel - that should kill it too, but that'll make more ammonia and you need something to "eat" that up.

What plants do you have? Things like all Crypts won't be able to keep up with ammonia from a new tank, you want it STUFFED full of fast growing stem plants. Hygrohilia, ambulia, rotala and the like. They also serve as "indicator plants" and you can tell by their growth and habit where you're at nutrient wise.


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

JP:
Here's a few links to articles on brown algae that should help:
http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Algae/algae-randall.html

http://www.floridadriftwood.com/algae_identification.html

http://www.plantgeek.net/article_viewer.php?id=9

As I said earlier, silica and also poor/low lighting will cause brown algae. I don't think your problem is NH3 as plants and algas feed on nitrates and ammonium which are converted from ammonia.

Are your lights old? All fluorescent bulbs suffer from cathode tube decay and loose intensity rather quickly: 6 months for linear NO and 1 year for CFs. Also many bulbs can experience a shift in spectral output once the cathode tube decays.


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## JPowers (Jul 25, 2007)

Just to re-clarify the clarifications...I have 1 (one) 55 watt 9325k, and 2 (two) 20 watt bulbs for a total of 95 watts over a 29 gallon. The 50/50 bulbs and actinic are NOT being used.

The tank is well established, and the bulbs are all less than a year old. I'm willing to try a CO2 system, but I thought that Excel would be good enough for a small tank. I spent a decent amount of money on plants back when the tank was a 20 gallon, and don't want to buy more until the "impossible to kill" java fern thrives. I apologize for not knowing the names of the plants that I've killed, or are almost dead.

Newt, thank you for the links!

And now, the pics of my carnage:


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## JPowers (Jul 25, 2007)

In a forum like this, you must think of me as a murderer. I don't want to be! Does anyone have additional comments? Should I definitely get a CO2 system and leave the lights alone?


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## bigstick120 (Mar 8, 2005)

If I were you this is what I would do,
Add CO2 even DIY will help, and the addition of excel
Get some fast growing stems, the java fern is a slow growing plant and dosent use up the nutrients in the water faster then the algae
Once you get the plants in start dosing N,P,K and micros
Algae will go away!


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

It's hard to tell from the picrures but the holes in the leafs remind me of potassium deficiency.

Is any of the brown algae growing on the glass, ornaments like rocks or the gravel? This is the typical place it grows. It will be slimy to the touch when young but will develope a harder 'shell' as it gets older.


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## JPowers (Jul 25, 2007)

I just want to thank everyone who has replied so far. I haven't been home much, or had the time to do the necessary reading in the links provided, but I will!

bigstick120, I buy most of my stuff from Foster & Smith, and some from Big Al's. Would any of these be good for a 29 gallon? I'd prefer one that doesn't clutter up the inside of the tank. Also, what would you consider fast growing?

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/NavResults.cfm?N=2004+113779&va=1

Newt, I think you're right about the potassium deficiency. I'm not adding any nutrients right now because the last time I did, it made things worse. I found a post a while back showing how to calculate the amount of watts per gallon/surface area. This is why I increased to a slightly larger tank, and thought this would solve the problem.

The algae that grows on the front glass is green. It's tough to tell what color the algae is on the back of the tank. My Clown Pleco keeps the driftwood spotless, and I've been doing gravel washes since there are no plants rooted to utilize the nitrates. The only algae that I've had (in all my tanks) that seems to have a tougher "shell" is actually green "dots." I notice it mostly on the back glass where I can't get to it with my magnetic algae scraper. I have to use a razor blade algae scraper on this type.


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## JPowers (Jul 25, 2007)

bigstick120, your tanks are beautiful! I hope I can work this out somehow. You guys are true artists.


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

JP,
I've had my 75 set up for about six years and about a year ago I began to have tiny holes appear in my sword leafs. I first thought it may be the Malaysian Trumpet snails, but they dont eat plants and I blamed my Ancistrus for rasping too hard on the leafs. Well about 3 months ago a lot of plants were doing poorly: Swords had green algae and holes, Java fern wasnt growing and looked so bad I was going to dump it, Bacopa lower leafs falling off and had algae issues I never had. All of my routine tests were normal EXCEPT I wasnt testing for potassium. I came back to my original assumption that potassium deficiency as the problem. I doubled my dosing (Seachem potassium) and began to show improvements and so I tripled the dosing and shelled out $50 for a LaMotte potassium test kit. Well I had 50 ppm and no algae growing on the glass, swords, gravel and my Java fern looks super.

BTW, thanks for mentioning Bigstick's tank pictures>>>Awsome job and nice balance of color and arrangement. Very healthy looking. Worthy of Tank of the Month.


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## bigstick120 (Mar 8, 2005)

Thank you for the comments on the tank folks!

Jpowers are you looking for DIY advice or pressurized? For DIY you could get this
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=8981&N=2004+113779
That cannister wont work for the 29 but the ladder works OK and dosent take up much room. You could then use 1or2 2 liter soda bottles


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

I took a look at the FosterSmith link.

Reactors are much more efficient than diffusers and the glass diffusers are difficult to clean. Mine finally broke and I replaced it with an Eheim diffuser. You can get regulators with a solenoid and built in bubble counter but if you use a diffuser you really dont need a bubble counter. Get a needle valve to help regulate the flow beyond what you can do with the regulator itself.

Take a look at www.thatfishplace.com and www.aquabotanic.com


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## JPowers (Jul 25, 2007)

I think I'd prefer getting a small refillable CO2 tank, rather than some proprietary system that may lose suppport from the manufacturer in a few years. I wonder if I can piece something together using parts from Harbor Freight? 

I've taken up enough of your time, and this is the wrong forum for these questions anyway, but thanks again. What you're saying sounds Greek to me. I guess I have some reading to do!


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

JPowers said:


> I've taken up enough of your time, and this is the wrong forum for these questions anyway,


Nonsense.
Ask and don't be be shy about it.


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## JPowers (Jul 25, 2007)

Thank you, Newt! That's very nice of you.


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