rabid frog
Active Member
I guess my tank is in its algae cycle... thanks to my new lights. How long does it usually take to go away, and is that the end of your tank cycle
how long till algae goes away
- Thread starter rabid frog
- Start date
Algae will never go away, nor do you want it to. Since you say your tank is cycling, I am assuming that your frustration is with brown or tan colored algae? If that is the case, then what you have is diatoms, the topic of much discussion on this BB. Diatoms are heavily present in new tanks because new tanks have a heavy load of silica in it, silica being a food source for diatoms. Once the diatoms eats up the silica they will die down and be replaced by the more desirable green algae. Phosphates is also a food source for diatoms, which is present in water as well as most sea salts. Test your water source and sea salt and go with a water source that has no phosphates and a sea salt that has min. or no phosphates.
rabid frog
Active Member
thank you very much, i knew algae didnt go away but was wondering when the green algae would take its place, is there any way to speed up this process??
tanker newbie
Member
well it actually depends on IF itll turn green, on my 20 gallon tank when i first set it up i had brown algae cover the tank and after many a problems i re-set up my tank doing a complete water change sand cleaning ect...
while doing that i upgraded my lighting and once i did that with in 2 or 3 days my brown algae turned to green, there is a posiblity that if you dont have enough lighting that it wont change color( im not saying u need to have 550 watts on a 10 gallon tank) but enough with the right K value is important
while doing that i upgraded my lighting and once i did that with in 2 or 3 days my brown algae turned to green, there is a posiblity that if you dont have enough lighting that it wont change color( im not saying u need to have 550 watts on a 10 gallon tank) but enough with the right K value is important
rabid frog
Active Member
im not sure what my wattage on my lights are... dummy me i threw away the box before checking, but what i do know it is a custom sealife 48" smart light. Half blue attanic and half the norm flo. lights. i keep scrubbing the brown off the glass... should i be doing this??
tanker newbie
Member
if theres plenty of diatoms on the sand and live rock then i guess it would be alright if you clean your glass i know i did on mines and its fine
as far as the lighting being enough i wouldent worry about it, see the reason why i asked is because i had 20 watts on my 20 gallon tank, and i never had any green algae(not enough light)but as soon as i upgraded to my 55 watt smart light it quickly came in
with your smart lights i think because of the color(k value) and it being better than the stock florecent you shouldent have any probs
as far as the lighting being enough i wouldent worry about it, see the reason why i asked is because i had 20 watts on my 20 gallon tank, and i never had any green algae(not enough light)but as soon as i upgraded to my 55 watt smart light it quickly came in
with your smart lights i think because of the color(k value) and it being better than the stock florecent you shouldent have any probs
rabid frog
Active Member
thnaks for your help again... i think my flo. are like 10,000k... but as for that im not really sure. I've had my lr for about 3 weeks and add about 10 lbs a week( that is all that i can talk the wife out of) will this cause my tank to cycle wierd if i keep adding lr every week till i get the desired amount??