Algae Identification The good the bad and the ugly

[nightrydaz04]

Im entering my algae storm with my tank, I've all ready bought a hermit crab to help with this but I was wondering what I should be looking for in the nitrification process... and how to speed up the denitrification process... so far I have brown, green and purple types of algae. I've read many things some contradicting the others. I've read that brown algae is bad and green algae is good and vise versa from what i've read on the purple is that the purple is good... Can someone spell it out for me in laymens terms.

Tank Stats Week 3:
PH - 8.2
NO2 - 5
NO3 - 160
Ammonia - 0
Salinity - 1.021

20g LR
Penguin 330 Biowheel filter
Penguin 550 Powerhead
Hermit Crab

 

[1979camaro]

purple is definitely good as long as it is hard and encrusting. green can be good...there are some encrusting green calcerous algae...most of the time, however green="bad". if its fuzzy or stringy chances are it is "bad"...brown is generally diatoms and they too are "bad" i suppose....they will go away with a little time.

the algae itself is actually good for your tank because it is using nutrients in the water column, the reason it is "bad" is because:
1)it will spread and kill corals
2)it is unsightly
3)it indicates there is a nutrient overload in the system: this is the real problem which must be addressed to get rid of the algae

but algae is normal during the cycling process....so you need to kind of wait it out until you you are sure this is going to be a long term problem

 

[DSK]

If you have a purple sponge algae and you like it you can get SPECTRA VITAL and it will feed the algae i have it for my tanks and it works very well.

 

[ty6464]

I have a freshwater tank with some brown algae growing on some of the silk plants and decorations. Is this the same as the brown algae in SW tanks? If it isn't what is it like in FW tanks?

 

[nightrydaz04]

The brown will eventually turn to green my girlfriend had a my old tank and she switched it to fresh water everything gets really brown and the turns green you should keep an eye on your water quality and keep the gravel clean you might also wany to put some real plants in your tank instead of silk ones... real plants will help your tank clean itself

 

[1979camaro]

nightrydaz: that is probably from the SW algae dying, releasing nutrients, and green FW algae replacing it.

ty: the brown stuff is most likely a result of insuficient light...not much you can do about it, most unplanted tanks get a little of it no matter what you do...you can pull the silk out and boil them, usually that kills the algae.

 

[ty6464]

I thought it was cause of too much light. I leave my light on for at least 12 hours a day.

 

[DSK]

TY your right if you leave your lights on and dont have them on a correct cycle you can grow brown hair algae - it happend to me when i very first set up a sw tank.

 

[1979camaro]

i reckon i thought this was a thin coating...