The Puffer Forum

I have a little in my F8 tank. Should I worry or is it no big deal?
Also aquarium is going on 8 months old, still battling brown algae. I now have some light green algae growing between the sand and the glass. Does this mean brown algae is almost finished and I will move on to another kind of algae?

Thanks in advance

"Brown" algae in FW or brackish water tanks is most commonly diatom algae. Diatoms have silicate "shells" or "tests". Soluble silicates once incorporated into shells/tests of diatom algae do not re-cycle in less than geologic time (thousand to many thousands of years). Thus the requirement for fresh soluble silicates is a filled by water changes which may provide fresh soluble silicates. In established tanks therefore, water changes are needed to provide fresh soluble silicate for tank diatoms. If your water supply is low to moderate in soluble silicates, you may not have much of a problem with diatoms. If you water supply is moderately high to high in soluble silicates, you may well continue to see diatom algae,

Pretreating the water with Phosguard or similar ion exchange material for phosphate reduction will also reduce soluble silicates. If live plants are used in the tank, the phosphate my need supplement after phosphate removal has be done on water as a pretreatment.

Your utility can give you info on the soluble silicates in your water supply
..
HTH