Habitat - Indoor :: Water/Algae question

[fryman86]

Okay, I have two questions.

First, I upgraded awhile back to a canister filter. This has helped tremendously with cutting back the growth of regular algae, only now I have brown algae! I read that it isn't really algae, but regardless, I have it. I also read that a lack of oxygen can cause it to grow (which makes sense being that the canister doesn't make bubbles like the old filter did), so I've been running both filters during the day. This seems to have slowed the growth but it's still there. Aside from that the water seems to have gotten cloudy in the last few days. The only thing that has changed is the addition of the canister filter. The filter instructions said to remove the carbon pad after two weeks, which I did. Then the brown algae started, so I tried putting a carbon pad back in. The brown algae is still happening, and now I have cloudy water. Any suggestions?

[fryman86]

Okay, I really need some help with this brown algae crap. Any suggestions?

[seanwb]

Hi there, a few ideas. Just beaten the brown algae in the fish tank and in the indoor tutle pond.

1. Suggest you check the instructions. Did it say remove carbon pad after two weeks, or did it mean replace?

Replacing it after 2 weeks would make sense (especially if it is a pad - they want to make a profit!), not certain what the logic could be for only having carbon in for the first 2 weeks.

2. Algae need nitrates and/or phosphates to grow (forget which one for brown algae) , but solution is the same. You need to change your water more often. A water test kit will show when you need to. If you use a fish testing kit, and keep ammonia, nitrite and nitrate in limits for fish, that will help. Better water quaility can not do a turtle any harm and will help beat the algae.

3. I assume you run your canister 24 hours a day, if not you need to. I personally would not run an additional filter only during the day, for fear it could start letting out imputities when not running. Did the cloudiness start after you reintroduced the extras filter?

4. Algae loves light. Is it near a window? Do you have tank lights on for more than 12 hours a day. Sometime reducing tank lighting by 2 hours a day can help.

5. When you clean out the filter, do you rinse it in tap water or water taken from the tank? Washing it in tap waster can kill the beneficial bacteria, and lead to cloudy water.

6. In a fish tank, the solution is simple. Make sure the light, water and nutients are ideal for plants and let the plans outcompete the algae. Not certain this is a tenable option for a normal turtle!

7. If you are overfeeding your tutle, then that will not help. More food in = more food down the chain for the algae.

I hope this helps. It will not be an overnight solution, but regular water changes will get water quality back up, so in a week or two you may find it its improved.

[fryman86]

Thank you for your suggestions. Here is some additional information:

I did replace the carbon pad, and it is still in the canister filter.

I did a complete water change and removed everything from the tank and scrubbed it. The brown algae came back the very next day!

Yes the tank is near a window, however I don't see how a complete coating of the bottom of the tank is normal one day after a complete water change.

Overfeading isn't the problem. My RES loves to eat, and I watch him every time I feed him and he eats everything.

[seanwb]

I agree this is not normal.

How big is tank?
How big is turtle?

Does the tank get direct sunlight at any time of the day? if so for how long?

Also, have you tested your tap water for nitrates?

[Brearune]

forgive me if i'm wrong, but shouldn't you NOT do a complete water change? It stops the tank cycling, which can cause algae. not sure about brown algae, but if it's water quality that is the issue, a complete change isn't going to help i would think. It may take a bit to go away, too, if its water quality. I'd keep doing partial changes every day.

Also, your turtle will still eat everything even if you feed him/her too much... make sure you aren't feeding more than you should, cuz their waste could be helping the issue, too, which there will be more of if you are feeding too much. I, too, just found out I was overfeeding even though my turtle ate everything, and even moved on to eating her dock -_- I stupidly just followed the instructions on the can of food. check out the feeding thing here and see if you're doing that right. besides that, I'm not sure what to suggest as I'm still quite new here but it's all worth thinking about, i think.

and yeah, I wondered about the size of the tank, too, so once you answer the questions above i'm sure someone can help out more

[fryman86]

It's a 55 tank with 45 gallons of water in it. It is by a window (I have no other choice) but there are curtains and blinds over the window. Tomorrow I'm going to try to get some media for the filter that reduces the nitrates or silicates (I've read that both can cause brown algae), and try that in the filter along with a partial water change.

[Brearune]

keep doing partial water changes and you should get a test kit to test your water and see for sure what the issue is, and then watch it so you know when your tank is fully cycled, would be my thoughts.

[fryman86]

So I took the plain substrate out of the bottom basket of my filter and replaced it with Fluval Clearmax, and then did a partial water change, and now my water is cloudier than ever! What's the deal?

[Brearune]

it's still cycling you want to keep doing that (partial water changes) and testing your water until it clears, and then you can go to more distributed maintenance

[seanwb]

What filter do you have?
How big is the turtle?