Brown Algae and Silicates

 Just when you think you have something figured out, a new twist appears. The move to Texas brought with it water issues. If you have not read previous posts, we had 12 spawns fail. Either the male ate the eggs or fry and the young never got free-swimming if they made it past dad. Instead of getting horizontal and growing they spent days twirling up from the bottom of the tank till they eventually died. It was finally determined that there was something wrong with the water.

We got a reverse osmosis unit and started mixing the r/o water with 25%  tap water run through peat. Everything was working well raising the fish. Since I was going through so much water I decided to use more of the tap water and made the mix 50/50. Within a short period of time I get an over abundance of brown algae. I had barracks running for 6 months and did not have a problem, then over night I had a mess. I headed to the internet and found this type of algae thrives on silicates. Some one had suggested a fine particle might be causing problems with the fry when they became free-swimming and it almost makes sense.

 I went back to a 25% mix instead of 50/50 and spent the next several days scrubbing the barracks. The algae became reduced but I really could not get rid of it all together. So, I have finally given up and now use 100% reverse osmosis with ro right by Kent to add back in minerals to the water. The change in water has pretty much gotten rid of the algae and using the Kent ro right has improved the health and growth of my plants. So far I am happy with the results. The next thing on my agenda to improve my water will be a uv sterilizer to get rid of parasites and disease.

Photo from HERE.