Dont understand why this is happening? Help!

[roadrunner1659]

OK...i did a 6 gallon water change friday night (26 gal tank)...i cleaned everything and a few days before i cleaned the filter and the media inside...

...i left for the weekend and my mom was in charge of feeding my 3 fish (lemonpeel and 2 clowns)...she fed my tank mysis shrimp...enough to feed for 3 minutes both nights...i trust my mom went feeding my tank...

...i came home tonight after school and work to find that my tank has a brown algea outbreak...all over the rocks and equipment in the tank, also on the glass of my tank...

...my mom told me that the tank wasn't like that yesterday...this only happened beginning today...i'm not sure why this has happened???

I took a reading of my levels and this is the result...

ammonia - 0 to 0.25
nitrites - 0
nitrates - 0
ph - 8.3
salinity - 1.023-1.024

...need help and ideas?

THANKS!

 

[SeanySean]

You could be feeding to much do you have a phosphate testkit? that would give you a good idea.

Sean

 

[roadrunner1659]

no i dont have a phosphate test kit...what does that test? what are the phosphates?

 

[Fred_J]

This may be a simple diatom bloom. Your clean up crew may be able to handle it. I would not think one weekends feeding would be enough to cause this. How old is your tank.
Fred

 

[roadrunner1659]

3 years but lost it for 6 months and brought it back in the middle of december and everything has been pretty good since...the last thing i need to do is get that cleanup crew.

 

[dchao]

Assuming your mum did not overfeed. An other reason for the brown algae outbreak is change of light schedule. Was your light on a timer, or could she have changed it?

 

[roadrunner1659]

the light is on a timer schedule and my mom doesn't mess with things she doesn't understand...so it couldn't be that.

 

[SuperNerd]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6571445#post6571445 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by roadrunner1659
no i dont have a phosphate test kit...what does that test? what are the phosphates?

lol Dude...it tests for phosphates. :lol:
I believe they are present in most foods and are a definite fuel for algae growth.

How old are the bulbs?

 

[bertoni]

Hmm, sounds like the problem might be a bit of overfeeding. I think setting the quantity of food is safer than setting the time. I know my fish could eat way more than the filtration could support in most of my tanks.

The SG is rather low; I target about 1.026. Raising it slowly might encourage the growth of coralline and otherwise help the tank export more nutrients.

If the problem doesn't disappear in a week or so on its own, you might need to take some measures. For now, some water changes over the next few days might help.

 

[dchao]

roadrunner:

There is no harm in doing water changes, but it's usually not the cure for diatom outbreak. Control feeding, addition of cleaning crew plus the algae will eventually die on its own since the nutrient it requires (phosphate) will be used up in time.

Just one more sugguestion, maybe your light bulb is due for a change. As a light bulb gets older the spectrum will shift and causing unwanted algae.