Juwel 3D Background Cleaning

[scoobydiver]

I seem to have a build up of brown algae on my background - tested my water and there are no problems with ammonia,nitrates or phosphates.

I have an aquafx lighting system that is on for about an hour in the morning then 6 hours at night - don`t leave any uneaten food in the tank and my filter system is oversized for the size of tank.

Can anybody suggest something to try and cut down on the brown algae issue or a reliable way to clean it off the background without damaging it.

Thanks.

 

[KittyKat]

I would put it down to not enough plants in the aquarium combined with the 1 hour of light in the morning: have a single photoperiod and add more plants.

 

[Hermithall]

Is the background polystyrene? You can't really manually clean that type unfortunately.

 

[scoobydiver]

I would put it down to not enough plants in the aquarium combined with the 1 hour of light in the morning: have a single photoperiod and add more plants.

I dont have high phosphate readings so would plants actually help in this case ?

 

[BigbruiserAl]

Is your tank newly cycled under 6 months if so prob be diatoms

Referred to as a microalgae, brown or golden algae is actually not an algae at all, but diatoms. What you are actually seeing in your tank are diatom skeletons, all linked together. It can appear as a simple dusting on the tank walls and substrate surfaces, or it can turn into a massive growth that covers just about everything in the tank. This type of algae outbreak typically occurs when a tank is just completing or has finished the nitrogen cycling process

 

[KittyKat]

I would put it down to not enough plants in the aquarium combined with the 1 hour of light in the morning: have a single photoperiod and add more plants.

I dont have high phosphate readings so would plants actually help in this case ?

Probably: plants don't use up *only* phosphate, they also use ammonium, nitrate, iron (which is often the biggest cause of algae, apparently), etc.

 

[rainbow-a-holic]

Is your tank newly cycled under 6 months if so prob be diatoms

Referred to as a microalgae, brown or golden algae is actually not an algae at all, but diatoms. What you are actually seeing in your tank are diatom skeletons, all linked together. It can appear as a simple dusting on the tank walls and substrate surfaces, or it can turn into a massive growth that covers just about everything in the tank. This type of algae outbreak typically occurs when a tank is just completing or has finished the nitrogen cycling process

I second this theory, I also have a jewul 3d background and suffered the same problem during and shortly after cycling of my tank. Leave it a few weeks and it should clear up completely, mine vanished within a couple day period of it starting to reduce!!

 

[Athena]

You could lower the water volume as much as you need, e.g. whilst during routine water change, then use a soft, damp cloth to gently wipe away any algae - don't use anything abrasive as this will ruin your Juwel background.

Only thing is, if algae is growing then, even if you remove it, it will likely return if the cause of the algae isn't sorted.

Regards, Athena

 

[golfzzin]

I clean mine with a cloth during water change, gets almost all of it off

 

[Dan-CR4]

I had Bush algae on mine, I was fighting it for over a year and gave up in the end. I removed the juwel 3d background, since then not had any problems with it, any algae I had eleswhere on plants and other bits cleared up within a month after removing the background.

the biggest problem is if you clean the background by scrubbing, the background starts to breakup. im so glad i got rid of it, will never have one again.