Can certain gravel lead to brown algae?

[Dave K.]

I've posted a few messages earlier in this newsgroup trying to find out why
I'm having constant brown algae problems. I tried virtually everything
people in this newsgroup recommended, and nothing has worked. My water
quality is good, our tap water is fine (doesn't have significant levels of
phosphates), leaving the fluorescent light on for long periods seems to
increase the brown algae, and (as someone else suggested) keeping the light
off doesn't have any negative effect on the brown algae.

Our aquarium is only about 8 months old, and we didn't have any algae
problems for the first 4 months. However, since then, despite frequent water
changes, it's a never ending process of cleaning the brown algae from
plants, the glass, etc.

I just realized that, at about the same time the brown algae problem began,
our blue-colored decorative gravel in the tank, that we originally bought at
Petco, started losing it's color coating, and I'd find a lot of blue flecks
in the water when I did water changes. This has continued even since.

In any case, this gravel is called "silicate" gravel on the package, and I
recently read that having high levels of silicates in your water can lead to
the brown algae problem. So could this gravel be causing the brown algae
problem?

If so, where can you get non-silicate gravel (I think we'll get the natural
brown gravel this time ... something that doesn't have a color coating added
to it)? It seems that all the gravel at Petco and Petsmart is of the
silicate variety.

Any advice would be appreciated!!

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[Marcus Fox]

"Dave K." > wrote in message
...
> I've posted a few messages earlier in this newsgroup trying to find out
why
> I'm having constant brown algae problems. I tried virtually everything
> people in this newsgroup recommended, and nothing has worked. My water
> quality is good, our tap water is fine (doesn't have significant levels of
> phosphates), leaving the fluorescent light on for long periods seems to
> increase the brown algae, and (as someone else suggested) keeping the
light
> off doesn't have any negative effect on the brown algae.
>
> Our aquarium is only about 8 months old, and we didn't have any algae
> problems for the first 4 months. However, since then, despite frequent
water
> changes, it's a never ending process of cleaning the brown algae from
> plants, the glass, etc.
>
> I just realized that, at about the same time the brown algae problem
began,
> our blue-colored decorative gravel in the tank, that we originally bought
at
> Petco, started losing it's color coating, and I'd find a lot of blue
flecks
> in the water when I did water changes. This has continued even since.
>
> In any case, this gravel is called "silicate" gravel on the package, and I
> recently read that having high levels of silicates in your water can lead
to
> the brown algae problem. So could this gravel be causing the brown algae
> problem?
>
> If so, where can you get non-silicate gravel (I think we'll get the
natural
> brown gravel this time ... something that doesn't have a color coating
added
> to it)? It seems that all the gravel at Petco and Petsmart is of the
> silicate variety.

I would think that pretty much all gravel you could get anywhere is of the
silicate variety. It's basically what gravel is, silicon and oxygen with
other elements (e.g aluminium) thrown in depending on the type and location.

Marcus