# algae growth means nitrates consumed?



## kabuto (Mar 9, 2007)

Hi guys,
My tank get some sunlight now since the light shines through the window at a lower angle. I get more brown algae growing than before. I have read that algae consumes the nitrate for their growth so does that mean they are the good guys?


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## Chris2500DK (Feb 15, 2006)

Well.. if your goal is nitrate consumption then I suppose algae would be good.

Two problems with it though.

It doesn't make for a pretty fish tank, at least not when it covers the glass to the point of you not being able to see your fish.

If the algae stays in the tank so does the nitrates, if the algae dies off the nitrates will be released, if the algae is eaten, digested and pooped out the nitrates are released.

So if you want to use algae as a means to remove nitrates from your tank you have to manually remove them from the tank, like letting algae cover the rocks then removing the rocks for a good scrubbing.

Plants are a lot better for nitrate management since they're easier to harvest.


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## kabuto (Mar 9, 2007)

Yea i thought about that as well.
I give my tank a good scrub right before water change so that the algae gets removed with the water. But then you just confirmed that yes algae are the good guys in terms of nitrate consumption. At least they temporarily hold the nitrates to themselves.

I don't know if their growth will significantly affect the nitrates to the point i can read a difference with my test kit, anyone can confirm how well algae holds up nitrates?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Algae does consume nitrates, but the brown stuff is usually diatoms. They are common to a new tank and go away after several months. You can scrub them off the decor (scrape the glass) or leave them.

Even though algae does consume nitrates, it's not terribly significant compared to plants. My one non-planted tank has lots of algae but also lots of nitrates. I don't notice a big increase in nitrate readings when I do a major algae removal once in a while when rocks are removed for other reasons.

My planted tanks however need nitrates to be added regularly in order for the plants to survive.

Bottom line I would not leave it solely for nitrate control.


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## kabuto (Mar 9, 2007)

great informative reply as always ransome. thx!


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