Brown Alage treatment

[Oli]

Hi guys, a few weeks ago I noticed some brown dots on my aquarium glass and decor. Fast forward to today and it seems to be everywhere. I have been removing the decor and scrubbing it with a scourer in existing tank water but it doesn’t remove it all and within a day or 2 it is completely covered again.

I was thinking about treating with an algae cleaner but have read mixed things about this. Also should I give the decor a proper deep clean using boiling water? I am worried about ridding of beneficial bacteria if I do?
Thanks!

 

[Oli]

…pics

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Is your tank a new set up? Looks like diatoms to me, it will go away on its own eventually so don't stress yourself out with trying to get rid of it

 

[Oli]

The tank itself is new but the media/decor etc is from a well established tank so not sure what to think? Should I stop cleaning the decor for now?

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

You can clean it if you want to, do lots of water changes too that can sometimes help

 

[Sgooosh]

The tank itself is new but the media/decor etc is from a well established tank so not sure what to think? Should I stop cleaning the decor for now?

for me they help cycle the tank
algae blooms usually get covered by live plants
put some floaters of any kind in there
it will fight(and win) over the nutrients of the diatom guys

 

[Byron]

From the photo I assume there are no live plants in this tank, just artificial and decor. Correct me if that is inaccurate, but I'll continue on that assumption.

Algae is natural in any healthy aquarium. An aquarium that is "spotless" like the ones sometimes seen in YouTube videos or books--like those spotless tanks in Amano's books--is not a healthy ecosystem. In the absence of live plants, the nutrients and light over the tank will result in algae. The amount can be somewhat controlled by the light intensity and duration, and more frequent water changes with very thorough vacuuming of the substrate and filter cleaning (both geared to remove as much organic matter as possible).

Planted tanks are very different, as here you need to provide sufficient light and nutrients to benefit the plants and discourage algae. But at the moment I don't think this applies.

Floating plants will help control the algae because they assimilate an incredible level of nutrients, especially ammonia/ammonium, plus they shade the lower tank. Fish also tend to be better with a "roof" of floating plants, so everyone wins.