BROWN ALGAE

[nagus]

Does anybody know had to get rid of brown algae, although i've stopped the increase of this stuff, it's still all over the plants (some real/some silk). I don't really want to go pulling up all the plants, and disturb all the substrate. Its a fairly new tank (newbie) and only just cycled after 2 months and contains 4 danio.

I'm also having some problems with cloudy water, with large particles floating about in it (it doesn't seem to bother the fish though!)

Anybody got any ideas.

 

[heresmike]

Brown algae is pretty common in a new tank, and will often go away over time.

Some things that might help:
Limit the amount of light to 8 - 10 hours per day. Keep the tank out of direct sunlight.
Add more live plants (I just cycled a heavily planted tank, and had no algae at all).
If your tank can handle more fish, get something that will eat it ... otocinclus are nice!
Some use phos-x to remove some of the phosphates in the water.
Keep the nitrate level down by doing regular partial water changes (live plants also remove some of the nitrates).

HTH!

 

[nagus]

having spoken to the man in the fish shop he tells me algae eating fish will only eat the green stuff and not brown ?

 

[heresmike]

Not true according to my experience... and check out this link on otocinclus.

http/www.otocinclus.com/feeding.html

an excerpt:
They also eat brown diatom algae, which is common in newly setup aquariums. Some have reported that they will really go to town on this algae and rid a tank of it in days.

 

[heresmike]

And I'd like to add that you should not use algae eaters as your only defense against algae. If it doesn't go away over time after cycling, there is another problem with water quality or too much light as I mentioned in my 1st reply. Good luck with this!

 

[BettaBabe]

I have brown algea in my 2 gallon Eclipse Explorer. I bought the Phos-x, but there is no direction on how much to use. It is in a square pakage that says treat 15 gal. So what now?

 

[BettaBabe]

Never mind I just called the lfs and they say that I just put the pkg on top of the carbon filter and that shoul be fine.

 

[heresmike]

You should rinse it first!

 

[Tenko]

I've just cycled a 40l tank and it was very brown with algae. I dropped a baby bristlenose catfish (about 2cm long) in on Saturday and the tank is almost clear already.

3 of the about the same size did a similar job on my 180l tank, took them no time at all.

I think they grow to about 5 inches long at most.

The only algae I've had trouble clearing is green spot, but it's hardly ever noticable except if I don't clean the glass for a few weeks. That stuff I have to scrub off.

 

[BettaBabe]

OMG!! I didn't rinse first! Will they all die now?

 

[Ferris]

Definately down to light, I had this problem when i set up my Mbuna tank. As i had no real plants at the time, i left the light off for 3 days and the tank cleared up completely.

 

[finius]

Get a snail. Of course then you'll start a thread called "Snails!"

 

[luxum]

Just wipe it off the live plants with your fingers so they don't get light starved, and it should go away on its own within a few weeks as the tank continues to mature. Snails will make short work of it if you don't mind them.

 

[nightlife20]

it also depends on wich snails tho... dont just go for any type.. have a look around