Brown algae

[ESOXLUCIOUSS]

Brown Algae on plants, never seen it on the leafs of plants , any ideas ????
Tank is set up two and half weeks, will see if its a light problem as bulbs came with tank..
What tubes / bulbs would u recommend.
Thanks

[THE V]

Brown algae outbreaks are completely normal in new tanks.

Water changes and scrubbing will help control it. It will generally reduce as you plants begin to grow.

What type of lighting do you have? Watts?
What type and size of plants?
Ferts?
CO2?
Size of tank?

Little more info can help us let you know if the bulbs you've got will work long term

[ChiaJesus]

For my brown algae problems I found that cutting all affected leaves, increasing circulation, and overdosing Excel made a dramatic difference. Once it was gone I stopped adding Excel and it has never come back.

[Rjb3]

Phosphates can cause brown algae or diatoms. Years ago I treated the water here for a few months and the problem resolved itself. Good thing because the products to remove phosphate+silicate are expensive.

I use 40 watts or less on my planted tanks staying with low light plants. They do fine. One fifty-five does have eighty watts on it with no real change in plant size or color. The vals don't grow tall in low light, but they carpet the tank floor. Looks cool. My twenty longs have 18-32 watts and those plants are happy. Again, low light: Anubias (Nana, Coffefolia and Congensis), Crypts (Wendtii Reds) Java fern lace, Dwarf onion and even Vals. Madagascar Lace is also fine with forty watts. No fertilizer or CO2.

Try different temperatures as low as 65 degrees. You'd be surprised how cool the water can be and the plants don't seem to mind.

Just my two cents-Bob

[jpappy789]

At only two and a half weeks I wouldn't do anything but scrub and wait. I've had diatoms last up to 6 months (in a non-planted setup) after initial setup and the next day they begin to disappear without having to do a thing.

[pinkertd]

It is normal for new tank set ups. Once your tank is cycled, throw a couple of those baby plecos in there....yum, yum, yum for them!

[dundadundun]

yum yum yum delicioso!

[Wenty]

I hear that brown algae is caused from lack of light and green algae is too much light.

Also if you keep your Nitrate below 10ppm algae can't grow. My 55 gallon has a Nitrate of about 5 ppm with no algae yet.

That may change overtime though.

[mikedeegan]

Over dose the Excel,Cover Tank for 3 or 4 days will do it. Good Luck Mike

[DieselJunki]

I have it in my tank too. It is newly setup. I find that decreasing my light time made it abit better. It isn't horribly out of hand and it's no big deal to me to scrub it off the glass in a couple spots every now and then.

[jpappy789]

I hear that brown algae is caused from lack of light and green algae is too much light.

Also if you keep your Nitrate below 10ppm algae can't grow. My 55 gallon has a Nitrate of about 5 ppm with no algae yet.

That may change overtime though.

I'm not sure how true this statement is...What if, hypothetically, you have so much algae that nitrate is being consumed at nearly the exact rate it is being produced? You would get a reading of 0 ppm NO3 but still have massive amounts of algae.