Rampant brown algea.

[F.sparverius]

I have two tanks,

20 gallon unplanted with a whisper filter and heated to 75 degrees
4 rosey barbs, 3 black neon tetra, 3 cories

5 gallon planted with biowheel/carbon filter/ no heater

2 dwawf gourmies
Java fern, Bananna Plant, Canomba, Leafy thing

Both of these tanks have rampant brown algea growth, and the 20 gallon tank has been set up for 10 months. I have to wipe the algea off of my Java fern every few days . Is there any way to get rid of this stuff? Apparenty the plants do not out compete it as it is just as bad in the planted tank as in the unplanted tank. It seems like it would smother the plants and it does not look particuarly good in the 20 gallon tank.

[fishdude]

i am pretty sure the only fish that will eat it is a rare chinese algae eater
but there really hard to find

theres little fiz tabz that u can buy called tank buddies algae clear
it will kill it and then all u have to do is wipe it off when its dead and hopefully it wont come back

but.... brown algae (diatom algae) is hard to get rid of so it may take a while

[djdk]

Ahh, brown algae, I'm having a bit of a problem with it myself.

If you want a fish to eat brown algae, oto's are it. Unfortunately, they are notorious for dieing within a few weeks. Bristlenose plecos are supposed to be pretty good as well. I have a siamese algae eater that eats it, but he doesn't seem to be able to keep up with it on his own in a 29 gallon, so I might get another one. I believe that fishdude meant to recommend the siamese algae eater, which can be hard to find. The chinese algae eater is more common, but is known to stop eating algae and become quite agressive with age. If you want to get a siamese algae eater, I'd read up on how to identify a true one to be sure that you really are getting a siamese algae eater.

[fishdude]

yea thats what i ment :P