Brown Spots on Glass and Rocks - Please Help

[ibr3ak]

As jm1212 already mentioned the brown algae is diatom, which will produce regardless of little or alot of light, commonly occur because of the excess of nitrates or phosphates. Test your water quality. To treat, just make sure that your tap water is treated with a water conditioner, cut down on the amount of food and do frequent water changes to lower the nitrates or phosphates which ever are high.

 

[lovesfish]

do you know anything about black algea? it is taking over my 55 gal. cichlid tank

 

[grannylvsfish]

I dont all my books are here lol. Brown algae is from not enought light. plantgeek.net.

yup not enough light or it being a newly setup tank. can use a regular aquarium scrub sponge and get it off without a problem..

but my tank is not new, and I still have it, bad on the back and front and sides of my tank. I do water changes 2 times a week, and I am sick of cleaning it!! I have 2 watts per gallon of light.:wall: :wall: what bottom feeder will help with this? ( I have parrot,sevrum, and fire mouth.
its back after 1 day !!! drives me bonkers!! my other tank is not bad in fact hardly at all any more.

 

[Mollyanne]

You could also get a couple of octinculas'. They're really cute and are algae eaters.

 

[grannylvsfish]

You could also get a couple of octinculas'. They're really cute and are algae eaters.

I wish!! but are they safe in my ciclid tank? and none here to buy

 

[captaincaveman9]

Otos are pretty safe in most tanks, as long as the fish aren't big enough to eat them you are fine. As for the Diatoms, check the nitrate levels, and just keep scraping it away. Otos do love the stuff and will distroy it in a short period of time.

When you say the tank isn't new, how old is it? Silicates can leach from the glass over a good period of time, and if the nitrates just finially got to the point where they can thrive, then water change more often.

The best solution for almost all algae issues I've had was to do a large water change a few days in a row, then monitor the nitrate levels. If you can add live plants to the tank, they will compete and usually win the war for the nutrience in the water. IME

 

[Star_Rider]

Do Not put them in a tank with Angels..
what cichlids do you have?

 

[jpappy789]

I found that getting otos just to get rid of diatoms isnt the best solution. Sure, they devour them, but since they go away on their own it is not needed. And then you have to make sure to feed them as, at least in my case, they dont touch anything green. However, I did end up falling in love with them so basically, get otos ONLY if you want them as a fish, not because they eat algae...this goes for all other "algae eaters" as well...

 

[Rbishop]

Though I do not frequently test my tanks...I consistently test the tap water for nitrates and phosphates...

 

[grannylvsfish]

ok, I bought this tank used. its been set up for 6 months 130 watts of light, 55 gallon aquarium... plants, no way they just eat of dig them up. but I did add one 6 inch amazon they have not touched ( yet) and my water changes are impecable! my water is perfect ( I test every 4 days.
nitrates 5, no amonia no nitrites...... but after 2 days the brown algae is right back.