ahhhhhhhhhhh brown algae

I had the same problem. To fix it I went out and bought two cory catfish and one Chinese Algae Eater. The Tank was spotless in about 2 days. I call them my cleanup crew. I know that everyone and including myself will tell you that the CAE will grow too big for the tank and will start to be aggressive to the other fish. What I plan to do is return it to the LFS and get a new small one to replace it. I have also researched this and I found out that they loose their effectiveness on eating the algae when the become bigger, around 3 inches or so.
 
'brown algae' isnt always considered the same as other algae...

...and it is mostly due to poor water quality, too much lighting, and excess nutrients (fish waste and excess food).

I would think carefully about how much you feed your fish and the quality of lighting they are getting, as well as how often you change the water, and what those techniques entail. ;)
 
my tetras are dumb they cant find half the food i put in there (brine shrimp) and it falls to the bottom, but i have two cories and one black khuli loach as a cleaning crew to get all the stuff the tetras miss

i have also waited to do any maintenance for an extra week because i am giving away my ten because of the arival of my new 29 gallon tall tank (pics later today) and my mom wont let me keep both :argh
 
Originally posted by aquariumfishguy
...and it is mostly due to poor water quality, too much lighting, and excess nutrients (fish waste and excess food).
Click to expand...

not enough lighting.. high silicates can also play into it.

if you have a "community" type setup, you could try oto's. they stay small.
 
Yes, too little lighting CAN play a part but usually those that leave their lights on 24-7 can expect lots of this brown crap.

The good news is that its not really harmful to fish however the source for the algae can be...and its easy to clean off unlike the real 'stuff. ;)
 
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