Brown Algea

[littlebigfish]

Hey,
My tank seemed to be running fine.....I have been doing my water changes weekly, and now I seem to have a brown algea bloom. My question is what might have caused it, and what can I do about it?? Anything would help
Cheers,

 

[plah831]

brown algae is usually diatoms. If it's soft and rubs off easily, it's diatoms. They're most common in newer tanks because they thrive on all the silica from the new tank glass and new gravel. Once your tank gets established, and that silica has been used up or removed through water changes, the diatoms subside.

If it is indeed diatoms, they are easily removed manually and there is no need for algecides or an algae eater. Like I said, it will be gone soon enough

 

[Hereford]

I have this too. I call it "pond scum". Not very invasive but I have to vigorously flush the entire filter body every couple of months to restore maximum flow. It clogs my filter medium enough that I change it every week. It also gets onto the biofilter screen which I find i can (occasionally!) rinse pretty thoroughly with the garden hose without destroying its function. I would rather live with a trace of pond scum than indulge in a lot of dubious chemical therapy. -- But that's just my opinion.

 

[Needeles]

Yup I agree with plah831. Most tanks under 6 months can get this. It is normal and with normal water changes it will disappear. If it really is a bother you can take a small rag and just wipe it off of the decor and tank glass. Once the tank is fully established then it should start to disappear.

 

[Star_Rider]

if it's a cycled tank and you have room...add some Oto's they love the stuff.(providing of course that you have the right type fish to add otos)

 

[littlebigfish]

Great thanks for all the info..............it is definetly easy to wipe off, it just looks yucky right now.....but I am glad that it should start to go away.....I do my water changes once a week
Cheers

 

[dabaers]

Great thanks for all the info..............it is definetly easy to wipe off, it just looks yucky right now.....but I am glad that it should start to go away.....I do my water changes once a week
Cheers

I'm having a problem with this too, new tanks etc so not unexpected.
It is easy to wipe off decorations and glass, my algae eaters eat some of it off glass and decorations also. The problem Im having is it on the gravel. It looks awful and doesnt just "siphon" off at all, doesnt effect it at all when cleaning the gravel. And my algae eaters (ottos) don't clean the gravel.
Any suggestions? Other than get a color of gravel that it doesnt show on?

Kath

 

[Needeles]

Really there isn't a whole lot that can be done when it is in the gravel. Most likely this is happening because to much food is sinking to the bottom. Try to use less food when feeding the fish so that less sinks to the bottom. The only other way is to pull it out and clean it but this would be bad to do as it would send you into a new cycle. Most times if it doesn't get to out of hand it will disappear on its own within a month or so. Just keep up on the water changes and whatnot and the tank should start to clear up.

Also on a side note, don't just get Oto's or any other type of Algae eater just to clear up the problems. It may help for the short term but if you run out of algae then you will need to start feeding the fish other types of foods and some fish are very picky. Unless you can continue to create new algae for the fish, Algae eating fish are a bad idea just to get rid of algae.