How to combat brown algae / diatoms?

abcdefghi

abcdefghi

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Jun 6, 2007
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Ok, I have read that diatoms / brown algae usually goes away on its own after a while. But it's not going away in my tank, and is really coating leaves on the plants, the bottom half of my tank looks dark compared to the nice green of the top half.

I have cut down my lights, they are now on for 8 hours a day (were on for 10), I don't dose Co2 or ferts, plants are varied, there is a bunch of hygro, java moss, java ferns, wisteria, crypts, something that I don't know what it is but it has a nice pink/red color on the bottom of the leaves (stem plant, need to take a picture for ID) a sword and some other stem plans.

Tank has been set up for just about a year now, and has been planted for probably about 6 months. I feed once a day, and usually have a fast day once a week, water change is 40-50% once a week. Lighting is 4 x 26W CFL's so somewhere around 1.9WPG.

Any suggestions? It looks a mess and I am sure is slowing growth on some of the plants.
 
i had a similar problem. the only solution I found that worked for me was a very very very thorough cleaning followed by a black out. i had to actually remove several of the plants because i could not get the algae off them (dwarf hair grass is impossible to clean). I also got a few amano shrimp / snails for clean up. I haven't seen any brown algae since the overhaul though.

i don't know if anything that drastic is what you're looking for, but it worked for me
 
If it comes down to it, then that's what I will do, but I would prefer not to since there is a bunch of plants and it would be a huge hassle to pull them all out and then re-plant them again.
 
increase your lights if you are not worried about the green algae!!
 
Inject CO2 or use Excel and start fertilizing, improving plant growth is the #1 priority. If you have room to spare, add more plants.
 
phanmc said:
Inject CO2 or use Excel and start fertilizing, improving plant growth is the #1 priority. If you have room to spare, add more plants.
Click to expand...

If I were to start injecting Co2 I would probably follow this method for a DIY set up, is there a way to measure how much Co2 goes in the tank? I have read numerous threads about fish acting weird after too much Co2 gets in the water.

Also, if I start dosing Co2 do I then need to start using Excel? or can I just do one or the other?
 
The chances of you ODing with a DIY CO2 is slim, especially for a large tank. You can invest in a drop checker to make sure you stay within limits but I highly doubt that it will be necessary, still it can help in showing that you may actually want more CO2.

You don't need to use Excel if you are using CO2, Excel is merely an alternative source of carbon. You can use them in conjunction to add a little more boost and Excel is known to be a mild algaecide, though it is not nearly as effective against brown algae as it is with others like bba an staghorn.
 
Hmmm, maybe I will try a DIY Co2 system first then and see what happens. The how to here http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_co2.php makes it appear pretty simple to create a Co2 injector.

It might be the better way to go, as I am pretty sure I read that some of the plants I have do not like Excel.

Going to go read up on DIY Co2, I might see about connecting it to the canister filter intake.
 
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