My fake plants are turning brown?!?!

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Since they are fake plants I would take them out and wash them (not with soap of course). Normally with algae you need to look for the cause. This is always too much nutrient. Don't feed more than once a day and it is fine to let a day a week go by without feeding. Change the water often so nitrates do not build up. If there are too many nutrients then light will work with them to produce algae. Otherwise live plants can be used if you want to go that way. Once live plants are established then they will compete for the resources that algae is using.
 
Wow. Fake plants and you are killing them?!?!? Wow. Your green thumb must have turned purple after slamming it in the aquarium lid door. :lol:

Is this tank newly set up? I had brown algae when I first set my tank up. I was over feeding the fish and leaving the lights on too long. I cut back on the food (Just enough so that the fish eat most of it. So that little or no food falls all the way to the bottom).

I was turning the lights on in the morning before work and not turning them off until ten at night. Over twelve hours of light! Way too much! Now I turn the lights on when I get home from work and turn them off at ten, about four hours worth of light.

Maybe this could work for you. If you want proof of the lighting effect, remove a decoration from the tank and look at the side that was facing away from the tank light. It should be mostly free of algae. Also, if you have algae on the sides of your tank, look at how it's concentrated under the lights and little to none is on the front and back top edge, where the light doens't reach.
 
I've had the tank set up about 6 weeks with fish for about a month. My algae eater seems to ignore this stuff.

Maybe it's the lights.. I keep my lights on alot because I use them to keep the tank warm. I keep my place at about 80 and so with the lights on the tank stays at about 78 degrees.

I've rinsed the plants and changed the water.

I seriously dought I'm over feeding the fish cause they only get fed once to twice a week and I feed them ghost shrimp, occationally earthworms or blood worms.

Since there is a good liklyhood it's the lights can anyone suggest a good heater?
 
I put my lights on timers so my tanks get at least 10 hours of light. the ebo jagers are supposed to be good, but I don't know what you can get there by you? I use a different heater as I cannot get the Ebos here.
 
What kind of fish do you have? I think you should feed them flakes everyday in addition to shrimp and worms once or twice a week.

Yes, you need to use a heater. The lights may work now, but when it gets cold (If you live somewhere that gets cold. Here in Illinois it gets VERY cold! You can't get by with just using lights to heat the tank.
 
They don't seem to like the flakes.. they tend to ignore them..
I have tiger barbs, buenes aires tetras, algae eater and freshwater eel

I live in south Texas... I've seen snow twice in my life and that was in photographs.
My apartement never gets below 80.
 
I am new to this myself, but after lots of research I found a heater I really like. Mine is a Whisper submersible heater. It hangs on the back of my tank and the tube stays submersed. (BTW I have a 20g FW tank.)

I attached it to one side of my tank near the back right corner. Then, on the front right side I attached a temperature reading strip. This helps me keep track of water temperature in case I need to adjust it. Then on the opposite side of the tank from the heater I attached a submersible thermometer. This thermometer gives me a reading "away" from the heater so i can get what I consider to be a "true" reading of the entire tank's temperature. This way I can make sure the temperature stays constant and neither side is too hot or too cold.

Sorry for the long explanation, but I hope I helped. Good luck! :)
 
Thanks
How visible is the heater from the front of the tank? I'd prefer something that is fairly concealed
 
I hide my heater behind tall plants, it blends in pretty well. My plastic plants get brown in the in the nooks and crannies. I don't mind it at all, in fact I think it makes the plants look a little more lifelike. The leaves are green with a tiny tinge of brown at the base of the shaft and sometimes on the very tip of the leaf. I never had the problem until I put in more powerful lights, so I know that's the cause.
 
The brown algae is diatoms and common in new tanks. It comes off easily, so just rinse the plants. Otocinclus cats eat it. Increase water changes to remove the excess nutrients and manually remove it, and as your tank becomes established other kinds of algae will grow! :wink:
 
How visible is the heater from the front of the tank? I'd prefer something that is fairly concealed

The tube on the heater is clear and not terribly large, but you can see the coils inside. So, I put a 18" plastic plant in front of it. The fish like to hide & play in the long plant and my heater is not as visible unless you look for it. Another idea to hide the heater if you're into natural looking decorations (like I am) is to get a "cliff set" that you can put in front of the heater and it will blend into the surrounding scene.

I also wanted to mention my light. I have a lighted hood on my tank and I turn it on in the morning when I get up and feed the fish breakfast and I turn it off when I go to bed. So, my fish get about 14 hours of light on average. Maybe when you get your heater you should get a lower wattage bulb than what you have now. Because I'm pretty sure only 4 hours of light is not enough for those cute little fishies. :D

Hope I helped.

R
 
Would it be possible to turn on lights in morn .. turn off heater when I get home in the afternoon turn on heater when I go to bed turn off lights then when i wake up turn on lights etc ?
 
Whoo, that's a lot of work. Actually, all you need is to keep the temp in the tank constant. Around 78 degrees for tropicals. Once you have the heater and the thermometers you won't have to do much. I check my thermometers in morning & at night. Just takes a glance. Keeping a constant temp in the tank and making sure they have "enough" light keeps them from stressing. I would bet turning on a heater and off a light and all those changes may confuse the fish and cause probs in your tank. Fish go through cycles just like we do, day and night. Plus, if you're going to add a heater you don't want a light that will create a lot of extra heat.

The goal is to create and maintain a constant tank environment. That way the fish are calm, healthy and happy :fadein:
 
First I want to say thank you for your advice.
I think what I may do is ditch the whole heater idea.. I realize that it's summer and it's really hot at the moment but it doesn't ever get cold in my home.
I think what I'm going to do is ditch the fake plants, and work on getting real plants.
Because obviously ditching the light for a heater all the time isn't going to work either. I also can't find a heater that is really descrete here at least not with the way I have my tank set up and it may be shallow but I think it just makes the tank look bad.
thank you again for your suggestions.
 
Are your lights incandescent or fluorescent? If they are fluorescent they will not heat the water appreciably in my experience, so could not be used as a way to heat the tank. If they are incandescent then you will have a tough time growing plants, unless you get sunlight directly into the tank (which would definitely be the source of unwanted algae).
 
It's a fluorescent light. It seems to be heating the tank fine. It keeps the temperature at about 78 degrees when the light is on. In the morning the temperature is usuallly about 75 degrees. It's been this consistant in temperature the whole time I've had the lights.
 
Have you considered snails for the tank? You don't have real plants for them to eat, so they should not be a problem. I have a couple of mystery snails in my plastic tank and they do an excellent job of cleaning the plastiplants.
 
I have had snails do okay on algae but recently I put two mystery snails in a 15-gal that was overrun with brown algae and they cruise around quite a bit but they are not making a dent after over a month. I guess it is hit or miss!
 
I'd heard scary stories about the rate at which snails reproduce, but I will ask about them at the fish store cause that might be an option...
 
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