Brown Algea on Plants

[Gboy66]

Slowly but surely this brown algea has been growing on my plants. Any ways to get rid of it? It makes them not look as good! Sorry one of the tetras got into the shot lol. Oh, and my photogenic angel

 

[Togliat]

You must be my evil twin.
Or maybe you're good and I'm the evil twin...LoL.

I have some brown spots, some new red tail rasboras that look a bit like your tetra, and your angel looks just liked mine!

To get back on topic, I am monitoring my plants now.
I have two T5HO lights at 54w each and run them about ten hours every day.
I also add a capful of Flourish Excel daily but don't have a CO2 setup yet.

Are you sure your brown spots is an algae-related issue?
Some of my plants almost seem to be recovering a bit after I first noticed the brown on them.

 

[Gboy66]

You must be my evil twin.
Or maybe you're good and I'm the evil twin...LoL.

I have some brown spots, some new red tail rasboras that look a bit like your tetra, and your angel looks just liked mine!

To get back on topic, I am monitoring my plants now.
I have two T5HO lights at 54w each and run them about ten hours every day.
I also add a capful of Flourish Excel daily but don't have a CO2 setup yet.

Are you sure your brown spots is an algae-related issue?
Some of my plants almost seem to be recovering a bit after I first noticed the brown on them.

Haha im definatly the good twin hahah
And some pics of your angels and rasboras!
And im not sure if its an algea issue or not, but the plants have become increasingly brown, and they were once green! I also dose flourish and iron once a week, and have 1 t8 15 watt fixture, and two smaller t8 fixtures on my tank. No co2 though.

 

[Togliat]

I'll work on some pictures for you.
Sounds like we might have a similar issue.
I am new to plants so I am sure I am doing something wrong.
I think my lighting is marginal.
It was worse, but I replaced the original T5HO "aqua blue" with a 6700k white light for a total of two white lights.
The blue made for a beautiful tank though!

I dose Flourish once a week, and Flourish Excel (carbon supplement) every day or so, just a capful.
(My tank is 155 gallons with a canister filter)

 

[fort384]

What size is the tank?

It looks like you have a few issues going on:

1. Lighting deficiency (this will be confirmed when you post the tank size)
2. diatoms
3. Possible BBA (Black beard algae)
4. Possible Macro-nutrient deficiencies (nitrogen, potassium, a/o phosphorus)

 

[Togliat]

Thanks. I think the original poster should provide tank size too. Might be the same problem.

I don't want to hijack the thread!

For my own 155g tank,
I was aware I was marginal, and was careful to try to select low light plants.
The amazon swords are doing ok, but one other plant (cryptocoryne lutea) has the brown spots.

I don't relish the thought of replacing my hood and lights!
Why make a hood with only two T5 fixtures for a 155 gallon tall aquarium?
Seems silly to me.

Are higher watt bulbs available?

 

[fort384]

Florescent bulbs have fixed watts for each bulb size. It is not like a incandescent fixture where you can pull out the 60W and screw in a 100W.

 

[Togliat]

Drat!

Looks like I have some further tweaking to do.

Thanks, your helpful comments are much appreciated!

 

[Gboy66]

Oh sorry guys, i didnt think the tank size mattered! 40 gallons! I specifically chose low light plants such as, val, hornwort, banana plant, type of sword (i think), type of crypt (i think), bihir

 

[Gboy66]

Thanks. I think the original poster should provide tank size too. Might be the same problem.

I don't want to hijack the thread!

For my own 155g tank,
I was aware I was marginal, and was careful to try to select low light plants.
The amazon swords are doing ok, but one other plant (cryptocoryne lutea) has the brown spots.

I don't relish the thought of replacing my hood and lights!
Why make a hood with only two T5 fixtures for a 155 gallon tall aquarium?
Seems silly to me.

Are higher watt bulbs available?

And dont worry, im nit a stickler about hijackers haha. If it benefits me or others on the thread, i am perfectly fine with it!

 

[Wy Renegade]

Agree with fort, appears to be multiple issues. You have diatoms on the rocks, not a big deal, usually a common occurrence at the end of the tank cycle, and they typically disappear on their own. The brown on the plants appears to be other issues.

 

[Gboy66]

Agree with fort, appears to be multiple issues. You have diatoms on the rocks, not a big deal, usually a common occurrence at the end of the tank cycle, and they typically disappear on their own. The brown on the plants appears to be other issues.

Ya, i wasnt worried too much about the rocks, but what other issues could cause the algea growth on the plants? The lights being left on too long? The plants get a little bit of sunlight in the morning, but not direct.

 

[JakeVS]

I'm having that issue on my 20g as well, so I will be following this. Although my issue is only with my slow growing anubias nana, seems to collect a brown-black algae. Running a 48w dual bulb fixture, one 6700k the other 10000k. DIY co2.

 

[Gboy66]

Any help anyone?? This algea is really bugging me

 

[iamkush]

are you sure your plants are fully aquatic? that was my problem!

 

[Gboy66]

are you sure your plants are fully aquatic? that was my problem!

Oh i am sure. Are there excess nutrients in the water? How long should i keep the lights on for? Can i scrub it off te plants?

 

[Togliat]

Looks pike I have brown diatoms on my rocks now too. Was out of town for a day and a half. Pop. There it is!
I also just noticed some new algae on my bow front glass. It is green. There're is some on a glass shelf under the hood too. Also green.
I have read that this might indicate the end of a cycle. My tank has been running for about a month, but I got a nice old (active) filter from my LFS to help me out with my rush in cycle. I had no issues with my water tests.

I was able to easily remove the green algae from the bow front glass.

I plan to buy a few algae eater critters tomorrow.

My two T5HO lamps provide marginal lighting but I am running 6700k light and providing flourish fert and Excel.
The lights run about 9 hours a day.