Brown algae?

[jo060]

I have a 72g tank (1.5-2 years cycled) and I have been battling a brown algae (or something else?) issue.
It's on everything and is very difficult to remove, even after scrubbing. My background is actually gray in color (see photo), but the brown is covering it.
I've been using Phoszorb bags for 6 months, but I don't see a change.

I have over 1000gph of filtration
2 WC's (30%) a week
Lights are on for about 6 hours/day
Temp is between 80-81F
18 fish

Any ideas on what to do to rid the tank of this?

 

[King Fisher]

Looks like diatoms. Crazy thing is it's not on your sand. I have an issue with a small amount of diatoms in one of my established tanks and I gave up trying to figure it out. I just put a handful of Nerite snails in and they clean it up.

 

[jo060]

Looks like diatoms. Crazy thing is it's not on your sand. I have an issue with a small amount of diatoms in one of my established tanks and I gave up trying to figure it out. I just put a handful of Nerite snails in and they clean it up.

It has me stumped, too.
I wonder if the cichlids would leave the snails alone?

 

[King Fisher]

I know it's from silica in the water or from something in my tank but I couldn't ever get it removed. Not really sure you can. On your tank, I would assume it's from your rocks but have no clue how to fix that.

I have SA and CA Cichlids and they don't bother them. With Africans idk. You could put a few in there and see what happens.

 

[jo060]

I'll give it a shot.

I took out all the rocks and set them in the sun for the day. It cleaned them up nicely and they stayed that way for about 2 months, then back to how they are now.

 

[King Fisher]

If your rocks have silica in them I don't think you'll ever fix it. You just have to manage it. Your tap water could have silica in it. Hell, Fiji bottled water has silica in it. Lol

 

[jo060]

Good point