Brown algae problem

[Anemone afterlife]

I did a compete rescape of my 20 gallon aquarium
It was good for about 10 days but soon it has begun to grow a large amount of brown algae on plant leaves


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[wildroseofky]

How big is the tank, what type of light and for how long is it on? What does the algae look like? Is it fuzzy, stringy, or does it have branches like a stags horn. Try reducing your light to 6 hours and remove what you can. You can also treat with hydrogen peroxide like you clean wounds with. Get a medicine syringe and pull up 3 cc of peroxide. Turn filters off. Slowly squirt perocide onto algae. Wait 15 minutes and turn filters back on. You can do 2 treatments a day, 6 cc at a time, on a 20 gallon tank. Larger tanks can handle 3 or 4 treatments a day with not problems for tank inhabitants. This will help until you get the cause under control.

 

[Anemone afterlife]

Thank you for the peroxide idea
The lighting is probably on too long
I'll drop it down to 6 hours a day from now on to see if that helps


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[Brian_Nano12g]

Sounds like diatoms. Did you change the substrate? Otos, amanos, or nerite snails should do well against that stuff.

 

[Anemone afterlife]

I think I just added a little too many root tabs and it caused a spike in fertilizer in the tank


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[Brian_Nano12g]

You should do a large partial water change. Test for nitrates and phosphates.

 

[Anemone afterlife]

I will tomorrow afternoon
Thanks for your help


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[Brian_Nano12g]

You're welcome. Best of luck to you.

 

[Anemone afterlife]

I appreciate it


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[scarthell]

I had brown algae after cycling my tank for two months (planted), but after adding 11 otocinclus (6 survived), I have no more brown algae and its a 55gal long. They do a fantastic job. In fact I make sure I have enough ferts in the substrate and water column to make algae for the fish to eat but not so much that it takes over. I had to adjust my lighting and CO2 scheduling to accommodate and keep the algae under control but my tank remains crystal clear and there is plenty for the otos to eat - they ignore algae tablets.




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