Let's Get Rid of Brown Algae!

[ferret]

Need some help

I've got a 90 gallon, fairly heavily planted, nice stock of fish (See sig), and 220 watt of light. It doesn't have a CO system (On my list, just haven't had time/money to get it), and the biggest problem is algae. A little touch of black bearded algae here and there, but I remove that by hand. The big one is that slimy brown algae.

I need something that can eat or kill it off. Oto's apparently won't touch the stuff, and although I saw my new emerald cories "sniffing" at it and looking like they were gonna eat it, I don't think they will. I can't do snails due to the clown loaches, and I'm not sure about shrimp. I have a feeling the loaches might eat them as well?

I'll post a tank shot later. I'm actually somewhat embarassed, because some of the newer plants are a big yellowed, came that way from the store, but was all I could find this week.

 

[Menagerie]

My plecos eat the brown stuff. You could add one of the smaller plecos such as the clown, rubber lip or bristle nose.

 

[poppab02]

plecos are brown algae eating monsters. Before I got plecos I had the stuff all over. Now, I have none.

 

[krap101]

you could try an SAE/CAE flying fox or sumtin in that area. i heard SAE's eat a wide variety of algae's but i dont know which ones :?

 

[Fruitbat]

Farlowella and Sturiosoma (the 'Royal Farlowella') are both brown algae eaters par excellence!!!

 

[ferret]

I'll have to check on the plecos. The local shops carry rubbernose plecos (same as rubberlip for all my researching can tell), but I haven't found bristlenoses or clown plecos.

Whatever I get needs to not eat all my plants

 

[sissy58]

I don't know about the plecos but my otto sure devoured the brown algae that was all over my tank. It took him about 2-3 days to clean it up nicely and I haven't seen it since I've had him. Don't know why yours hasnt touched it.

 

[FMZ]

Get a BN if you can, you wont regret it

I bought one and within hours, it took care of my brown algae

 

[pkremer]

I don't know, it seems that a lot of people on this forum are anti-chinese algae eater. Maybe this is because they can get aggressive as they get older?

Anyway, I was having horrible trouble with brown algae in my 38 gallon. Put a chinese algae eater in, and I kid you not, within 36 hours the tank was sparkling. I think if you put one in, he'd put a hurting on that brown stuff.

I don't mean to kidnap your thread, but I have a question regarding algae problems myself. Like I mentioned, the CAE cleaned out my brown algae problem, but now I am having some green algae issues. At first, I was scared because I had a very efficient CAE and a clown pleco in there. I was concerned about them having enough to eat. Every time I dropped an algae wafer in (even after dark) the loaches would get it.

However, now I am noticing that there seems to be an overabundance of green algae. It is growing at the top of my large decoration (you can see a pic of my aquarium in my gallery - "Updated Aquarium"), and the CAE doesn't get that high anymore! He seems to only clean the bottom. I added the 2 oto's from my QT tank in there, and they spend all their time sucking on the glass (which also has a fine film of algae on it constantly). Now my QT tank is full of brown algae again, I can't win!

Don't get me wrong, I like all my algae eaters, but I don't want half my bioload to be them! Is there a better way to take care of this?

Paul

PS - Neither of these tanks get ANY sunlight, they are in my basement with covered windows, QT at 77 degrees, 38 at 79 degrees, whatever lighting originally came with the hood.

 

[Aquafriend]

I heard that the brown algae can be caused by not enough light. I'm dealing with brown algae big time, and I don't have lights for one tank, and I had the lights off in the other because I didn't think they were needed. Now I turn the lights on for several hours a day, so I'll see if it helps. Also, isn't it true that high nitrates cause brown algae?

 

[Essayons89]

The brown algae are diatoms. They are very common in newer tanks that are less than a year old but they still show up in aged tanks too. You usually see them if there is a buildup of excess nitrates, phosphates or both in the water. Low lighting levels are another cause.

The diatoms wipe off easy enough but they can be unsightly. Cutting back on the amount of food fed, increasing the frequency of water changes and thorough gravel vacs should help to control them some. They will go away on their own given time. Another way to eliminate diatoms is to increase the lighting level but this can open the door for other, more persisitant types of algae.

HTH,
Bryan

 

[jaysono]

Are we talking about the brownish, Diatom (sp?) algae that just sorta disintegrates as you touch it, or something else?

 

[ferret]

Pretty much. Just nasty gooey looking stuff.

I didn't know about the low lighting thing. I haven't had the lights on as much as I like recently due to the timer being broken and I get home at 5PM EST. I don't like running it all day because I'd end up turning it off an hour after getting home to avoid going over 12 hours.

I'll have to fix the timer and see if it helps to get a full 12 hours in.

 

[bungle]

i just put six oto's in my tank yesterday, and after taking a tour of their new digs, they went to town on the brown algae i had in there. not the most consistent guys, i have leaves with random clean spots all over!

 

[AtodaJ]

Otos are really fabulous at cleaning algae... especially in planted tanks. They seem to especially love the brown stuff so I'm not sure why they won't touch yours.

You've got 9 Otos in there correct? Are you feeding them algae wafers or something? If so, I'd suggest not feeding them supplements until the algae is gone. They will eat it but not if they are getting enough food from "easier" sources. Don't worry about them starving if there is algae still present in the tank. hth

 

[ferret]

Picked on some timers today, two. They're three pronged (The problem with my old ones), made by Marineland (Never done me wrong) and are analog, not digital. The problem with the timer I had was that you had to set each day individually. And everytime I did it, the power would go out somehow someway an hour later. So I gave up.

These will be on 12 hours, and I can add an hour of darkness in the middle and such if I want, or stagger them, really easily. We'll see how that helps, regular daylight and more than 6 hours.

 

[TankGirl]

That should go a long way to helping the situation. I too am intrigued at otos that don't eat brown algae. I have always had trouble keeping them alive after the brown algae was gone - but a tank could be full of the stuff and in the morning after the otos were added, not a speck to be seen.

Also, clown plecos, bristlenoses and rubberlips should not eat plants at all. I have three bristlenoses in my 55 and no problems with them eating plants.