Brown Algae????

[saltfisher]

How the he!l do I get rid of this? It grows in my tank so bad that i have to clean the glass every two days. It pisses me off. I was told that I should start doing water changes with distilled water. Any good ways to rid my tank of this???

 

[beaslbob]

Originally posted by SaltFisher
How the he!l do I get rid of this? It grows in my tank so bad that i have to clean the glass every two days. It pisses me off. I was told that I should start doing water changes with distilled water. Any good ways to rid my tank of this???
Brown algae is very very common at about the 3-4 week point in establishing new tanks. they feed off of phosphates and gradually turn to green as phosphates are consumed.
The best solution is to add plant life you desire to consume the ammonia/phosphates and nitrates. that way you starve the ugly algaes.

 

[saltfisher]

My tank is over 2 years old. Adding plantlife will ruin the look of my tank. Dammit!! I hate that stuff.

 

[beaslbob]

Originally posted by SaltFisher
My tank is over 2 years old. Adding plantlife will ruin the look of my tank. Dammit!! I hate that stuff.
Well then set up a refugium. And grow the plants in there outta sight.
If this is a recent problem then what has changed? If you went for two years with no brown algae and no plants then you are very lucky.
One sure way of getting rid of the algae is to turn your lights off. The algae should be gone in a week or two.
You could also look into cuting down your feeding.
But bottom line is that any system with ammonia,nitrate, phosphates carbon dioxide and light is gonna result in plant growth. Your current plant growth is brown algae. Cleaner crews will eat that and result in higher levels of nitrates and phosphates. DSB could process some also. Water changes with 0.0 nitrate and phosphate water will not eliminate nitrates and phosphates. Obviously your system has generated algae to process these things. Good luck in eliminating the algae. My input is you will be constantly fighting the algae until you add other plant life.

 

[overanalyzer]

What is your water source? Make sure you are using RO/DI
Also you can get some margarita snails to eat it off your glass. I'd also suggest you look into a refugium if you can....

 

[acuaman]

I also had this problem and i bought 3 Mexican turbo snails and they wiped it out in a matter of days, now i just have some spots here and there, much easier to clean with a glass magnet cleaner.

 

[tiencvu]

I had brown algae all over on the bottom of the tank as well. I cut down the light to about 6 hrs a day, and when doing water change, I stir it up and suck it away. The brown algea is now gone......