I am tired of my algae!!!

[saltyj]

I am so tired of my brown algae problem on my glass. I started my tank 8 months ago with tap water. (BIG MISTAKE), but now I own an RO filter and have been doing top offs and water changes with it for a few months. Will this eventually help and is there anything I can do in the mean time?

 

[calvindo]

get a clean up crew... they do wonders. i used tap water to fill up, initially. had algea blooms... added clean up crew and now my tank is spotless... i dont even have algea on the back wall of my tank

 

[beth]

What type setup do you have? And, I'm assuming by brown algae, you mean diatoms?
Food for many types of snails....depending upon the type of tank you have. What are your phosphate and silicate readings?

 

[acuaman]

snails will rid you of your problem literally within a week. i guarantee it. i have a 100 gallon tank that had the brown stuff all over it and i bought six mex/turbo snails and it was wiped out within 3 days. the good thing is my puffers dont even mess with them either, during the day the snails hide in their shells and at night when the fish are sleeping then they go to work.

 

[saltyj]

Why did my post get moved? And where is it? I posted it here because it said this forum disscused good husbandry. Oh well guess a mod did not want it here.

 

[jon.316]

I def. suggest two things, clean up crew AND controlling amount of light that your tank gets. That's the big problem i have with my 155 bow front because it was right in front of a window. I covered up the window and the prob is under control. Your lighting also matters a whole lot so get a timer for it.

 

[seaslug0305]

you can also try an urchin. they are great algae eaters! our lawnmower blenny also eats the algae on the glass. good luck..and limit the amount of time u keep ur lights on per day!

 

[beaslbob]

reduced lighting and reduced feeding will help. But if you do not have other plant life (even coraline algae) to process the nitrates and phosphates then that is a losing battle. As long as you live stock and a nitrogen cycle you will have some plant life. So the long term solution is having plant life you desire to starve out the plant life you don't want.