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rdub
03-21-2012, 04:09 PM
This brown stuff grows in my tank faster than I can keep it wiped down. Any idea what it might be?72838

It is on everything. The glass, the air tubing, the air stones. Everything.

Maybe algae?

Skip
03-21-2012, 04:14 PM
how often you change your water???

it grows from too much light and too much waste in water..

rdub
03-21-2012, 04:29 PM
Little light so must be from too much waste. Will more frequent water changes eliminate it since it is in every corner and crevice? I try to change 60% every other day. I missed a few days and it went crazy.

wdeleon01
03-21-2012, 04:32 PM
Do you have it where natural hits it. I had that when my tank was getting to much direct Sun Light

rdub
03-21-2012, 04:37 PM
No. Little or no natural light.

discussmith
03-21-2012, 06:40 PM
Examine your feeding habit. Less food more often if possible to make sure it's all getting eaten. Otherwise the problem is fish waste and the only solution is change more water at each change or change more often if you can't reduce the fish load. Another thought would be to place some live plants in pots to compete for the nitrogen.

shoveltrash
03-23-2012, 10:27 AM
I'm no expert, but would an algae eater help with this? pleco?

Chicago Discus
03-23-2012, 10:30 AM
Are you using Prime or Safe in the tank?

Repairman
03-24-2012, 02:39 AM
The brown stuff that grows everywhere in your tank is actually brown algae also called diatoms.

Unlike green algae that use phosphates in their metabolism, the brown algae use silicates. If the silicates ratio in the tank is high then you will have brown algae. Otherwise, if phosphate ratio is high, you will have green algae. Both types compete for nitrogen so basically one will eliminate the other. This is the reason the brown algae usually appear in a new established tank where you have silicates and phosphates but the phosphate ratio is low. As the tank matures, it starts to accumulate more phosphate and the brown algae will disappear and green algae will start to grow. But brown algae can appear also in an established tank if there are optimal conditions for their growth.

There are basically 3 sources for silicates - brown algae in an aquarium.

The first one is the water used for water changes. If you are using tap water you can check the water quality report from the utility company to find out what is the silicates ratio in your tap water. If the water contains silicates then changing water will not really help, most of the time making the matter worse by adding more silicates to the tank.

The second source is the additives and conditioners added to the tank. If you use any, check the labels (sometimes the manufacturer will specify the percentage of components used).

The third one is fish food. Some types of food will naturally contain silicates or the silicates have been added to the food during the manufacturing process.

In any case, if you really want to find out what the silicates concentration is in your tank you can use a silicates test kit. These kits are fairly accurate and reasonable priced. This will help you to diagnose the problem by confirming the presence of silicates in the water.

Another condition for the brown algae to grow is low light. Unlike the green algae and superior plants, the diatoms will thrive in low light conditions.

So, in the case of brown algae, usually increasing water changes and decreasing the light will help them thrive.

There are a few solutions to the brown algae problem. First is to use a silicate absorbing resin in the filter. This is not my favorite method because the resin is expensive, it needs to be a high quality one not to release the silicates back in the water, and it needs to be replaced regularly as it exhausts itself. The second one is to increase the lights. The third one is to add one or more plants (swords for example) in pots. The plants will benefit from the light and will consume the nitrogen robbing the algae for their main nutrient. The fourth one is to add some algae eaters fish. I don't recommend plecos. They are messy, grow big and actually can hurt the discus by "attaching" themselves to the discus and start feeding with discus skin slime. Instead of plecos I totally recommend a small group of Oticinclus. They are very cheap, small and they just love diatoms. There has to be a small group to make the otos to feel secure but not too many since they can starve to death not having enough algae to survive. The nutritional value of the algae is not very high and the fish need a large amount to stay healthy. If there is not enough algae and there are too many otos in the group they will not be able to survive unless you add some "veggies" (like algae wafers or pellets or a zucchini slice) to the tank. Start with a small group of 3 or 4 otos and add more if there are still algae in the tank. It is mandatory to quarantine the Otocinclus before you add them to the tank. They are wild caught and usually are very traumatized during transport and the mortality rate is high. The ones that survive they'll do the job just fine. The last thing is to make sure you use high quality additives and conditioners ,if you use them, from a reputable manufacturer.

Personally I use all the above mentioned solutions to my brown algae problem except the resin. It's been working like a charm not only for diatoms but for the other types of algae too.

I hope this helps. I know sometimes the algae and especially the brown ones can be a night mare.

Good luck!

Orange Crush
03-24-2012, 04:11 AM
I don't recommend plecos. They are messy, grow big and actually can hurt the discus by "attaching" themselves to the discus and start feeding with discus skin slime. Instead of plecos I totally recommend a small group of Oticinclus.
BN plecos are very good with discus, many people on this forum keep them together. They stay smaller than other plecos (usually 5-6") and do not attatch to the discus. Otocinclus (oto cats) however are known to attatch to the discus at night when they are sleeping, it is a bad idea to put them together.

wanderingfish
03-24-2012, 05:15 AM
Otocinclus are too small

Rummy
03-24-2012, 07:31 AM
The brown stuff that grows everywhere in your tank is actually brown algae also called diatoms.

Unlike green algae that use phosphates in their metabolism, the brown algae use silicates. If the silicates ratio in the tank is high then you will have brown algae. Otherwise, if phosphate ratio is high, you will have green algae. Both types compete for nitrogen so basically one will eliminate the other. This is the reason the brown algae usually appear in a new established tank where you have silicates and phosphates but the phosphate ratio is low. As the tank matures, it starts to accumulate more phosphate and the brown algae will disappear and green algae will start to grow. But brown algae can appear also in an established tank if there are optimal conditions for their growth.

There are basically 3 sources for silicates - brown algae in an aquarium.

The first one is the water used for water changes. If you are using tap water you can check the water quality report from the utility company to find out what is the silicates ratio in your tap water. If the water contains silicates then changing water will not really help, most of the time making the matter worse by adding more silicates to the tank.

The second source is the additives and conditioners added to the tank. If you use any, check the labels (sometimes the manufacturer will specify the percentage of components used).

The third one is fish food. Some types of food will naturally contain silicates or the silicates have been added to the food during the manufacturing process.

In any case, if you really want to find out what the silicates concentration is in your tank you can use a silicates test kit. These kits are fairly accurate and reasonable priced. This will help you to diagnose the problem by confirming the presence of silicates in the water.

Another condition for the brown algae to grow is low light. Unlike the green algae and superior plants, the diatoms will thrive in low light conditions.

So, in the case of brown algae, usually increasing water changes and decreasing the light will help them thrive.

There are a few solutions to the brown algae problem. First is to use a silicate absorbing resin in the filter. This is not my favorite method because the resin is expensive, it needs to be a high quality one not to release the silicates back in the water, and it needs to be replaced regularly as it exhausts itself. The second one is to increase the lights. The third one is to add one or more plants (swords for example) in pots. The plants will benefit from the light and will consume the nitrogen robbing the algae for their main nutrient. The fourth one is to add some algae eaters fish. I don't recommend plecos. They are messy, grow big and actually can hurt the discus by "attaching" themselves to the discus and start feeding with discus skin slime. Instead of plecos I totally recommend a small group of Oticinclus. They are very cheap, small and they just love diatoms. There has to be a small group to make the otos to feel secure but not too many since they can starve to death not having enough algae to survive. The nutritional value of the algae is not very high and the fish need a large amount to stay healthy. If there is not enough algae and there are too many otos in the group they will not be able to survive unless you add some "veggies" (like algae wafers or pellets or a zucchini slice) to the tank. Start with a small group of 3 or 4 otos and add more if there are still algae in the tank. It is mandatory to quarantine the Otocinclus before you add them to the tank. They are wild caught and usually are very traumatized during transport and the mortality rate is high. The ones that survive they'll do the job just fine. The last thing is to make sure you use high quality additives and conditioners ,if you use them, from a reputable manufacturer.

Personally I use all the above mentioned solutions to my brown algae problem except the resin. It's been working like a charm not only for diatoms but for the other types of algae too.

I hope this helps. I know sometimes the algae and especially the brown ones can be a night mare.

Good luck!

Nice write up. Thanks.

roundfishross
03-24-2012, 11:36 AM
BN plecos are very good with discus, many people on this forum keep them together. They stay smaller than other plecos (usually 5-6") and do not attatch to the discus. Otocinclus (oto cats) however are known to attatch to the discus at night when they are sleeping, it is a bad idea to put them together.

bn plecs can definatly attach to discus slime. It's all about the individual fish and if they have a taste for the slime. Over the years I have personally seen it and usually its with an older male bn. they hit em while they are sleeping!

JenTN
03-24-2012, 12:32 PM
A juvenile bn pleco will make short work of that, but over the long haul, they become lazy as they grow. They prefer flakes, algae wafers etc. Some try to force them to eat algae by not feeding them, thats when you may get attachment issues when it goes looking for food. My 3 yr old male comes out to eat the minute anything is dropped in the tank. My juvy is a cleaner and starts hunting for flakes, etc when it cant find algae. But again, every fish is different. My adult is a snail-eating machine lol!

rdub
04-02-2012, 10:58 AM
I've increased the time the light is on and done greater water changes. No difference. Any chemical that might help get it under control?

mrblah00
04-02-2012, 12:18 PM
A juvenile bn pleco will make short work of that, but over the long haul, they become lazy as they grow. They prefer flakes, algae wafers etc. Some try to force them to eat algae by not feeding them, thats when you may get attachment issues when it goes looking for food. My 3 yr old male comes out to eat the minute anything is dropped in the tank. My juvy is a cleaner and starts hunting for flakes, etc when it cant find algae. But again, every fish is different. My adult is a snail-eating machine lol!

Your BN pleco eats snails? I might have t get some of those.
Sam

mrblah00
04-02-2012, 12:23 PM
I've increased the time the light is on and done greater water changes. No difference. Any chemical that might help get it under control?

I would avoid using a chemical. As with all algae it has taken advantage of something out of balance. Killing the algae with a chemical still doesn't solve the problem and the algae will grow right back.
Sam

Orange Crush
04-02-2012, 01:06 PM
I've increased the time the light is on and done greater water changes. No difference. Any chemical that might help get it under control?
Also, chemicals will kill any inverts like shrimp and snails. Some have also been known to kill fish on occasion.
Chemicals are never the answer, balancing the tank is. Lots of regular water changes, the right amount of food and light etc.