# I'm about done....



## PlantsvsAlgaes (Mar 2, 2018)

I have been managing my 15 gallon tank for 2 months now and still have a significant Brown algae problem. I am about to just give up, but was wondering if I could reduce some parameters and see if the tank will settle down.

I am running 7 hours of light, with CO2 and dosing Thrive 2-3 times a week. I wonder if I take the CO2 out, reduce the photoperiod, and stop Thrive if the tank would naturally balance out and become a low-level light, non-CO2 tank planted tank.

Any thoughts on how to best deal with this? 


-PvA


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## block134 (Jan 5, 2017)

What worked for me was to clean as much as the brown algae I as could from what ever it was on. A lot of mine that was on the fake decorations and was attached so good that I couldn't scrape it off so I just removed those decorations completely from the tank and added more plants and wood in their place. After I removed as much as I could I added forced CO2 and reduced the light period which seemed to help. A lot of people seem to say that higher CO2 helps kill off the brown algae (diatoms). Also make sure you are vacuuming the gravel well and keeping the filter media clean.


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## roadmaster (Nov 5, 2009)

Would reduce lighting to 6 hours,increase CO2 if I could without harming fishes,and stay with the three times a week Thrive.
Does the brown algae wipe off easily with your fingers from glass or leaves?
How much water is changed how often? what type substrate?
Filter Cleaned monthly?


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## Stokely (Jan 9, 2015)

Following along...I've had brown algae for a while now, haven't really taken action on it. My new stronger lights seem to have made it worse. I run them 7hrs a day and don't have co2.


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## PlantsvsAlgaes (Mar 2, 2018)

roadmaster said:


> Would reduce lighting to 6 hours,increase CO2 if I could without harming fishes,and stay with the three times a week Thrive.
> Does the brown algae wipe off easily with your fingers from glass or leaves?
> How much water is changed how often? what type substrate?
> Filter Cleaned monthly?


It comes off easily with a razor or with moderate wiping.
I usually do a large water change once per week, at least 50% sometimes more. 
Substrate is CaribSea FloraMax black

Thanks for the posts.

I will reduce photoperiod to 6 hours and try to increase CO2 for now. I have no fish, just 2 mystery snails.

More help is appreciated!

-PvA


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## Quagulator (May 4, 2015)

PlantsvsAlgaes said:


> It comes off easily with a razor or with moderate wiping.
> I usually do a large water change once per week, at least 50% sometimes more.
> Substrate is CaribSea FloraMax black
> 
> ...


Try for a 1.0-1.2 pH drop from CO2. So measure pH prior to it turning on, then measure again when you believe CO2 is at its max concentration.


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## Ken Keating1 (Nov 22, 2017)

What type of filtration are you using? How often are you cleaning the filters? Water changes? What's the bioload of the tank? How often are you feeding and how much? I'd drop the photo period down to six hours.


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## IntotheWRX (May 13, 2016)

PlantsvsAlgaes said:


> I have been managing my 15 gallon tank for 2 months now and still have a significant Brown algae problem. I am about to just give up, but was wondering if I could reduce some parameters and see if the tank will settle down.
> 
> I am running 7 hours of light, with CO2 and dosing Thrive 2-3 times a week. I wonder if I take the CO2 out, reduce the photoperiod, and stop Thrive if the tank would naturally balance out and become a low-level light, non-CO2 tank planted tank.
> 
> ...


I would reduce the light to 4 hours a day. keep it low and steady until you stabilize.


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## ChrisX (May 28, 2017)

PlantsvsAlgaes said:


> I have been managing my 15 gallon tank for 2 months now and still have a significant Brown algae problem. I am about to just give up, but was wondering if I could reduce some parameters and see if the tank will settle down.
> 
> I am running 7 hours of light, with CO2 and dosing Thrive 2-3 times a week. I wonder if I take the CO2 out, reduce the photoperiod, and stop Thrive if the tank would naturally balance out and become a low-level light, non-CO2 tank planted tank.
> 
> ...


Brown algae = diatoms. They feed on silicates.

Seachem Phosguard removes phosphates AND silicates. I needed this to overcome my diatom problem when I started.


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## SueD (Nov 20, 2010)

I never had the diatom issue until my 8th tank. I've always used CaribSea substrates but this was my first using the Instant Aquarium product. It took about a month for the diatoms to appear, and then a few more months for them to disappear. I also had hair algae develop just on one grouping of some TC cyperus helferi (just yanked these out later). No Co2 and used little to no ferts. I hated this tank for a while. 

But I just waited it out and the diatoms did disappear on their own without any special intervention on my part. It just took time for the silicates to get used up and my plant growth to take off. I can't really remember how long it took, but I'm guessing it was 3 months, at least.


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## aquazone (Jul 9, 2003)

Brown algae - Get 3 or 4 Otos and problem solved.

Bump: Check this out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtTa9r7eLYA


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## kushy04 (Mar 27, 2018)

I also have to say that RCS/Amanos completely wrecked my algae problem in less than a week... First 3 days I saw a huge reduction in algae in my tank, I'm guestimating nearly half was eaten. I have 23 amano shrimp and about 15 RCS in a 16 gallon tank, and one lonely otto who also does work on algae.

One word of advice. A number of people who buy shrimp to eliminate algae complain that the shrimp did not remove algae at all. 9 times out of 10, the reason is that they are being fed. If you have shrimp in a tank with algae problem, DO NOT FEED THEM... STARVE THE LIVING BEJESUS out of them and they WILL eat the algae (prepared food most likely tastes much better than algae, so force them to eat algae). Once they start eating algae, supplement their diet with tiny tiny pieces of food, but keep them hungry. If you put food in your tank and your amano shrimp don't savagely look for it after smelling it, you are feeding them too much. Once 90% or more of my algae is gone, I will feed them more regularly.

I've introduced my amano shrimp and RCS about 4 or 5 days ago into my previously largely empty 16 gallon planted tank. I run CO2, light ferts, and 10 hours/day light via Finnex Ray2. I've been manually removing green hair algae with a toothbrush every waterchange (weekly) and will continue to do so as I think there is too much for them to consume still. But in just a few days, I see a HUGE reduction of algae. I see a few spots of BBA, but my RCS seem to prefer eating BBA over brown/green algae, so I hardly notice any BBA and If I don't see it, I don't care if it's there in my tank.

I think my shrimp's least favorite algae to eat is the green haired algae, but I do see them eat it once in a while and it is also being reduced, albeit slowly. The first kind of algae that was decimated in my tank was the brown algae.

If you can't put shirmp in your tank for whatever reason (compatibility) then I can't offer any advise... I'm a newbie shrimp guy and still learning the art of keeping a planted tank, but this has been my most recent issue, experience, and steady resolution to my algae problem.


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## PlantsvsAlgaes (Mar 2, 2018)

kushy04 said:


> I also have to say that RCS/Amanos completely wrecked my algae problem in less than a week... First 3 days I saw a huge reduction in algae in my tank, I'm guestimating nearly half was eaten. I have 23 amano shrimp and about 15 RCS in a 16 gallon tank, and one lonely otto who also does work on algae.
> 
> One word of advice. A number of people who buy shrimp to eliminate algae complain that the shrimp did not remove algae at all. 9 times out of 10, the reason is that they are being fed. If you have shrimp in a tank with algae problem, DO NOT FEED THEM... STARVE THE LIVING BEJESUS out of them and they WILL eat the algae (prepared food most likely tastes much better than algae, so force them to eat algae). Once they start eating algae, supplement their diet with tiny tiny pieces of food, but keep them hungry. If you put food in your tank and your amano shrimp don't savagely look for it after smelling it, you are feeding them too much. Once 90% or more of my algae is gone, I will feed them more regularly.
> 
> ...


I tried RCS a few weeks ago and they never made it. None of my local pet shops had any so I had to order them online. They arrived healthy and seemed to be fine but all died slowly over a week and a half.

I have noticed that after treating with SeaChem Phosguard it has been better, but about 5 days after a water change I notice the Brown algae return to the glass almost overnight. I am still dosing with THRIVE 2-3 times a week, bubbling CO2, and have lights on 4 hours a day but still no stabilization in 3 months. Was hoping to be done with brown algae by now...

-PvA


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## Rogozhin75 (Aug 15, 2017)

Go black for a week, see what happens.


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## Mike00726 (May 23, 2011)

Someone mentioned (I think it was Tom Barr) to have a siesta in the middle of the light period. 4-5 hours on, then off for a while, then back on 4-5 hours. I have done this on 2 of my tanks, and it has done wonders to keep algae down.
Might be worth a try.


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## JWaterlily (Apr 9, 2018)

Not sure if you have room in your tank but my sister recently got 5 platys for the living room tank and they starting eating every single last bit of the brown algae in that tank. They ate it off the decor, walls, bubbler, everything! All day they worked at it and its pretty much all gone today, we got them Saturday night. Now I'm not saying that all platys do this but the 5 we got sure loved it.


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## swarley (Apr 12, 2018)

So how long is your break in the middle? an hour? or longer?


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## Mike00726 (May 23, 2011)

I run my tanks from 6-10 in the morning and from 6-10 at night


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## Orichid123 (Feb 25, 2018)

why are you dosing thrive so much i only dose once a week with water changes and alga is fine i also use siamese algae eaetrs and they o a great job


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## kushy04 (Mar 27, 2018)

edit...


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## f1sleepy (May 1, 2016)

I tried thrive and thrive+ with less than desirable results. I battled algae like crazy with it until I stopped using it entirely. Something about the mix just didn't work with my tank. I went back to dry dosing ferts and have had much better results. Just some food for thought.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk


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## kushy04 (Mar 27, 2018)

PlantsvsAlgaes said:


> I have been managing my 15 gallon tank for 2 months now and still have a significant Brown algae problem. I am about to just give up, but was wondering if I could reduce some parameters and see if the tank will settle down.
> 
> I am running 7 hours of light, with CO2 and dosing Thrive 2-3 times a week. I wonder if I take the CO2 out, reduce the photoperiod, and stop Thrive if the tank would naturally balance out and become a low-level light, non-CO2 tank planted tank.
> 
> ...


Are you still running this tank or has it been tore down already?


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## PlantsvsAlgaes (Mar 2, 2018)

It is still up and running. 

I added some Phosguard and it seemed to help some, most of the brown algae is off of the plants, about every 5-6 days it reappears on the glass and I just scrape it and do a water change. 

I backed off Thrive to once per week and changed the lighting to 2, four hour periods with a 4 hour break in between.

It is holding steady but by no means the clear tank I was hoping for. I'm still running CO2.

-PvA


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## kushy04 (Mar 27, 2018)

PlantsvsAlgaes said:


> It is still up and running.
> 
> I added some Phosguard and it seemed to help some, most of the brown algae is off of the plants, about every 5-6 days it reappears on the glass and I just scrape it and do a water change.
> 
> ...


I'm sending you a PM.


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