# help brown fuzz on aquarium glass and plants



## sushant (Mar 3, 2007)

Are those white things in the second pic planaria, you might be over feeding and that can be one of the reason for algae.


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## Wansui (Apr 25, 2014)

It could be diatoms (brown algae) It's very common in newly set up tanks and will go away once the water conditions stabilise. Good luck


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## Roughrider (Nov 9, 2014)

Looks like the beginnings of a diatom bloom. Its fugly as hell, but nearly everyone I know goes through it a few times. Make sure you are gravel vac'ing, and keeping your feeding/waste under control. It will go away. If your in a hurry an army of oto's will destroy it.


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## fisharecool (Mar 11, 2015)

I used to have play sand in my tank and was told play sand causes diatom blooms... i did have a nasty experience with play sand as it did cause diatoms in my aquarium ... i have changed to eco complete plant substrate to destroy the precense of diatoms but it seems to be coming back... not as bad though... should regular water changes keep it from coming back? Or is it that im overfeeding? I dont think so as i only feed my fish once a day


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## Roughrider (Nov 9, 2014)

Water changes, clean and turn your gravel. Manually remove from glass with a scraper. Check your phosphorus levels as well if you can - they are a leading cause of diatom blooms. I've just done 4x 25% to 40% water changes a week in the past, as opposed to phosguard in a reactor or some other hammer technique. (I've done that as well with great diatom crippling effect - but melted plants as well.)


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## Red Cloud (Nov 11, 2014)

If your plants look like this, then it is diatoms. Low light and excess silicates are the main reasons for brown algae. It eventually goes away but it takes a lot of wasted hours cleaning a tank that should be looking good. Increase your light levels.


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## fisharecool (Mar 11, 2015)

Yes it looks exactly like what red cloud posted its on my plants and specially on my aquarium glass... thing is i have 216 watts over my 50 gallon so i dont think its the low light ... i also noticed long strands of what looks like hairs... just a couple i searched hair algae on google and dosent seem to be it... im really becoming frustrated ... then even though i have high light eco complete substrate and injected diy co2 my plants are still dying ... my fish seem happy dont see no signs of stress or disease... they all eat... my aquarium would look great if my plants werent turning yellow and black... and well of course diatoms


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## Red Cloud (Nov 11, 2014)

216 watts of light doesn't really explain the whole picture because I don't know what types of lights you are using. If your plants are turning yellow and dying, that actually sounds like a lack of light. If it is 216 watts of incandescent light, then your plants are as good as dead. If you have 216 watts of 6500k florescent light, then yes you have high light, depending on how close it is to the substrate.


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## fisharecool (Mar 11, 2015)

I have oddysea t5 fluorescent 6500k bulb... 4 bulbs and they all equal to 216wpg... i recently bought a test kit ... and i have 0ppm nitrate is that bad for plants?


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## leemacnyc (Dec 28, 2005)

IMO you should ditch the DIY C02 and go pressurized.


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## fisharecool (Mar 11, 2015)

I been thinking about it but i dont know which peessurized co2 kit would be the most affordable.. i dont know whats everything i need to make one where could i get every piece.. please help tierd of fighting problems in my fish tank


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## imcmaster (Jan 30, 2015)

Another user, from Houston, has recently struggled with diatoms for many months, and it was due to high levels of silicates in the tap water. So while it is common to have diatoms, and have them settle down in a reasonable time, this person kept fighting them for months. They ended up going RO to treat the tap water. It might be worth it for you to test for silicates in the tap water. If the level are high, you will need to treat the water in some way.


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## axlf (Mar 14, 2015)

I have the same problem. Jbl silicatex in my external filter solve the problem in three days.My problem is, that Silicatex also decrease my PO4 level from 1ppm to 0.05ppm.When Silicatex was removed, PO4 reach again initial level (about 0.8 ppm) but diatoms appear again.
So now I reinserted Silicatex in my external filter and I am also dosing Fosfo to keep the PO4 level at 0.8-1ppm.


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## imcmaster (Jan 30, 2015)

axlf said:


> I have the same problem. Jbl silicatex in my external filter solve the problem in three days.My problem is, that Silicatex also decrease my PO4 level from 1ppm to 0.05ppm.When Silicatex was removed, PO4 reach again initial level (about 0.8 ppm) but diatoms appear again.
> So now I reinserted Silicatex in my external filter and I am also dosing Fosfo to keep the PO4 level at 0.8-1ppm.


Very nice solution. For Seachem products, PhosGuard is like silicatex.
So effectively you overcompensate for the removal of phosphates (by silicatex) by overdosing it? And you can add at a rate which exceeds the removal rate of silicatex?
Side note: PhosGuard will eventually lose it's ability to remove silicates/phosphates and must be replaced on a regular basis.


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## axlf (Mar 14, 2015)

I added silicatex because I wanted to decrease silicates level.As a secondary effect i observed that PO4 level decrease too.So I tried to reach the same level of PO4 only by adding fosfo.
It was not intended to be a solution but just my observe.


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## imcmaster (Jan 30, 2015)

I see.
There is another approach to filtering silicates in the filter of your tank. Once you get your tank low in silicates, then the only new silicates come from your tap water in water changes. You could use silicatex to treat your tap water (and add some phosphates back at the end) before adding to your tank. But this involves work every time you prepare your tap water for a water change. I think this is why an RO unit that removes silicates may be a better long term approach (for people with high levels of silicates in their tap water).


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## axlf (Mar 14, 2015)

Yes, if silicates comes from tap water, then a RO unit is the final solution.Still not tested tap water(purchased/waiting my silicates test) so not sure if silicates comes from tap water or from inside of aquarium (substrate...)
It is a new set-up ( 2 months) and is the first one with diatoms problem so there is a chance to just disappear in time...


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## imcmaster (Jan 30, 2015)

You have a very good idea for people who have silicates temporarily leaching from the substrate. Put some silicate remover in the filter for a short period of time, remove it and then re-dose phosphates.
Thanks for sharing your idea.


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## axlf (Mar 14, 2015)

If useful, glad to help.
Cheers.


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## EricL (Jan 30, 2015)

I have a new tank set up and believe these are diatoms as well:










I remove nearly all of it from the HC daily and it comes back just as strong. Do I keep doing this and wait? Leave it alone? 
As far as dosing, I'm using the full EI. Should I cut that in half?

Thanks


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## Maryland Guppy (Dec 6, 2014)

fisharecool said:


> I have oddysea t5 fluorescent 6500k bulb... 4 bulbs and they all equal to 216wpg... i recently bought a test kit ... and i have 0ppm nitrate is that bad for plants?


Nitrates are important for plants, I try to keep 10-20ppm if possible.
Lot of light going on try to shorten photoperiod 5-8 hours.
Consider your CO2 levels with that much light, how many ppm of CO2?


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