# Brown Diatom Algae?



## mmcgill829 (Dec 22, 2014)

Hello all!

I've recently been plagued with this gross algae in my tank, regardless of how much I clean it/change the water, it seems to always bounce back in full force. 

I've adjusted the lights, CO2, etc with little to no effect. The only thing was when CO2 was decreased it accelerated its growth (which I guess I should have expected). 

I trimmed off badly infested Myriophyllum yesterday and now the rest of it looks terrible! (see second picture below). 


















I've read that the brown algae tends to flare up in new tanks (which mine is) and tends to go away on its own once the tank is established. Should I not stress about it too much, or are there specific solutions to this? I can deal with a little algae here and there, but this is starting to get out of control. My otos seem to be munching on it, but I would probably need many, many more to keep it under control at its current growth rate. 

I do dose EI and do 2-3 water changes of ~50% per week.


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## latchdan (Sep 7, 2007)

mines similar, I can't get rid of it, tried everything, its been in my tank for over a year now


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## mmcgill829 (Dec 22, 2014)

latchdan said:


> mines similar, I can't get rid of it, tried everything, its been in my tank for over a year now


Oh no! 
It seems to love grabbing hold of the Myriophyllum and settling down in the hair grass. Other than that, it doesn't seem to attach to my other plants. I just see some minor strands here and there that I can just brush off when doing a water change.


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## mmcgill829 (Dec 22, 2014)

Anyone else had any experience with this stuff? Any methods to keep it under control? I don't have misconceptions of a tank with zero algae. I just want to be able to keep it from taking over everything. It's such a headache. It's really difficult to get out of the Myrio plant, especially. I'd hate to have to remove the plant entirely because I really enjoy it!


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## FatherLandDescendant (Jul 24, 2014)

mmcgill829 said:


> Anyone else had any experience with this stuff? Any methods to keep it under control? I don't have misconceptions of a tank with zero algae. I just want to be able to keep it from taking over everything. It's such a headache. It's really difficult to get out of the Myrio plant, especially. I'd hate to have to remove the plant entirely because I really enjoy it!


http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=723809


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## trujillp090868 (May 12, 2013)

In my little experience, very little I must say.... It will go away. I used to stress about it now I take it as part of the process of maturing a tank. Use a small hose to take it out and eventually it will disappear


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## mmcgill829 (Dec 22, 2014)

FatherLandDescendant said:


> http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=723809


This is an excellent read! Thank you!
Just to confirm, what I have in my tank as pictured above IS diatom algae, correct? I just want to be sure that is what it is.


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## mmcgill829 (Dec 22, 2014)

trujillp090868 said:


> In my little experience, very little I must say.... It will go away. I used to stress about it now I take it as part of the process of maturing a tank. Use a small hose to take it out and eventually it will disappear


Good to hear. I just want to be sure I'm not making some glaring error that's causing it. Seems to just be a normal part of a new tank that tends to resolve itself once things are balanced out. 

I'm pretty religious with upkeep and maintenance, so it's a little frustrating having this stuff explode despite all of that. I'll just keep manually removing what I can and keep my fingers crossed. May get some nerites as well.


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## Midnighttide102 (Oct 2, 2014)

That's isant diatom algae it is some sort of hair or something diatom does not grow like that take a look here 
http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm


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## mmcgill829 (Dec 22, 2014)

Midnighttide102 said:


> That's isant diatom algae it is some sort of hair or something diatom does not grow like that take a look here
> http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm


From what I've read, it appears to be Filamentous diatom. The only other thing it comes even close to is Rhizo, which I can almost be sure of it not being.


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## FatherLandDescendant (Jul 24, 2014)

mmcgill829 said:


> This is an excellent read! Thank you!
> Just to confirm, what I have in my tank as pictured above IS diatom algae, correct? I just want to be sure that is what it is.





Midnighttide102 said:


> That's isant diatom algae it is some sort of hair or something diatom does not grow like that take a look here
> http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm


It does look like diatoms to me. Diatoms will manifest in several ways from clumps or tufts, to sheets coating any/every thing, to strands that stretch out from their anchor point.

Diatoms do eventually go away on their own, how long this takes differs form tank to tank. On my 40b I dealt with it for 4 months, on my 10 I never really dealt with it at all much, my newest tank a 29 which is about 3 weeks old I've yet to see it develop.

With a new tank small partial water changes are just good practice. When dealing with diatoms use these small partial WCs to your advantage. Knock loose everything you can from the plants, hard scape, glass, equipment, from everywhere. Then do a WC and suck as much as you can out of the tank. If the diatoms persist into months I suggest doing a large WC of 75% or more. I ended the battle in my 40 by doing a HUGE WC, my fish were scraping their bellies on the substrate, but this was after 4 months of what appeared to be no letup of its' constant growth. It still grows in that tank but stays on the back glass. Oto cat fish do seem to love the stuff so you could get several to help battle it.


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## Ben125 (Dec 16, 2014)

I had this and it was NOT caused by silicates or a new tank. Mine came on strong 9 months after the tank was set up. Silicates tested several times during the outbreak were between 1-3 (6 being normal for most city water supplies according to the test kit). 

It started as brown spots on my substrate that weren't too bad. Then I added a pressurized CO2 system and bam. Brown sludge everywhere in a week. I tried H2O2, phosgard, adding more light, ferts and Co2, then less. Decreasing the light seemed to help but who knows. I never really figured it out. They just died on their own after 2 months.


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## Roughrider (Nov 9, 2014)

It WILL die if you keep up on good tank maint and lots of water changes. Turn your gravel. Check your phosphates in your source water if possible for those blooms that just will not go away after a month or two. If you cannot get rid of it, and your phosphates are through the roof - time for a reactor loaded with phosguard for a few days, and then as many oto's as you can a few water changes after removing the phosguard. They'll go to town...


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## mmcgill829 (Dec 22, 2014)

I use ADA substrate, so 'turning' it isn't really the best idea. 

I decreased the light period by almost half for over a week, but the stuff just kept on growing strong at the expense of plant growth, so I switched it back to my previous schedule.

I have five otos, which probably isn't enough for my size tank, but I don't want to overload it. I'm just going to keep at my maintenence and see if it goes away on its own.


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## latchdan (Sep 7, 2007)

Here is my thread on Filamentous diatom. I was hoping it would go away too but it didn't, I thought I killed it with the one two punch treatment but it has since come back. If you find any way to get rid of it I would like to know.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=743945&highlight=


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## m3177o (Jul 22, 2009)

Dealing with this exact algae in my 180 right now. Its attributed to low flow, low oxygen and general poor maintenance. I think you have rhizoclonium algae. Take a read here where Tom Barr suggests a huge water change followed by a blackout with overdosing excel daily. http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=57602 It has helped me tons in dealing with this hope you find the same success


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## Xirxes (Aug 18, 2008)

GFO (granular ferric oxide) will get rid in a hurry. it will remove all Phosphates and silicates if dosed properly. Manually remove as much as possible, do a small dose erythromycin and youa re done.


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