# Does uv light kill brown algae?



## Jonny Rotten (Feb 17, 2012)

Tanks been running 2 weeks,just starting to get brown algae on rocks,Anubis,and glass.I know the uv will kill all green,but what about brown.

I know it wont kill whats on stuff,but will it stop it from getting worse?


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## josolanes (Feb 28, 2012)

I'm pretty new to this but have had this also. I was told it's a diatom that's common in "new" tanks that aren't cycled or newly cycled. Once the tank fully cycles, I was told, it'll go away


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## oscarsx (Mar 15, 2011)

Diatoms, that stuff can get annoying... It does go away on it's own but I'm to impatient for that so I just buy Otto's and plecos to take care of that.. It's like candy for them


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

Diatoms live on the silica that is in the water from the glass and the substrate (especially sand). 
If you remove the diatoms from the tank, and vacuum the Pleco poop you are removing the silica from the tank. 
Many Loricariads (Otos, Plecos and their relatives) will eat diatoms, but they poop out the silica.
If you allow the diatoms to decompose in the tank or filter the silica is available to make more diatoms. 

UV highly likely will kill the Diatoms in the water, before they settle on things, or, if you scrape them off and let them drift in the water. Then your filter (sponge or floss) will catch the diatoms. You need to keep cleaning the filter to remove the free silica. Rinse filter media in water removed from the tank during a water change. Rinse gently while the tank is still cycling, the Nitrogen cycle bacteria may not be well anchored to the filter media in the earliest weeks.


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## jreich (Feb 11, 2009)

if the brown alge is stuck on the glass/rocks/plants/etc... uv will not help you at all. there only really usefull for something floating in the water like if you had a green water outbreak.


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## Gad (Apr 6, 2008)

jreich said:


> if the brown alge is stuck on the glass/rocks/plants/etc... uv will not help you at all. there only really usefull for something floating in the water like if you had a green water outbreak.



Actually a UV will also help kill brown algae diatoms when they are free floating. They float before they attach. Clean your glass and wipe down anything you can, then turn the UV on and wait. Yes I know this is an old post, but someone one might need this info in the future.


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## design_desire (Jul 21, 2013)

Yes, I did, so thank you!


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## FatherLandDescendant (Jul 24, 2014)

Gad said:


> Actually a UV will also help kill brown algae diatoms when they are free floating. They float before they attach. Clean your glass and wipe down anything you can, then turn the UV on and wait. Yes I know this is an old post, but someone one might need this info in the future.


 
Not all diatom species (there are only 20,000 or so cataloged) are free floating, those that are when they attach and begin reproducing they develope chains of cells that don't free float but stay attached to the parent cells.


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## brandon429 (Mar 29, 2003)

This is why human elbow grease work must be part of algae control/invader control
Get a habit early on of cleaning and exporting invaders first, by hand not by fish as mentioned, then use the cheats to keep them at bay. 


You would hand clean every surface of the tank using extra water changes first and then use a uv to kill suspended leftovers before they can resettle. And when some do, you hand remove that as well. Uv works great over time, and nothing beats your hand and making any tank reef or marine algae free. Not hand beating invaders is the no 1 reason problem algae threads exist. Letting things go untouched at the beginning of a tank is half the problem 

Sure,sometimes they go away....but what if they don't? You can get multiple communities of algae and diatoms growing in slime mats etc and mostly keepers refuse to act directly on them, they'll always choose secondary routes and hope for the best. 

It has been fun and terribly easy guiding my new micro planted tank to invader free growth over this last month 

When the brown came, I cleaned it all off over and over for a week with giant water changes, it was never allowed to exist. Still isn't. 

When the green came I clipped off the old leaves it was colonizing, and used peroxide paper towels to wipe off some of the rocks and leaves while the tank was drained for the giant water changes, which begins to actually direct kill algal cells along with giant water changes to export nutrients and invader cells cast into suspension

Contrast this to the common method of set up tank, use partial or no water changes and cross fingers hope it goes away. Deliberation at the start, not in the middle saves a tank before problems begin. 

Thank goodness my tank is half a gallon I feel sorry for large tank owners  I'd be getting a uv grossly oversized, not just sized for the tank.


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