# Brown Algae



## CrookSkee (Oct 12, 2016)

So im about to pull my glossostigma out, there is brown algae all over it and also this white stringy stuff coming out of it wth is going on. I had this problem already and took out the glosso cleaned it off trimmed it and planted it again to see if the brown algae would go away and it did for like a week but recently its back again covering mostly all of my carpeting glosso so what is going on here someone please help before i give up on glosso 😔 Its growing and carpeting fine its just the damn algae, yes the tank is cycled and been running for more than 5 months. My tank is a 40gal b im dosing ei 2x macros n 2xmicros changing 50% of the water in day 7 my gh is at 5 degrees and kh at 4. Nitrates are at 10ppm to 20ppm, Injecting co2 also and my light is on 6hrs a day 9am to 12pm then from 4pm to 7pm. 
For lights i have 3 cfl 7500k 23 watt bulbs with home depot reflectors and i have them sitting right on top of the tank. Oh and a aquasky led fixture rated at 27 watts. I also have 15 neon tetras and 7 black tetras and like 8 japonica shrimp and now just picked up 5 otocinclus to see if they clean some of the algae up


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## John Wong (Dec 2, 2015)

What kind of brown algae, do you have clear photo? 

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## Nlewis (Dec 1, 2015)

I would raise those lights up to start.


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## Ryan Stephens (Nov 2, 2016)

im having a bit of a new tank algae breakout in my spec v, threw in some amano shrimp and a oto and they are tearing the algae to pieces.

once the tank balances out a bit more and they get the algae in control im going to swap them to my larger tank and put in a bunch of rcs


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## CrookSkee (Oct 12, 2016)

John Wong said:


> What kind of brown algae, do you have clear photo?
> 
> Sent from my MX4 using Tapatalk


I dont i just recorded a video ill upload it right now. 

heres the link 
https://youtu.be/iZveefDs9PU

Bump:


Nlewis said:


> I would raise those lights up to start.


I was actually thinking about that, i might try it out hopefully my glosso dont start following the light and start growing up instead of to the sides.



Ryan Stephens said:


> im having a bit of a new tank algae breakout in my spec v, threw in some amano shrimp and a oto and they are tearing the algae to pieces.
> 
> once the tank balances out a bit more and they get the algae in control im going to swap them to my larger tank and put in a bunch of rcs


Nice, i bought 8 amano shrimp and since i got them theyve been hiding i rarely see them. It sucks i thought they would be doing most of the work but now that i bought 5 otos they are going crazy over the stuff its nice to see them actually cleaning the stuff off, i like how they jump around too :smile2: im thinking of going to my lfs and buying 5 more otos or maybe 3 idk we will see. Almost forgot i also have two nerite snails cleaning the brown algae.


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## Ryan Stephens (Nov 2, 2016)

CrookSkee said:


> Nice, i bought 8 amano shrimp and since i got them theyve been hiding i rarely see them. It sucks i thought they would be doing most of the work but now that i bought 5 otos they are going crazy over the stuff its nice to see them actually cleaning the stuff off, i like how they jump around too :smile2: im thinking of going to my lfs and buying 5 more otos or maybe 3 idk we will see. Almost forgot i also have two nerite snails cleaning the brown algae.


how long have you had them? mine are never hiding, constantly out cleaning and exploring, same for the ones in my 26g bowfront, ive got 8 in there and i can always see atleast 4.
my sigular otto seems pretty lazy tbh, but ive only had him a day, so hes probably still adjusting.


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## John Wong (Dec 2, 2015)

CrookSkee said:


> Nice, i bought 8 amano shrimp and since i got them theyve been hiding i rarely see them. It sucks i thought they would be doing most of the work but now that i bought 5 otos they are going crazy over the stuff its nice to see them actually cleaning the stuff off, i like how they jump around too :smile2: im thinking of going to my lfs and buying 5 more otos or maybe 3 idk we will see. Almost forgot i also have two nerite snails cleaning the brown algae.


Please don't buy more. Later they will starve to their death when they finish all algae. Your glosso haven't cover all the substrate, your light consider bright and I think that is the reason of algae which I think is totally normal. Just be patient and wait for the glosso to settle in and cover all of the aubstrate, they will reach a balance and most algae will be gone. 

New tank -> mature tank -> expired tank. 
Algae -> very minor algae -> algae again. 

That is the cycle, at least for my tank. 

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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

I have never seen brown algae build up where there is adequate water flow.


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## CrookSkee (Oct 12, 2016)

Ryan Stephens said:


> how long have you had them? mine are never hiding, constantly out cleaning and exploring, same for the ones in my 26g bowfront, ive got 8 in there and i can always see atleast 4.
> my sigular otto seems pretty lazy tbh, but ive only had him a day, so hes probably still adjusting.


The shrimp ive had for a little more than a week and theyve been hiding i always catch them exploring when the lights are off they might be just now adjusting to my tank because im starting to see them more n more wich is good i guess.. BBuuuuuuut lol my otos i just got yesterday and since day one it took them like a few minutes to start exploring and eating the brown algae i love them more than the shrimp theyre more active.

Bump:


John Wong said:


> Please don't buy more. Later they will starve to their death when they finish all algae. Your glosso haven't cover all the substrate, your light consider bright and I think that is the reason of algae which I think is totally normal. Just be patient and wait for the glosso to settle in and cover all of the aubstrate, they will reach a balance and most algae will be gone.
> 
> New tank -> mature tank -> expired tank.
> Algae -> very minor algae -> algae again.
> ...


Even if i do buy more i will donate them when my algae is under control or keep some and feed the some boiled zucchini. yea the glosso hasnt covered the space i want yet and yea like the other guy said i should put my light a bit higher im sure thats whats causing it. I just dont want my glosso to start growing upward instead of to the sides that is why i havent suspended my lights. :wink2: thanks for the info though.



Nordic said:


> I have never seen brown algae build up where there is adequate water flow.


so do you think my aquaclear 70 isnt enough for my 40 gal breeder ? plus i have a petco power head it supposibly puts out 250gph its going to my ista medium co2 reactor.

Bump: i just really think its my cfls sitting right on top of my fishtank, btw i used to have a bit of brown algae problem back when i had minimal plants and only the fluval aquasky led 27 watts.

Bump: i just dont want to give up on glosso. I wonder if i take it all out and change to monte carlo will it be the same thing ?


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## BurgerL (Nov 5, 2016)

Hi there folks. New member here. Not familiar with all the acronyms yet. What is an "oto"? Having similar problems with brown dust algae.

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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

Push that powerhead down a bit deeper then, if things are working correctly, the dusty algae will be blown off plants and into the filter before it gets time to settle. Once it is on, you need ottos or pond snails to get rid of it quickly. One good way of getting this to is to have too much light too soon...


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## CrookSkee (Oct 12, 2016)

Nordic said:


> Push that powerhead down a bit deeper then, if things are working correctly, the dusty algae will be blown off plants and into the filter before it gets time to settle. Once it is on, you need ottos or pond snails to get rid of it quickly. One good way of getting this to is to have too much light too soon...


Yea i think i messed up on the lighting right off the start i was leaving them on 10hrs a day, now i brought them down to 6 hrs and i cut it up so 3hrs on the a couple hours off then 3hrs on again


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## Ryan Stephens (Nov 2, 2016)

BurgerL said:


> Hi there folks. New member here. Not familiar with all the acronyms yet. What is an "oto"? Having similar problems with brown dust algae.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk


Otocinclus Catfish, a little fish that behaves like a cross between a plecostomus (algae eater) and what i think of as normal catfish. They are pretty popular little fellas since they stay small, up to about 2 inches, and have a pretty decent algae appetite. Where as plecos can get up to 2 feet in length! depending on the type of course.


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## BurgerL (Nov 5, 2016)

Ryan Stephens said:


> Otocinclus Catfish, a little fish that behaves like a cross between a plecostomus (algae eater) and what i think of as normal catfish. They are pretty popular little fellas since they stay small, up to about 2 inches, and have a pretty decent algae appetite. Where as plecos can get up to 2 feet in length! depending on the type of course.


Great thanks. More down the line of what I'm looking for!

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## LRP (Jul 12, 2015)

Hi there - After looking at your video, I can say I have battled this type of "brown algae" which I learned is Rhizoclonium (really nasty stuff)

I was advised to do a blackout of a few days and *POOF* it disappeared. I know it is related to lighting because I had my lights on for a very long time and with a combination of not enough plant-mass, my HC Cuba was getting "suffocated" by this algae.

I would try raising the lights or possible lowering the time the lights are on (I know you mentioned its on for 6 hours) also, you have those 3 lights plus an aquasky? If that is the ADA lights - it should be low-light but, I think its a lot of light.

Keep us posted on your battle!


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## CrookSkee (Oct 12, 2016)

Ok so heres a update i know its been a long time but now im back. Ok so my glosso is amazing now, it has grown a lot and no algae whatsoever had a problem with brown algae got me some otocinclus 5 to be exact and they pretty much destroyed the brown algae but then i went to a lfs got some plants and what do you know here comes green hair algae fml. I did so much to try and get rid of it but nothing helped till i got api algaefix i dosed it at 2ml since i didnt want to harm the fish nor the shrimp i have And bam all gone within a week 😊🙏🏼. So yea now idk if my tank is balanced or not but have not seen brown or any hair algae at all and my plants are doing great thanks to the ferts from nilocg.


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