# Brown algae help



## Mishmosh

otocinclus will consume brown algae unbelievably fast. I recently had set up a 10 gal and in 3 weeks, it was covered with brown algae. I got 4 oto's and in less than a day, the tank was CLEAN. I was amazed.


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## forddna

Any ideas for stopping new growth?? I'm in a similar situation. My 120 has been running since September, and just over the last month or two, diatoms have taken over!


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## imeridian

Hmm, that's really odd, in all the aquariums I've setup the diatom bloom came to an end about a month or two afterward. My 75 does get a little mix of cyano film/diatom film occasionally right at the edge of the gravel/glass, but moving the plants slightly away so the Otos could get to it solved that little issue.


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## forddna

I know I don't have enough algae eating critters, but I don't want to *need* them. kwim? I want to find out why I have diatoms and fix it.


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## pedietz

Overfeeding ?


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## stagius

I am not sure. But i can tell you about my childhood experience.
I used to keep 5 feeder fish in 1 gallon tank. I feed them everyday (not overfeeding). After like 4-5 days, i can hardly see the fish, because brow stuff are all over the tank. 

So i guess, the amount of waste the fish produced, ammonia, nitrate ? Oh and i don;t have any filter.


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## stagius

Oh can anyone confirm if a true SAE will eat brown algae ? My hygro is infected with some brown stuff on the mature leaf, but my SAE can't finish the algae as clear as i expected.


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## dekstr

Otos will destroy diatoms. It is like their favorite food.

I had 2 months worth of algae build-up in my 1st planted tank, a 20g. Added two oto cats. In two days all the diatoms and hair algae disappeared. Just like that.

Hard to say what is causing the diatom (brown algae) to grow. Apparently diatoms are present when there are silicates in the tank. Personally, I don't really see the difference. I used silica sand only, had some brown algae growth at first. I used flourite only, still get brown algae at first.

I don't know why it won't go away though. If it doesn't, then adding oto cats will solve the problem and give them a steady snack.


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## sadielmorris

Our 75 gallon was covered with it up until last weekend.

Big Al's had a sale on otos 3 for 1.99, so we bought a dozen.
We Got some cherry shrimp
Removed the largest, most afected leaves on our large sword plant 
Took out the Vals and put them in another tank
Dosed with Excel

3 days later, the diatoms are mostly gone. It's like a whole other aquarium because EVERYTHING was brown. It was absolutely disgusting.


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## Riley

Ottos will eat the diatoms.....SAEs will not.


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## crazie.eddie

Also give farlowellas a try. I was plagued with brown algae (diatoms) a few months after I started the tank. I've read that it was due to a new tank and would soon clear up. 2 years later, still same probs. I also tried reducing the photo period from 12 hours, to 10, and later 8. It just slowed down the diatoms occurrence, but never disappeared. I recently bought Phosphate and Silica test kits (other known issues with brown diatom algae) and tests prove the same for all my tanks, but my 125 was the only issue with diatoms. I basically just gave up and figured cleaning was my only method until I tried farlowellas.

Farlowellas are allot more hardy than otos. They are long and thin, so they will not be thought of as a possible meal to much larger fish. Plus they have small mouths, so they can get into tight spaces, like otos. I recently put 1 into my 125 gallon, which is not planted, but I'm slowly planting (again). I saw it did a decent job, but it was going to be allot of hard work for such a big tank. So I decided to buy another one, thanks to Aquarium Adventure's 50% fish sale. I just looked at my tank, which is about a week later, and noticed my 125 is SPOTLESS.


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## kyle3

forddna said:


> I know I don't have enough algae eating critters, but I don't want to *need* them. kwim? I want to find out why I have diatoms and fix it.


forddna did you ever come across a solution for the brown algae in your tank?


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## itstony

i had a great amount of brown algae in 10gal recently. my otos dont do crap and i might have been dosing too much flourish [not excel] and i do not run co2. maybe my photoperiods been a bit too much and i might have overfed a bit. you could brush the algae off of the leaves and stuff. but one thing i notice was that when i bought the flourish excel yday . my plants look super clear and green now and most of the brown algae have dissapeared.


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