# How to remove brown algae



## Ryan Mosby (Jan 19, 2017)

I forgot to do my daily dose of Excel for a while, and brown algae just exploded. I had some grass-like carpet I was trying to grow, and it covered everything above substrate with brown algae that I couldn't wipe off. The roots and bases look fine, and it saddens me to have to remove any of the plants. All of my plants are suffering slowly--It's been a problem I've had for years with this particular tank. I just can't seem to get anything to thrive. Not dwarf sag, cryptocoryne, amazon swords, even my anubias nana petite is looking a little sad.

*Details:*
CO2: No/Low tech
Tank: Fluval Spec V (5 gallons)
Planted: Moderately
Substrate: ADA Aquasoil
Temperature: 78 F
Filtration: Carbon, Sponge
Light: 7500K LED (on for 8 hours)
Water Changes: 50%, weekly
Dosing: Excel (supposed to be daily), Once a week: Thrive (ferts), Stress Coat, Nite-Out II, GH+ Mineralizer
Occupants: Male betta, horned nerite snail, 1 amano shrimp
Features: Heater, 1 Airstone, Pre-filter sponge, Driftwood, Slate rocks
Plants: Cryptocoryne, Amazon Swords, Anubias Nana Petite, Dwarf sag, Bacopa Caroliniana, Dwarf hairgrass
Other: 1 Indian Almond Leaf

Note: I have a good portion of my window blocked off, so sunlight should not be hitting the tank.

The frustrating thing is I have two other nano tanks by this one, a 2.5g and a 3.7g, and the plants always seem to do well. They use the same aquasoil, same dosing (though I don't have to dose the Excel as much for these), and yet it is the 5 gallon in the middle that always gives me the most trouble. If it weren't for the fact that I had a fish living in it, I would tear it down and build a terrarium.

There has to be some underlying cause why the plants never thrive to begin with, because I know their slowly failing health is what is making the algae go crazy. For now, I think if I get back to dosing Excel daily, the algae should die down.

What I want to know is, how do I remove it off smaller pieces of plants like the bacopa and hairgrass? When it was lighter I could just rub it off but now it really seems to be on there. I'm hesitant to just pull out all the plants because I need them to fight the algae (what an ironic circle this is).


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## KZB (Jan 3, 2018)

Hello, I think your best bet is to make enough time or do it in phases of water changes. Rub the brown algae off each plant. During this time you may want to lower your photo period to 6 hours. Do a real good tank, filter, gravel, filter hose cleaning. I believe once you rid all or most the algae and your plants start to grow at there peak. The algae won't come back. This process can take a month maybe less, depending in the amount of effort you can put into it. Good luck enjoy the ride


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## OVT (Nov 29, 2011)

Or try PhosGuard.


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## DaveKS (Apr 2, 2019)

What’s point of stress coat and nite out weekly? Neither of those should be needed in healthy cycled aquarium. 

Also what filtration system do other 2 tanks use?


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## Ryan Mosby (Jan 19, 2017)

@KZB I went to work cleaning as best I could yesterday. Algae off the glass, scrubbed some rocks and driftwood, and the hardest part: I very carefully rubbed algae off the leaves, though it was much harder on the bacopa caroliniana and hairgrass (I couldn't get it all). I added some new echinodorus and anubias plants to try and help battle the algae. I'd love to plant a carpet plant but I never have luck; tried monte carlo, glosso, dwarf sag, hairgrass, etc.



OVT said:


> Or try PhosGuard.


 @OVT I've got a phosphate test in my online shopping cart, so I can first see if phosphates are high enough to be triggering the algae. If the phosphates are higher than preferable, I'll definitely check out PhosGuard!
@DaveKS The Stress Coat is my dechlorinator and helps increaes the slime coat of the fish. The Nite-Out II is supposed to stabilize and maintain nitrification in the tank and reduce ammonia. I don't really have a problem with nitrites or ammonia, but I don't know if that's Nite-Out II working or if there's no issue to start with. I could stop dosing with it, though, and find out.


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## OVT (Nov 29, 2011)

Ryan Mosby said:


> @[MENTION=49811]OVT I've got a phosphate test in my online shopping cart, so I can first see if phosphates are high enough to be triggering the algae. If the phosphates are higher than preferable, I'll definitely check out PhosGuard!


PhosGuard also removes silica, which is a major building block of diatoms.


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## Ryan Mosby (Jan 19, 2017)

Mods, please delete this post, there's been an update.


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## Ryan Mosby (Jan 19, 2017)

Silicate test: My 5 gallon with the algae problems registered as 3.75-5 mg. My other two nano tanks (2.5g and 3.7g) that aren't having big algae issues registered as 2-2.5 mg.

Phosphate test: The 5 gallon registered as 0.25 ppm, which according to other threads, isn't problematic. Tested my tap water and it's 0.50 ppm.

Ideas: I've been dosing fertilizer (NA Thrive) in the water column weekly, but I'm going to start using root tabs as well. With luck that'll give the rooted plants some more nutrients.

I'm also looking into maybe replacing my Thrive with APT Complete.

I'm using ADA aquasoil but it's been in for four months. Occasionally as I vacuum the top soil out, I add more in. Would this be enough, or am I supposed to remove all the aquasoil and replace it?

After trying to clean out as much of the brown algae as I can, it has exploded again. There's also now a lot of bubbles all over the tank gravel and plants.


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## KZB (Jan 3, 2018)

I forgot to ask how long has your tank been set up brown algae is typically related to new tanks. Another thing I would reccomend is to shorten your photoperiod to 6 hours for the time being. While continuing very thorough cleaning routine, during water changes. Goodluck and enjoy the ride.


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## Ryan Mosby (Jan 19, 2017)

@KZB I'm so sick of this stuff constantly coming back after I clean it off. I'm going to use the one-two punch.


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## jcoulter (Mar 12, 2018)

Ryan Mosby said:


> @KZB I'm so sick of this stuff constantly coming back after I clean it off. I'm going to use the one-two punch.


It's coming back because of an underlying problem. The one-two punch treats the symptom not the cause


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## Ryan Mosby (Jan 19, 2017)

@jcoulter But I haven't figured out the cause and it's getting so bad, plants are starting to die. It doesn't seem to be the silicates, phosphates, lights, tank gets algaecide daily, ferts once a week, parameters are reading fine (except nitrates get high when this stuff starts to kill the plants), no ammonia. The brown algae just comes back and gets so bad, it starts creating tiny bubbles everywhere, and then blocks the photosynthesis off the leaves.


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## jcoulter (Mar 12, 2018)

I hear you, it can be frustrating. I am also dealing with a (albeit smaller) brown algae problem.

The one-two punch could buy you some time to find the cause and deal with it, but surely it is stressful on the fish. Be careful!


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## Ryan Mosby (Jan 19, 2017)

jcoulter said:


> The one-two punch could buy you some time to find the cause and deal with it, but surely it is stressful on the fish. Be careful!


That's honestly what I'm hoping for; that I can give the plants some time to hopefully recuperate while I try to figure out what the cause is of the algae. My fish is always stressed, too. I just wish I could figure out what's wrong with this particular tank, while my even smaller tanks seem to do better. I'd be so tempted to dismantle it and start over but then my fish would have nowhere to live while the new tank cycles.


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## Ryan Mosby (Jan 19, 2017)

Back with an update! I did the one-two punch and within a day or two, a lot of the brown algae died and fell off. Then some dark green algae began to spread on the petite anubias, and a bit on the glass. I set up a shelf with a back and side and moved the aquarium there, so that there is no longer any possibility of sunlight hitting it. Then I cleaned it down pretty good and reduced the photo period by 2 hours. It's been a few days and I haven't seen the algae return yet.

It's been 11 days since then and sadly the betta is still stressed by showing clamped fins. I wish I could determine what is stressing him out.


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## Cinnamonamon (Oct 24, 2018)

I would stop doing everything "extra" that I could. No ferts, no changing substrate, keep a low photoperiod (5 hours is considered plenty to keep plants happy), etc. Feed sparingly, and if the betta is your only inhabitant, do a 10-25% water change with light gravel vac (and manual algae removal where possible) once per week with dechlorinated water (measure the dechlorinator too, just to hit all the bases). I'd take the carbon out, as well. After a month, assess everything and slowly try to add one thing at a time back in. The only things I didn't see you mention was if your circulation was decent throughout the tank, and if you had any ammonia or nitrites... In any case, good luck!


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## Ryan Mosby (Jan 19, 2017)

Hey there, got some questions!

*Water Changes:*
Normally once a week on this tank I do a 50% water change. Is this too much?

*Betta Food:*
I feed the bettas once a day, either every day or every other day, but I feed them the size of their eye and they're pretty good about getting it all. I try to take no chances that they'll overeat.

*Substrate:*
Sometimes I add in substrate if I've vacuumed up some and it's left a noticeable dip.

*Lights:*
Photoperiod got changed to 6 hours, should I change it down to 5?

*Extras: *
What I dose with each weekly water change is:
Stress Coat - dechlorinator
Excel - algaecide (I apply this every day)
GH+ Mineralizer - My GH is too low otherwise

Once a week (not with a water change) I dose my fertilizer, Thrive. If I don't, the leaves start getting holes in them.

*Circulation:*
I have a pre-filter sponge on my outtake but I also have an airstone to keep the surface moving. Ammonia and nitrites are always at 0. If nitrates are above 10, it tends to mean algae/dying plants so I look for dying matter and remove it.

*Other:*
Carbon's already been out for a while.


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## Cinnamonamon (Oct 24, 2018)

Ryan Mosby said:


> Hey there, got some questions!
> 
> *Water Changes:*
> Normally once a week on this tank I do a 50% water change. Is this too much?
> ...


I hope that none of this comes off as condescending -- it is so hard to know where someone is starting from, how much experience in which areas of aquaria they have, etc. etc. I've read straight up conflicting advice from "experts" repeatedly -- it makes me a little crazy! Anyway, for the plants I would pick a plan and stick with it for not less than 1 month. It really takes that long to see any real change, IMO. For your betta however, I would be reading everything I can online & posting on the fish forum about the clamping fins. Old age/end of lifespan is always a possibility, of course. Still. A lone betta in a 5 gallon palace should be a bubble nest making king, IMO!

Good luck!


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## Ryan Mosby (Jan 19, 2017)

It helps to feed bettas a varied diet, too. I alternate between pellets (2 crushed), bloodworms, and brine shrimp, to mix it up. I try not to do the same food two days in a row.

ADA aquasoil leaches ammonia at first. When I first put in the substrate, I had to do daily water changes, then weekly, until a month had passed. I never detect ammonia or nitrites anymore, though, I think because when I do put in aquasoil (not often), it's usually just a handful or two.

I did read that you're not supposed to upset the ADA aquasoil or it can cloud. I try not to but sometimes I can't help but suck up some of the soil pellets. It's worse if I'm not paying attention and suck up a section (that I then have to replace). It'll sometimes leak a type of thick cloud (keeps together mostly, rather than dispersing) that will roll over some of the substrate. I vacuum that out to get it to stop, and then if there's a noticeable dent in the substrate, I add more to fill the hole.

Sometimes I'll do it intentionally (after taking the fish out first) to replace some of the deeper substrate that's more like broken-down mud with fresher aquasoil.



Cinnamonamon said:


> I have no idea what your process is when you gravel vac, but when I do it in my dirted/sand capped tank, I wave my vac around to stir up debris, then suck that up, barely allowing the vac to touch the sand.


I definitely need to start doing this!



Cinnamonamon said:


> I also keep the hose partially kinked so I can slow the flow & stop it at a moments notice, in case I start sucking up anything I don't want to!


_Why did I never think of this!?_ That's perfect! Usually I'd just pull the vacuum out of the water to get it to stop, and the flow of water going back into the aquarium would stir up the substrate. Thank you!

I'll probably add a new thread in the fish part of the forums with the following, soon:

*Stress: The Story*
At the time my 5 gallon was occupied by a beautiful white betta (W). Because the process was so slow, I didn't realize he had been suffering fin rot for quite a while. I performed the necessary steps (such as water changes and aquarium salt baths) and stopped the fin rot.

The chocolate betta (C) (the one I'm currently concerned about) seemed happy enough in the other nano tank (2.5g--Not great, I know; he was an impulse buy and I already had that tank set up), scaring the dwarf shrimp into hiding and exploring every part of his domain--until she (F) came.

I had ordered a third betta (F), a female, and had set up a third nano tank (3.7g). However, the tank was still cycling (I had made a mistake that made it take weeks longer than usual), so when she arrived, I had to put her in a breeder box in the nano tank that held C (I didn't want to stress W in the 5g since he seemed to be going through something health-wise).

I had to move her from the nano to the 5g because C (at first very aggressive to have someone invade his small tank space) started spending days dedicating bubble nests to this female and I didn't know if he was ever going to stop. She even made a bubble nest too, inside her box. It was sweet but I'm in no position to breed bettas, and I was concerned this was going to stress them both out.

I moved her breeder box to the 5 gallon and W, the white male betta, never got over the aggression phase, which likely contributed to his health decreasing.

Finally when the tank cycled, I moved the female, F, in as soon as I could.

However, W in the 5 gallon was getting weaker. , but I couldn't understand why his health was failing. The night he died (after I risked a salt dip out of desperation), I noticed super tiny short little threads coming off him, far too small to be identified as anchor worms. Since they were white and he was white, I hadn't seen them until it was too late. Someone said it was likely mucous so I didn't concern myself. They said he had likely died from a secondary bacterial infection.

A few days later, I moved C, the male, from the nano (2.5 gallon) to 5 gallon, because it was a great size upgrade for him. (I'd prefer if all my bettas could have 5 gallons at least). His body is rather dark so it didn't take long for me to identify the same tiny white things (not round like ick) on him. Too small to see if they had forked tails with a magnifying glass, and they weren't leaving pink/red wounds, but they had attached everywhere, including the tail, around the eyes, over scales, etc.

Then I realized the female had it too--and that they had gotten it from being in contact with the 5 gallon when W was in there. I started treating them for external parasites for weeks until the buggers disappeared.

C got fin rot, and I was afraid he was going to go down the same path as W, so I've tried to be on top of everything as best I can with water changes and medication. The fin rot stopped, the external parasites seem to be gone.

*5 gallon Recent Changes Log:*

Betta involved is the chocolate betta (C) I am currently trying to de-stress. The female betta appears to be fine, except for a cataract. I treated her for cloudy eye for weeks and gave the tank regular water changes, but it never went away.

I've learned a lot of lessons in a short time.

05/01/19 - 06/14/19 - Treated tank with Hikari CyroPro once-a-week for external parasites. I didn't see them the last two weeks but wanted to be sure they were gone.

05/25/19 - 05/28/19 - Daily aquarium salt bath (to treat fin rot).

06/01/19 - 06/09/19 - Treated betta with Kanaplex every other day to prevent possible secondary infections like the former occupant developed.

06/01/19 - 06/14/19 - Treated betta with Paraguard every other day to help fight his external parasites.

06/05/19 - Added some limestone (and cuttlebone a few days before) to raise the KH (my tap is 0 KH) and make the pH more stable.

Added a single dose of Microbe-Lift Artemiss (was going to replace the Paraguard with this) but ceased, on account of company refusing to list the ingredients)

06/14/19 - Algae all the while was steadily getting worse over the last few weeks until it was out of control. Resorted to the One-Two Punch (removed livestock at the time, and returned them an hour afterward. No deaths reported).

06/21/19 - The tank was perpendicular to a window, so I moved all aquariums parallel to the window, on industrial shelving, with a tarp covering the back and sides of the shelf to protect the tanks from sunlight.


*Current Status (06/26/19):*
The tank looks good. The parameters are good. It's no longer at risk of getting hit by sunlight.

The brown and green algae is at a minimum finally (though I've noticed some brown algae growing in the gravel path through the center of the tank, between the rocks up against the glass. There's also some green algae I couldn't completely wipe off the anubias nana petite--not sure if it's dying, stable, or growing)

The pH doesn't fluctuate anymore with the KH up.

The plants seem to be happy. I was even able to add hydrocotyle tripartita from one of the other nano tanks. Normally it'd just collect hair algae and die, but it seems to adjusting fine.

Both betta's external parasites seem to have passed, his fin rot stopped, and despite everything seeming perfect now, his fins are _still _clamped. I'm hoping it doesn't have to do anything with old age. I got him from a pet store so I know they're already probably 4 months old when purchased, but they should live for several more years.

I considered adding Stress Coat more regularly to the tank but that would only treat a symptom and not the cause.

The other two nano tanks are running so well (similar setups, but no airstone), with no algae issues (though I'm sure there is algae, no tank in general is without it). The airstone was running a little aggressively so I've turned it down as light as it can go, so that there are still some bubbles agitating the surface. I'll see if that changes anything.



Cinnamonamon said:


> Honestly, if my nitrates are below 10 in a planted tank, I'm worried about my plants -- this is another situation where I am a complete newb though, so take that one with a grain of salt!


I try to keep mine around 10, for the plants to feed off of. I've found that if it's higher than that in my tank, it's being caused by dying plant matter, so I'm usually on top of that by removing any dead bits.

I always make sure to dose for the right size container. The measurements I've documented (so I don't have to calculate every time) show how much to dose for 1g (pitcher), 2g (bucket), 2.5g (nano), 3g (bigger bucket), 3.7g (nano), 5g (nano). I'm already dosing the appropriate amount of Stress Coat for my 3 gallon bucket I use for water changes, but I've been dosing twice the amount of Excel for the 5g daily. It sounds risky skipping Excel for a month but I'll give it a try.

On an off note, I keep forgetting to buy root tabs for the plants.

*Plans:*

Reduce water changes to 10-20% weekly or twice a month.
Stop dosing Excel for a month.
Stir up contents of tank with vacuum, don't touch substrate.


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## Ryan Mosby (Jan 19, 2017)

@Cinnamonamon It looks like the dang algae is returning. There's some spots on the glass (too faint to tell what color algae it is), and some bubbles forming on leaves, rocks, and gravel where some spots of brown algae are forming.


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## Cinnamonamon (Oct 24, 2018)

Ryan Mosby said:


> @Cinnamonamon It looks like the dang algae is returning. There's some spots on the glass (too faint to tell what color algae it is), and some bubbles forming on leaves, rocks, and gravel where some spots of brown algae are forming.


Ugh! I really like fishlab for info -- maybe some of this will help? 

https://fishlab.com/brown-algae/


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## Ryan Mosby (Jan 19, 2017)

@Cinnamonamon Thank you for the link! I read through it and decided to try Phosguard. I put it in three days ago.

Between the last time I posted and the Phosguard, I can't tell if the brown algae is spreading or not. It's kind of dusty and loose-looking, like the way it looked when the One-Two Punch killed it off the first time. Then small bubbles began developing. There's a lot of bubbles in it today, all over the substrate, rocks, and plants--not sure if this is good or bad. I'm going to do a water change and try to clean what I can.


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## Smooch (May 14, 2016)

I recently had problems with diatom algae in my 40 breeder. The tank has been set up for a couple of years, so I had to go through the laundry list of possible issues. 

Long story short, simply surface vacuuming wasn't enough as at the time as most of the plants I had were rhizome plants. Stuff that was in the substrate wasn't being broken down and used as a food source for plants. Once I gave the tank a serious vacuuming ( I did half one week at the water change, then the other the following week also at the water change) the algae problem went away. 

As far as phosphates go, I bought a kit as it isn't something I test for very often. Phosphate levels in my tank were .2, so no, it isn't just phosphates that can cause problems with diatoms. I feed my fish Northfin pellets and frozen plankton and brine shrimp. I don't feed them both at the same time, nor are the fish fed every day; they're fed every other day. 

On days I feed frozen, I thaw out the food first, then rinse well with clean water to remove all the phosphates and stuff that frozen foods are usually packed with. 

I feed my plants once a week. Now that I have lots of Rudy Red Vals in my tank, I surface vac where they are along with the Dwarf Sag, but everywhere else gets a deep vac every week, so I haven't needed to supplement with root tabs. I also do filter maintenance on a regular basis and do 30-50% water changes weekly. I also started relying on my weekly TDS readings more. Obviously a TDS reading isn't going to tell me exactly what is going on, but when I was having this problem, my TDS levels were in the 220 range prior to water changes. Now the new 'ceiling' of what is acceptable is in the 150 range. Nitrate levels were / are fine so that hasn't changed. 

The tanks' photo period is 6 hours. I bought a new light recently, but I haven't had problems with algae because of too much light. 

I don't know if any of this is helpful or not, but this is how I beat my diatom problem.


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## Ryan Mosby (Jan 19, 2017)

Because of the ongoing issue of algae and plants dying, I'm wondering if there's dead root clods in the substrate and if that's aiding the algae. 

I ended up throwing a lot of plants out today, because they weren't thriving (they were slowly dying) and algae kept coming back on them. I only kept a few cryptos, dwarf sag, anubias and anubias nana petite.

It's frustrating to start out with a scape you like, only to have it slowly dismantled as time goes on. Plants that you like but won't grow properly, rocks you have to avoid (like lava rocks) because of a betta's long fins. I was fine with being limited to low tech plants (my nanos have a variety of neat low-tech plants), but it seems like nothing truly works in the 5 gallon. Even if I've grown a plant for a long time in my other nano tanks, if I put it in the 5 gallon, it gets covered in diatoms.
@Smooch When you did your deep vacuum cleaning, what substrate did you have? Did you replace it? When I try to vacuum past the surface layer, I encounter mud bricks of aquasoil that try to clog up the python. Then the tank gets so cloudy that I have to do several 90% water changes to get it at all clearish. It's been a few days since I did the last water change and the whole tank is still a little cloudy. I just wish I knew if the substrate itself is the problem or if I should try to leave it alone as much as possible.

Part of me wishes I could completely tear down this tank and start new, but the betta would have nowhere to go. I wonder if I should just remove all the plants and go with some kind of driftwood scape instead. Maybe a river biotope with pebbles for substrate.


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## Smooch (May 14, 2016)

Ryan Mosby said:


> @Smooch When you did your deep vacuum cleaning, what substrate did you have? Did you replace it? When I try to vacuum past the surface layer, I encounter mud bricks of aquasoil that try to clog up the python. Then the tank gets so cloudy that I have to do several 90% water changes to get it at all clearish. It's been a few days since I did the last water change and the whole tank is still a little cloudy. I just wish I knew if the substrate itself is the problem or if I should try to leave it alone as much as possible.
> 
> Part of me wishes I could completely tear down this tank and start new, but the betta would have nowhere to go. I wonder if I should just remove all the plants and go with some kind of driftwood scape instead. Maybe a river biotope with pebbles for substrate.


My substrate is a hodge-podge of things. Carib Sea Peace gravel, Flourite, Eco-Complete, Fluval Stratrum and misc other kinds of gravel. Sans the Fluval Stratrum which was left over from another project, I've had this same substrate for over 4 years. I like the way it looks and I don't like swapping substrates due to the fact that it wipes out the tanks' bacterial bed. 

There has been talk around here recently about Aqua Soil and how there hasn't been much consistency from one bag to the next. I've never used it, so I can't say anything about it. What I will say though is: if a substrate was keeping me from doing what should be normal tank maintenance, it would not be allowed to stay in my tank. I don't find it worth the aggravation of having to keep finding a work around for something fish poop on, but that's just me. 

I'm not telling you what to do, but if you opt to swap out your substrate, here's how I do it:

I only swap out a 1/4 of the substrate at a time and only do so at a water change, so it takes me 4 weeks. I've never had a problem with ammonia spikes doing it this way.


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## Ryan Mosby (Jan 19, 2017)

I have to figure out whether to keep the ADA Aquasoil or if I want to switch to Tropica Aquarium Soil. I'll probably try and find out first if other people with ADA Aquasoil has theirs behave in the way that mine does, and if this is normal.

I really wanted my nature-scene-based hardscape to work. I had a bonsai and worked hard on my aquascape but the algae makes it hard to grow smaller plants that I feel like I'll probably have to give up. I'm just not sure how to solve the problem in a way that keeps the plants healthy. I've tried all the popular low-tech plants, and most just gets hair algae or brown algae and dies. Mosses (christmas and weeping)

If I give up the current scape, I might try a southeast Asia blackwater biotope, and top the substrate with some this and other leaf litter.


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