Ok Question about Alge

[mimi13chan]

There where 2 brown spots on the tank glass i wiped them off with my finger and moved the gravel around so the filter would get any de-bri on the bottom. So now there is brown on my plastic plants which I belive the brown = alge ^_^``
So do I need to do a WHOLE clean out of the tank
the water is clear
the nit. = (test tooken) jun. 1st, 20003 equaled 0
PH. 6.4
Ammon. = .23 so i added more biozyme
the temp. is 82
I have 1 golden gourami, 2 little platinum ones and a chi. alge sucker. The livestock are perfectly healthy except one small gourami gets attacked by the other two.

 

[Gomer]

My Oto is a brown algae eating machine. I have all sorts of types of algae (no big outbreaks), but the ONLY sign of brown algae is below the gravel line where he can't get.

 

[red belly pacus]

there are many sites including this one which will explain the different types of algea a good thing is to look them up. some like the red can be very hard to get rid of with out chems into play do a little investigating it is fun to learn about them. If you have live plants in your tanks chemicals are the way to go. depending on which type of alega you have and how much sunlight is a major cause of algea make sure your tank isnt close to direct sunlight and water changes are always a good thing but they will not greatly reduce algea.

 

[tetra girl]

sunlight is big cause of algae but not sure if it cause brown or green algae. too many nutiruints also cause algae. I use a paper towel to get rid of my algae. Everyday i wipe the sides down with it and then do a water change every 2nd day. i also use a soft brisle brush to remove hard green spots of algae that appear all the time.

 

[Fishman_2000]

How old is your tank? Brown algae is more common in new tanks. Also acidic water can cause more brown algae. Low light is also a factor. You don't need to do a whole clean out. What you can do is take all the plastic plants out and clean all the algae off and then clean the glass. Or the best thing to do is get some ottos. They are the most efficient at getting rid of brown algae. I'd say get 2 to 4. But sometimes the larger fish might go after them. So try to get the largest ones you can or get a bristlenose pleco. Are you doing water changes?

 

[Luca]

Brown algae is caused by too much light.
I like brown because it is easier to get rid of than green, don't wait too long before getting rid of the green or you'll never get rid of it

-be very careful using algae remover product if you decide to go that way, use a lower dosage than recommended, i've heard of terrible disasters! i actually regularly use one that doesn't seem to do anything. :|

-if the algae is stuck on to your plastic plants i've heard gin is a magical instant algae remover. If that's too expensive, use a ordinarly household bleach of dilution 1:19 (i.e 1 litre to 19 litres) and dip for 30seconds or a minute, rince THOROUGHLY with product aged water (this dechlorinates and debleaches it; most of the chemical make up of bleach is chlorine)

-something i did which has helped a lot if reduce lighting hours, i have my 55gal tank on a 24hr timer and it gets exactly 10 hours per day now instead of 12. the fish like a lighting routine as well as the plants

Luca.