# Brown stuff



## JAC (Jan 19, 2004)

Ok, I set up my 105gal like 3 months ago and shortly after that I noticed some brown stuff growing on some of the rocks, I thought it would go away on it's own but since then it has slowly been taking over the entire tank, now it's on both heaters, parts of the glass, the driftwood, the filter's intakes and it's even growing on the bottom of the tank underneath the sand, I don't know how to stop it







. I did a search and some people said it was because of low lighting and others said it was because of too much light, so I put my tank on 5 hours a day of light only but 3 weeks later it looks even worse. 
I don't think it's because of low lighting because I used to run only 20w on my 80 gal and I never had this problem, it currently hasd only 40w and it's running fine with 0 brown stuff.
On the 105gal I'm running 80watts.

Please, someone help, how do I get rid of this stuff???







.

Here are some pics of the brown stuff:

View attachment 63219


View attachment 63220


View attachment 63221


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## boozehound420 (Apr 18, 2005)

i have a bit of that stuff on my driftwood too, just noticed today....i shur hope somebody knows what to do cause i dont want it to get really bad

my own solution is getting a big fat algy eater, which im goona do in a couple days, i hope it works


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## piranhasrule (May 31, 2004)

My tank had a major problem with this stuff. I moved an albino plec and an L310 plec in and within a week it was totally gone, they loved it


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## pinchy (Jun 3, 2004)

the more i keep my lights on the faster that stuff grows. i just scraped it off every time i clean the tanks


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## JAC (Jan 19, 2004)

piranhasrule said:


> My tank had a major problem with this stuff. I moved an albino plec and an L310 plec in and within a week it was totally gone, they loved it
> [snapback]1044632[/snapback]​


 Ill have to give that a shot, although plecos are crapping machines but I'm really desperate. Lets see how long they last.


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

I'm gonna move this to Water Chemistry due to algae...


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## JAC (Jan 19, 2004)

wtf, I had never checked out this part of the forums before, I hope I get better replies here.


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## mashunter18 (Jan 2, 2004)

Lots of times plecos wont eat all that stuff. brown algae is actually diatoms,, single cell, they feed on silicats, new tanks usually have lots of silicates, and overfedding or lots of feeding doesnt help with the brown algae.

thats what I know........know Ill tell you I never get green algae, ever, and I run 160 watts on all my tanks from 135 gallon- my 240 gallon, run 12 hours on/off cycle,,,,no green algae ever, but that brown stuff.

I wish I knew how to get rid of it, cause I get the same thing, Im feed up with it, supposedly what I write is about brown algae,diatoms, but I have to scrub to death every week, and still get it, i do 3 water changes a week most of the time, and vac the crap out of my gravel.
Wish I could help, but I would love a good response on this besides 
"change your lighting"
"add more light"
"run the lights less"
"run the light more"

gotta be something else,

Im about to order a silicate test and try to see whats up, but im with you man, that is one thing I have never had consistant luck with, Im tired of dealing with it to..


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## JAC (Jan 19, 2004)

I found this link , it makes a lot of sense since I used pool filter sand for my new tank and the sand is silica, will it go away eventually when it eats up all the silicates? also, where can I find " silicate adsorbing resin" to put in the filter?


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## CTREDBELLY (Apr 8, 2005)

i NEVER had brown alge on any of my FW tanks but had it in my SW due to phosphates.

this week however i got the brown alge on mt FW tank and its ONLY on the side where the rooms window is i finally opened the blinds after moving my tank to a new location and in a week i had the alge i noticed that actual sunlight will make that crap grow like crazy. i shut the blinds and its already startign to go away.

check if the tank is in sunlight area if it is that may be the problem


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## mashunter18 (Jan 2, 2004)

JAC said:


> I found this link , it makes a lot of sense since I used pool filter sand for my new tank and the sand is silica, will it go away eventually when it eats up all the silicates? also, where can I find " silicate adsorbing resin" to put in the filter?
> [snapback]1045748[/snapback]​


Dr foster and smith online sells resins and pads like that,Iv never tried anything like that.

My problems with that stuff comes and goes, but iv always had problems with it and drives me crazy.I v never owned a silicate or phosphate test kit,I think I might try and do some tests, and find if one of those readins is off the hook.

Sounds like the sand could be causing your problems, it should go away when the silicates die off.


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## clintard_leonard (Mar 24, 2005)

ok once again im going to reccomend something so once again i dont want any smartass remarks on this either. EASY BALANCE

I had brown algae everywhere in my tank, put in easy balance like it says and i never do water changes, get algae, gravel vac, and my tank is clean as hell! the water is so clear i dont think it could get any clearer seriously.

With easy balance you only have to do water changes every 6 months, but if you gravel vac u will be doing small changes whenever u vac depending on size of tank etc.

I would put my life on this stuff, everyone says its a gimmick but the people who do try it never ever stop using it.

Heres my parameteres after 2 1/2 months no water changes or gravel vacs, just adding water to keep up with evaporation here and there

amonia-0
nitrite-0
nitrate-40

nothing ever spikes, or goes down rapidly. best fish investment you will ever buy, period


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## clintard_leonard (Mar 24, 2005)

dont call me a noob either


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## Morpheus (Feb 12, 2004)

I have a brown algae problem in my tank too. I have been trying to pin down the reason for a while now. I reduced feeding to every other day, I put a 2 hour break in my lighting to try and combat the algae photosynthesising, I added "cleanwater" media into my filter to increase phosphate removal, I added a nitrate removing sponge into my filter.Also I added a fast-growing Hygrophila to try and outcompete the algae for nutrients.

Result: STILL BROWN ALGAE EVEN GROWING ON THE NEW HYGROPHILA.

Finally I checked if my waterlife 6.5 buffer had phosphates in it and it sure as hell does!!

So every water change I have been doing when I have added the ph buffer (my tapwater is ph 7.6) , I have inadvertently been boosting the phosphate levels in my tank resulting in a bad Brown algae problem all over the back of the tank wall and covering most plant leaves.

So now i have switched to Seachem acid buffer (no phosphates) and hopefully over the next week or two with frequent water changes my phosphate levels should drop and the algae should recede









Thats what I hope anyway, though I could be talking S**T.


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