Removing Brown algae from leaves

Big Fate

Yea i've used amano shrimps before, but honestly they do a lousy job on house cleaning.. They like to swim up when its feeding time and get full then dont wanna do any work

Big Fate

Was taking pics earlier, so thought i'd throw a few pics up so you can get an idea of what the tank i'm talking about looks like. Got most of the brown algae off the anabuis leaves today by scrubbing them (not sure if those roots need to buried). But you can see the brown cover i get on the back glass:

Olympia

Hmmm.. Consider trying a product like SeaChem's phosguard- it removes silicates.
Seachem. PhosGuard
I'm not sure if removing phosphorous is bad for the plants though. o-o

Big Fate

Hmm. Thats what i'm curious of. What do you think Bryon?

Looks like on amazon i can get a small 100 ml bagged for about 7 bucks or 250 ml for 2 bucks more.

Olympia

The site says 250ml for every 75 gallons until the product stops working... That should last you a while. Normally "until the product stops working" would have me suspicious but Seachem is a great company.

Big Fate

Lol true but worth a try if it doesn't hurt the plants

Byron

On the tank, looks good. But one problem, you need floating plants. Java Fern is a shade plant, and tends to do best when not in direct overhead light. Also, all forest fish are healthier under a canopy of plants.

On the phosguard,I know I mentioned this previously, but generally speaking one should not use chemical filtration in a planted tank. Chemical filtration refers to any media that alters the water chemistry. Carbon is the usual media one thinks of, but any product that targets ammonia, nitrite, nitrate or phosphates in this case is something one should avoid. The plants handle these things better--and less expensively. Phosphate is a nutrient, and usually present in sufficient quantity from fish foods and tap water, so we rarely have to add it, thus it is minimal if present at all in most aquarium plant fertilizers.

As for the silicates, where are these coming from? The substrate perhaps?

Big Fate

Thanks. The tanks alright I guess, I just want to take this thing to a whole other level already. I wanna nice carpet filled of HC.

So you are saying the carbon from the filter refills are fine right? I have no clue where the excess Silicates come from. I'm suspecting the hard water, as I have it in my Goldfish tank aswell which is a different substrate. (Just plain old gravel).

szette

I'm a little late to chime in but wanted to recommend Nerite snails rather than a chemical solution. 2 Tiger's Blood snails cleaned up all the brown algae on my 7.5 gal tank's glass, rocks, plants, etc. They are much more efficient eaters than my Maylasian Trumpets and cuter too :)

Byron

Carbon should not be used in planted tanks, there is no need. Except in an emergency to remove medications after treatment or similar. Carbon will remove substances the plants can handle, some of which are nutrients.

I would check the water data from the supply people to see if silicates show up.