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Another "brown" algae question

3K views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  fish999 
#1 ·
My tank gets lots of what looks like brown algae. (brown spots, spreading to whole areas; slimy feeling.)
The strange thing is that my tank is not newly setup, nor does it have an ammonia problem.
It's a 65g tank and I have two 4" Plecos and 4 Ottocinclus. I would've thought that they would be enough to keep it at bay, but they do virtually nothing. I get noticeable spots on the walls of the tank within a week after cleaning.
The tank has two florescents -- "natural sunlight" (20W) and the original "All Glass Aquarium" (25W) that came with my hood. Both run about 14 hours/day. In addition, the room gets good daylight all day with the tank receiving up to an hour of direct sun every day.

This is about the best picture I can get. You can even see where it grew around a couple of suction cups that have since been removed.

Any ideas?

 
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#2 ·
I had an algae problem in my small tank at work and picked up a gold snail from petsmart. I had both a brown and green algae problem and the snail cruised around eating all the brown algae but none of the green stuff. Could help out with your brown algae problem.
 
#3 ·
Brown algae usually indicated lack of light. And I'd have to say the 20W over the 65g tank is very little light - Am I assuming correctly that you do not have live plants in there?
If this was my tank: I'd get a unused/ new sponge, wipe down the glass (filter will pick up what's floating around) exchange the light bulbs for something more intense and then go from there.
 
#5 ·
I'm running 32W and 40W each 4 ft over mine.
The problem with algae is: You have access nutrition that aren't absorbed by plants and a light that enables their growth more then others.
 
#6 ·
brown algae is a sign of low levels of undetectable ammonia and/or light factors coup[led with a nutrient imbalance. im going to assume you have two florecents one for each side of the tank. i would upgrade to a fixture that spans the entire length of your tank and houses two t8 bulbs.

from the amount of sunlight and coupled with the floro light though just sounds like a nutrient imbalance which is causing the algae to bloom.
 
#7 ·
Thanks.
So do you think the nutrient imbalance is caused by too much feeding? The water is crystal clear.

regarding lighting...
I have two full-length florescents now. (actually two individual single tube fixtures)
As I said above, one is a GE natural daylight and one is All-Glass Aquarium "Aquarium light" (kind of purple-ish compared to the other light, so probably more of a spread-spectrum bulb.)

What K (color) rating bulbs would you recommend for this tank?
 
#10 ·
If you have very FINE stem plants, maybe they'd mess with it. But if you'd get plats such as Hygrophilia or Swords you won't have a problem.
Here's 2 good site with names & pictures of plants
Sweet Aquatics
Aquarium Plants
 
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