Algae

[Clorey68]

I have been having a big problem lately with brown stuff on the glass of the aquarium and on the plastic plants. I am doing a 25% water change each and every week, but to no avail. I leave the light on the 8 hours per day. The fish seem to be fine. What is this brown stuff and what is causing it? I am thinking about getting a water testing kit and see what the problem is with the water. I have been using R.O. water, but now I am finding out that this is not a great idea. Any suggestions that anyone has for me would be greatly appreciated as the aquarium looks so awful. I have had this aquarium for almost 8 years and this brown thing started happening about two months ago, before that, no problem. Somethi

ng is very wrong in this tank.

 

[ellena]

Is it loose, floating about? If so it is diatoms which are caused by ammonia in the tank, so common in new setups. How long has yours been running?
Sorry, just seen, 8 years. Def. worth getting test kets, go for the API master kit, seems a lot but there are lots of kits in it and they last ages.

 

[Clorey68]

Is it loose, floating about? If so it is diatoms which are caused by ammonia in the tank, so common in new setups. How long has yours been running?
Sorry, just seen, 8 years. Def. worth getting test kets, go for the API master kit, seems a lot but there are lots of kits in it and they last ages.

No the brown stuff doesn't float around, it's just stuck on everything. I will get the professional test kit. Thanks for your reply.

 

[Truck]

buying the test kits might prove a waste of time as they cannot pick up trace amounts of ammonia, improve your filtration and drop your lighting by a few hours, and if you want to buy a test kit go with saliferts in you're in the UK, they're more accurate.