Brown Algae problems

[Mazain]

I'm writing with the experience of my fish tank on different algae problems.
In most tanks the dominant plants feed up on all the nutrients that eliminate algae to exist.
Hardscape like old (driftwood, bogwood, redwood and spiderwood) would tolerate black beared algae or red algae not giving it a fresh natural algae free look in your aquascape.
Green hair algae always go hand in hand with stem plants that are not the dominant plant in the aquarium. Eg. Rotala that are in a low tech setup would produce green algae.
Brown algea usually happens with waterflow and epiphyte plants like pothos that has roots growing in the surface or top level of the tank or any dominant plant that runs on the surface or top level of the tank.
So basically my black algae runs on ground level with bogwood, the mid level runs with stem plant and green algae and the toplevel capture all the brown algae from the long roots and dominant plants growing on the surface level of the aquarium.
P.s. since I'm keeping plants in a discus tank algae actually helps with their natural colors as I don't use color enhancing vitamins specially for solid yellow discus.

 

[f_luxus]

What you claim regarding algae can't be true.
Otherwise nutrient concepts as "Estimative Index" couldn't work. There are algae in pure RO water... how should that be possible?

In fact, brown algae usually come when starting a aquarium and go after biofilms and microbiome are well established. If not, silcates in the water could be a reason.

Green hair algae often go, when the light is limited to 8hrs or less, but with high lumem.
Another reason could be a disbalance in calcium/magnesium.
A third reason are Cladophora sp. because they act like higher plants. Salicyl acid can help given daily for 3-4 weeks. But there's no 100% way to get rid of them. I learned to accept them. My friend @Zer0Fame has Zero tolerance for visible algae.

 

[Mazain]

What you claim regarding algae can't be true.
Otherwise nutrient concepts as "Estimative Index" couldn't work. There are algae in pure RO water... how should that be possible?

I agree with f_luxus a 100%.
But I don't have the luxury to keep a planted tank with discus fish.
For ex; I had to add 2 stable led lights and white silicate sand for red and yellow peppering.
I'm not an expert with RO water, but sunlight is one of the cause for algae.

 

[GaryE]

There are some observations in this post that are interesting. "Brown algae" does appear in my tanks with large peace lilies growing above the surface. The roots systems of those plants are quite large, and their use of nutrients clearly favours brown and red growths. What grows in those tanks is very different from my Rotala filled low tech tanks, which are prone to both clumping black algae and green hair algae.

I used a sand at one point that gave me problems with black algae and cyano. Once I removed and replaced it, the problems vanished.

I don't see algae as a major issue. It grows. If it grows too much, I remove it.

I like experimenting with emersed plants, but in every experiment there can be unintended consequences. We're coming out of a period where every hobbyist was supposed to look at their tanks through nitrogen cycle test kits. It was useful, but there is so much more to what we're doing than just the (important) cycle. You can use Pothos, peace lilies and many other terrestrial plants to remove pollutants, but they may well cause other 'side effects' that change the flora of the tank.

 

[Zer0Fame]

My friend @Zer0Fame has Zero tolerance for visible algae.

Depends on the tank and the algae!
I always wanted Hildenbrandia ... but never had luck.
Same with Thorea...

Brown algea

Can you define "Brown algae" for me? Because that sounds more like bacterial colonies. Maybe even "Sewage fungus" (misleading name).
Or do you mean diatoms? In that case, slamdunk some portions of Ceratophyllum demersum into the tank.

Hell of a plant. Actively uses up silicates and can even fire up some allelopathy against algae.
Maybe combined with some botanicals ... more organic matter -> more Aufwuchs / bacterial density -> diatoms HATE that trick.

But I don't have the luxury to keep a planted tank with discus fish.

Why's that? Discus and plants are not mutually exclusive.

There are algae in pure RO water

Fact is, algae need much, much, much(!) less nutrients, than plants.
One of the reasons why hair algae can often be countered by upping nitrates.
Little nitrates -> Plants suffer -> Plants lose their defenses -> Happy algae, as the low levels are still enough for them.