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.

 

[Mazain]

Can you define "Brown algae" for me?

Well in my tank brown algea pretty much grows on the filter intake pipe. It was green when it started growing, now its brown. That has cascaded on top with the epiphyte roots.

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

The luxury is that I got a wall cement tank which is 6 feet above the ground. So unlike a glass bare bottom tank cleaning and maintenance is agony.

Specialy when I got to stand on a ladder or stool, and needing a wire brush to scrub all the algae growing on the cement walls and base of the aquarium.
So plants in my discus tank saves the agony and keep me cleaning only the front glass wall of the aquarium.

 

[Zer0Fame]

Hey,

would you happen to have pictures of the algae?

Green -> Brown sounds more like green algae with bacterial growth on them. Discus are notorious for producing tons of organics.

 

[Mazain]

Hmmm,
When green algae was growing inside my filters, there was bacteria in it. I clearly saw green and brown. Green wasn't turning brown.

 

[plebian]

there is so much more to what we're doing than just the (important) cycle

That's putting it mildly. The truth is that life is vastly more complex than people realize. For just one example check out the link below. Life on earth is wholly dependent on thousands, if not millions, of species of bacteria and other microbiota. I once came across an article on soil chemistry that estimated less than 1% of soil organisms are known or understood.

Archaea

Every aquarium is a unique ecosystem.

Aquaria

 

[Mazain]

Every aquarium is a unique ecosystem.

Aquaria study on reeftanks with A,B,C&D groups was a good reed which can't be seen to the naked eye.

The truth is that life is vastly more complex than people realize.

I agree with you Plebian a 100%.

 

[Zer0Fame]

The truth is that life is vastly more complex than people realize.

That's why I made it my hobby to disprove fish tank myths.

 

[Mazain]

That's why I made it my hobby to disprove fish tank myths.

I don't think plebian was talking about myths. He was referring to eco-systems.

 

[Zer0Fame]

I know, and that's the point.

 

[raylove]

For years I've had a moderate problem with diatoms, in fact I thought what I had was normal. I cleaned my tanks, glass and hardscape regularly, and removed any plant leaves that were becoming smothered. The plants grew fast enough that it was easy enough to remove large quantities (though this was of course time consuming).
From time to time I'd try to improve things but nothing really worked - more water changes, fewer changes, phosphate removal (though this reads very low), more light, less light, more fish, fewer fish etc ... Nothing changed.
I'd never measured silicates as there was plenty online that seemed to debunk the theory that this was the cause, claiming that the silicate dissolved in the water wasn't the same as what the diatoms used. Anyway, about 3 months ago I decided to lower silicates using Phosguard (rookie error, I didn't test the levels first as, to be honest, I wasn't expecting it to do much).
My pack provided enough for 3 doses if needed, so I duly put one third in a filter bag. After 3 weeks there wasn't much of a change so at this point I changed the media, assuming it was probably exhausted. Another 3 weeks passed at which point there was a definite improvement though not earth shattering.
At this point I changed the media again and went on holiday for two weeks, leaving my automatic feeder in charge as usual. Normally after an extended absence I have a lot of diatoms on the glass and plants - this time there was NOTHING! The diatoms were completely gone, the plants were still growing but were now much bushier and the greens and reds were really popping. Parts of the tank that I had never thought of as dirty were positively glowing. Slow growing plants that I didn't even know were still in there were emerging from the substrate as they were now able to outgrow the diatoms!
A month later things are still great. I still do my water changes of course but I no longer have to clean the hardscape or glass, nor do I have to hard prune the plants each week.
I've subsequently purchased a silicate test kit and my tap water is 2 -3ppm (high-ish apparently) whereas the tank water is 0.1ppm.
I'm sold! I will now leave the Phosguard in place and test for silicates weekly and will change it if I start to see levels rise. Although it also removes phosphate and my levels are now almost unmeasurable, so far the plants are doing great. I can't recommend this product enough to anyone who has 'brown algae' beyond the expected maturation stage. I am astonished at the effect it's had in my main tank and I'm now trying it in my smaller 'support tanks' and already I can see a difference after 2 weeks.

 

[plebian]

I'm sold!

I tried the same thing with no effect whatsoever. Like I said, aquarium chemistry is complex. What may have an effect in one instance has no effect in another. It's why there's so much conflicting information in the hobby.

In my experience, the most effective algae control has been Chinese algae eaters. Unfortunately, that's only true for juveniles. I'm now trying Otocinclus, which are almost as voracious. I've never been able to keep them alive for more than a month, but the group I have now appears to be healthy so time will tell.

Whether they're wild caught or farmed, I have no idea. The only thing I can say with certainty is they removed all the algae from my plants in less than 24 hours, and they are doing the same for my substrate. They feast on both brown algae and green dust algae. Hopefully, they have a normal life expectancy.