Excess Of Brown Algae

freshy · Nov 29, 2010

Hi, my tank's been set up and running well for 4 month now. I have some plastic, some natural plants and a good chunk of driftwood. for some weeks now I've been having an excess of brown algae. Is not an emergency, I know, but it doesn't look pretty. :sick:

I've cleaned up my plastic plants and the glass but after two days they're covered in brown gook again. I run a Aquaclear 50. I'm told it should be more than enough for my little 10 gal. and my fish seem happy. The natural plants are covered in this stuff too but I'm reluctant to take them out. The light is on for 8 hours a day. I do 20% waterchanges every 10 days
I'd be very thankful for any advice ou have for me
Thank you all in advance!

mislisa · Nov 29, 2010

maybe get a few otos? they clean algae really well in my limited experience.

electropunk06 · Nov 29, 2010

This happend when my tank was 3 months old.
did you buy the tank new or second hand?
is your tank in direct sunlight?
it just went one day so dont think its anything to be worried about.
i wouldnt buy fish to tackle algae unless you like them as fish.
if it dosent go down then maybe try a blackout for a few days.
Lloyd

freshy · Nov 30, 2010

Hi guys! thanks for the replies.
I bought the tank new. Is not place directly under sunlight but it is placed near a window but a good ray of sunlight comes into the room in the afternoons.

electropunk06 · Nov 30, 2010

I would just keep cleaning the algae off.
make sure your not over feeding and it should disappear.
Lloyd

Tokis-Phoenix · Nov 30, 2010

I agree with electropunk. Brown Algae is very common in new tank set ups (i.e. under 6months old), but as long as light, nitrate & general nutrient levels are kept down through regular tank maintanence etc the algae will pass in time as the live tank plants establish themselves properly (btw how are they doing?).

Oto Info
Oto's do make very good algae eaters, But;
1. They are very sensitive fish, so not that suited to new tank set ups which haven't gotten into the safe zone of long term tank maturity.
2. They pretty much only eat algae, and while they will eat brown algae (which they really love) they don't eat all types of algae (for example black hair algae). The problem with oto's is that they often don't take well to prepared fish foods- some will eat algae wafers while others don't (they are less likely to eat stuff like algae wafers in tanks with high fish traffic, as they are shy around other fish and tend to avoid contact with them, like at eating times), so once they have eaten all the algae in the tank some oto's don't do so well.
3. They stay very small in size (only about an inch long) but they look quite similar to some other algae eaters, in particular one which you really want to avoid: the Chinese Algae Eater (CAE for short) (which also doesn't make a very good long term algae eater).

Picture of Oto fish;
http

/www.aquaticscape.com/articles/algae/oto.jpg
Picture of CAE (which can vary a lot in colour/patterning);
http

/www.aquariumlife.net/profiles/asian-loaches/chinese-algae-eater/100056.asp

4. If you still want to get oto's, they do best in groups of 3-5+ in tanks that have been running problem-free for 6months+. Sometimes it is better to have an algae problem when you first get them as they are often half starved in pet shops (small fish, long transport times, little or no food etc- it takes its toll on them) and survival rates are best with them when they can fatten back up quickly after settling in.