Illness, Health & Nutrition • Brown Alge

[stevebliss080182]

I have a major issue with brown alge it all over my glass and holey rock. I have one bristel nose sucker fish in a 75gallon tank.

[lilscoots]

how long has the tank been up and how long has the bristlenose been in there? I had the same algae when I first set up my 75 gallon though I didn't let it cover the glass before I got the bristlenose in there. It took him a good week, but he cleaned up everything. Is your tank in front of a window? I have a hospital tank near a window that is an algae factory.

[cichlid-gal]

I've been doing a lot of reading about this topic on the web as most of my tanks are relatively new (within the 2-4 range) and I will be watching this thread for info with interst

There are a couple of items I have seen in my reading (not vouching for them but just sharing)

1) it seems brown algae is common in new tanks as it seems to mostly be a byproduct of silicates and phosphates. New tanks that are made of glass will "leach" silicates for time as will some types of decorations so it is common to see this type of algae after new tanks are set up but often it will disappear after the first few months (2-4) of new tank setup

2) it is an easy algae to clean - mostly you can just rub it off decorations and rock under hot running water or scrape it off the tank walls as necessary

3) it is not harmful unless allowed to grow out of control causing "brown" water and competition for oxygen in the water

4) if it is not a new tank and you are seeing this type of growth then it may be that your tap water has an increased amount of phosphates. There are some products that you can use to help with these situations...like Phosguard by Seachem (but I cannot vouch or really even address those as I've never used them)

MY current mode of attack is simply to remove items and scrub them down...things look pretty good for most of the week and by the end...oh well, I do it all over again

[stevebliss080182]

Tank has been up and running about 6 weeks. The bristle nose has been in there about 3-4 weeks. Although i never see him do anything. The tanks is in front of a window.

[vann59]

For a tank that size, you should probably have two BN plecos if you want it to be clean from algae. Other major factors are light and filtration. You can always turn off the lights for a period to get control of algae, although the brown (diatom) phase is typical before the green algae gets established. And plenty of turnover with good polishing filters will help a lot to keep algae under control. It multiplies faster when it's not being filtered out.

[DJRansome]

I don't have a problem with just one BN in my 75G tanks. New tanks get diatoms for a couple months, and then they go away. Diatoms wipe off easily enough.

[GTZ]

I have 2 bristlenose in my 75 and at times I worry about whether or not they get enough to eat. So, you may be ok with just the single. I'd give it another month to find out.
Also, plecos do most of their work at night as they're nocturnal. That's probably why you don't see any action.

[vann59]

I guess you guys are right, I've been using babies in mine and of course it will take a while for them to grow up and eat more. But they do seem to do a good job. It's a pain in just the one tank that I take care of for the non profit that the africans have killed them. I'm going to try again using some pipe as a shelter.