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I have what may be algae..but not sure . It's not green, it's brown..and it's appearing in all the little crevices and surfaces of my rocks, even the pebbles i use as the substrate..and on the intake flow thingies (plastic peices on the ends of the intake tubes) ]
Is it just because i don't have enough plecos to clean up yet (150gl with only 2 very small spotted hypostemuses)?
I'm not going to add any more plecos yet (leaving on a deployment and don't want my husband to have to tend to the newbies)..so is there something else (additive/chemical) that i can use to clean it up ?? i have some 'algae destroyer', but haven't used it yet.
PLEASE help me...i don't want this to take my brand new tank over!


[span class="edited"][Edited by fishfan13 2004-08-07 22:20][/span]

[span class="edited"][Edited by fishfan13 2004-08-07 22:20][/span]

Sounds like it might be diatom algae...it's actually common in newly established tanks. I've found that reduced feeding, malaysian trumpet snails, and phosphate removers seem to help. Alot of people claim it comes about as a result of not enough light, I've yet to see any solid proof of that though.

^_^

my light is on all day..usually from about 7am to 10pm.
these phosphate removers...is there a certain type, brand?
i'm afraid the brown stuff will take my tank over...

Perhaps one of our Moderators will move this to the Water Quality Forum where it may receive more attention...

--garyroland.

Hi I noticed the same thing, but not much as you I think.
When I started my 29gal I had some brown stuff(perhaps it was diatom algae) and it was on some on my rocks, intake tube, gravel and etc. There was little of it to start with and most of it has dissappeared, except there are a few gravel that are covered with. I don't if my malawi cichlids ate it or regular vac and H2O changes has made most of it dissappear. Is your brown stuff spreading fast and what percentage of the tank is covered in it?
openwater

29g
three peacocks
demasoni
68g
empty

It's not that it's THAT bad right now. I notice it a lot on my substrate, cuz i use pea gravel (bigger than the regular fish gravel) and it's natural in color. It's in the crevices of a couple of rocks, and starting to build up on the ends of the intake tubes.
I've cut down on leaving my light on all day and
i went out and got 2 more plecos, pretty big ones, too..i'm still hoping they'll help, but so far, they've been sticking to hiding behind the same 2 rocks...not moving around the tank like my other 2 do..is this normal, too?