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well here is my sad story:
Begged and pleaded with my parents to allow me to get a ten gallon tank, filled it with decorations, did hours of research to find the perfect and compatible fish and finally decided on a male betta, two cherry barbs, and four khuli loaches. Well the tank is completely infested with diatoms (aka 'brown algae'). Algae eating fish didn't work, increased/decreased lighting didn't work, manually scrubbing the tank didn't work, replacing the gravel/plants didn't work, algae killing chemicals didn't work, (just killed my fish) and now I am planning on trying a snail to eat it. But the tank has got me so frustrated, I just want to throw the thing away and forget my foolish idea of wanting a beautiful fish tank, and my parents are equally fed up. It's everywhere, and the tank looks disgusting and I want to save it, but what to do?

Fish are like potato chips. . .you can't have just one

er what's with the poll?

Fish are like potato chips. . .you can't have just one

replacing the gravel/plants didn't work,

No probably made it worse.

Brown algae is caused by an excess of silicates. Quite common in new tanks as some new gravels will leech silicates into the water. It will go away eventually as the silicates diminish. In the meantime lots of water changes will help speed up the process of getting rid of the silicates. Then it's just a matter of waiting - when the silicates are exhausted the diatoms will disappear.

Try to use a substrate that has no silica content and check your water company to make sure the tap doesn't contain high silica content, which can happen.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Thanks! ^_^ I will definately try that. . .but I was planning on replacing the plants and gravel and decorations again though, because they are covered in the algae stuff. . .will just buying a snail solve my problems? And is there a 'silicon remover' thing on the market?

Fish are like potato chips. . .you can't have just one

Hi,
Take the plants and rinse them under running water of the
same temp as the tank. Vacuum the gravel with each water
change (the unplanted sections), and unless you want snails
in the tank, I'd forget that step. The only snail that I
would introduce would be the MTS live bearing snail. They
burrow in the gravel out of sight (except at night) and
keep the gravel aeriated.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

You can remove it a billion times and it will still come back. Setup your tank, leave it sit, and see if it improves in 4-6months. Brown algae is part of any new tank and can take several months to go away. Everytime you really change things such as replacing decorations and gravel or doing a huge water change(close to 100%) you cause the brown algae to come back. You will not get rid of it with your methods.

When I first setup my 55g it had strings of brown algae hanging off the caves and columns growing out of the substrate. If I didn't scrape the glass daily I couldn't see into the tank. It was gone in 6months but the otos sure enjoyed it and actually spawned a few times. If your going to try snails to eat it then get fancy ramshorns like the red and blue varieties that are known not to eat plants and love algae including brown algae. Applesnails are carnivorous and will only eat algae in passing while starving to death on an algae only diet. MTS are also more carnivorous but more by preference than necessity. They will eat and survive on algae they just don't prefer it.

Not only does this algae effect freshwater tanks but whenever you setup a saltwater tank it goes through the same thing. Saltwater tanks use ro water in most cases so it's not even caused by the excess silicates or phosphates in the water. Again it's just a part of setting up a new tank. Even snails that prefer to eat this algae can't keep up with it when it first makes an appearance in the tank.

The only thing that can be effective at stopping brown algae growth is to remove nutrients. Try phoshpate and silicate removers and keep the nitrates really low. Brown algae prefers to grow in water that is high in those nutrients. Usually in a freshwater tank that's not necessary. It will just use up it's food source in a few months by itself and then you may never see it again. At least until you decide to change all the gravel and decorations again.

A snail won't do much for that situation.

It's just patience and water changes it will burn itself out eventually.

There are silica removing resins on the market that go in the filter. But I believe they are a bit difficult to use.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

see if it improves in 4-6months.

Did you per chance come across the "patience factor" when researching for your tank? Darnit! That is one thing you need to be an aquarist.

You have tried a lot of things but sometimes the trying of this and that can exacerbate things. Just chill for a bit. Don't add any more fish (I know you lost some, sorry about that) or chemicals. Take out the ornaments until the algae is under control or you will have to repeatedly clean them.

It will be hard to have a bare tank. Especially when people lean in and say "where are the fish". Just know that you are on the road to a pretty tank. Aquarium keeping is like gardening. Gardeners have to prune or have bare earth or accept the leaves of some plants seasonally yellow and non-gardeners don't get it.

You fought hard to earn that tank. Persevere. You will have a pretty tank one day. HANG IN THERE BABE!

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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~