Currently battling some brown algae since my last pleco passed away. Water parameters are perfect, lighting on only 6 hours a day (on timer), fully cycled and doing 25% water change weekly, and feeding ever so sparingly once each day maybe 5 days out of 7 (i am 100% sure its not overfeeding).
I went ahead and scraped a lot of it off, and got a new pleco yesterday, and its gone down a lot. I have kicked up the water changes a bit to compensate, but not messed with changing any filter pads, etc.
Anyone think it might be the heat wave we had here the last two weeks? i know the two main causes are overfeeding and lighting, but those i keep controlled tightly. Any input appreciated as always...
I had that problem after I gave my pleco away (outgrew the tank). My new little pleco tries, but I need to use anti-algae sparingly to keep it under control.
I'v got brown algae too...only on the back wall though near the filter. Probably because i'v been overfeeding. I bought a little spongie thingie with a long handle so i can scrub it off every once and awhile.
yeah my new pleco is hard at work... or hardly working... lol.... he hides a lot, so hopefully he's eating all night long, but yes my lights are on timer at the same time each day and the room stays nice and shady all day as i keep the blinds half open, and the sun never reaches that window regardless. Only other time I had brown algae was when i first set up the tank last year and was cycling.
I have kicked up the oxygen going into the tank from the venturis.... i heard oxygen helps minimize the brown algae.
maybe you need moar lighting... right now my south american tank has brown algae because one of my bulbs blew out... i need to pick up another full spectrum bulb stat...
gumbii... i thought about this... my bulbs are about 7 months old, running 6 hours a day. You think im ready for new ones? it would explain why my green algae is never around.
gumbii... current satellites 40w one bulb regular one bulb actinic.
a1... I had a previous issue awhile back with very low ph (below 6 and theres actually a long thread about it in the forum)... tried many things only to learn it was the driftwood I had in my tank, so i removed it and ph went back to a steady 7.4. It was on display in a showtank at my lfs when i bought it, but might have rotted by the time i bought it. But yeah, no wood for me now.
