# Grrr. Brown algea everywhere!!!



## cmhensley (Jan 7, 2014)

Not sure why, it was coming and going slowly. Now its getting everywhere! Lights are plently. I am doing more water changes and I added some duckweed. Only difference is a lot of my shrimp have died. I am down to 4. Not sure whats going on. They are always half eaten when I find them. So I never 100% sure why they died or if they are being killed. 

Is there anything I can do or any fish I can add? I have been thinking about buying one of the "algea eater" fish from walmart. Not a pleco. They look pretty small (around 1") and not sure what they actually are. Just labeled as Algae eater and grow to 6". I only have a 5 gallon currently. But I will upgrade to a 10 eventually. 

Any help appreciated! Thanks!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Are you sure they are dead and not just shedding their exoskeleton? Just wanted to make sure is all.

Brown algae is actually good! This means your tank is maturing! Brown algae or Diatoms often appear in young tanks, they will run for around 3-5 months but eventually burn themselves out of nutrients. In that time though you can either leave it or rub it off. Make sure to rub it off of live plant leaves so that they won't get choked out if you've got them.

I do not suggest getting an algae eater, most likely it is a Chinese Algae Eater which are carnivorous when they grow up! Not a good candidate for a 10 gallon >.< It could be the Siamese Algae Eater which are not carnivorous but either way, it's not worth it.


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## Briz (Mar 22, 2013)

Pictures would help us determine what type of brown algae it is (brown slime, diatoms, brown dust, etc.)

Algae is usually the result of too much light or too much nutrients. How long do you have the lights on a day, and does the tank get any sunlight?


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## cmhensley (Jan 7, 2014)

No sunlight. Lights are on from around 9:30 am to 9:30 pm. I will try and get some pictures tonight. Yep I am sure they are dead. Bright pink dead bodies. Next time I change the water I will go and rub it off the live plants. I was wanting something to do it for me, as I was sure it would be more gentle then me scrubbing on it lol.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Cut your light time down to 8-10 hours, 12 hours can get to be a little much if it's not fully planted with lots of fast growing plants.

You don't want to contribute more to your ammonia levels that necessary. Besides, depending on how long the fish is in there, you could stunt their growth and they could die early. It's easier on you and better if you just rub it off the plants and use an algae scrubber or magnet to clean the tank surfaces.


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## beautiful Betta (Sep 19, 2013)

what is your actual water change schedule, and do you have real plants or silk?

I don't actually think the brown algae will magically disappear. It often feeds of light and the Nitrate caused by the cycle process, so IMO in a set up you will always have those things in your tank to feed the algae, the only thing you can look at is changing your maintenance/lighting and reducing the algae food source.


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## beautiful Betta (Sep 19, 2013)

sorry just noticed you said live plants, that explains the lighting time. do you have NPT tank?


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## cmhensley (Jan 7, 2014)

Not NPT. Just gravel. It has 2 anubias nana, 3 bunches of green crypt, narrow leaf java fern and I just added the duck weed a few days ago. I change about 50% of the water every 2 days. And once a week I wring out the sponge filter in the old tank water. Here are some pics. Please don't judge my divider too harshly, its a work in progress and I am waiting on supplies to fix it, I used what I had on hand (more plastic canvas and new suction cups) The duckweed was/is in the rings, its growing steadily already. I have the filter on one side and an air stone on the other for added aeration. Here you go! And included close up of algea


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## cmhensley (Jan 7, 2014)

There is a baby java fern floating around on the left side, it just doesn't want to stay rooted. And there is more plants on the left side because he has a harder time swimming, and he likes to wedge himself in the plants.


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## beautiful Betta (Sep 19, 2013)

Ok, I had a similar problem. The problem is unless the plants are really thriving they don't eat up enough of the nitrates and the light it is just added food for the algae. I actually tired plants myself thinking they would probably not work, but it was for Algae reasons caused by the tank light I tried it. The algae problem got worse because the plants didn't really thrive enough to warrant the hours I had the light on. I even had plant tabs in the gravel to try and feed them as well. Most of the plants rotted out and died anyway. I think it is really hard to keep plants alive and really thriving enough to have the desired effects on water quality. And really only those who have NPT tanks or Co2 system's reach that desired level of plant growth to actually be beneficial.

For me my algae issue was solved when my tank actually broke and I had to move tanks anyway. most of the plants weren't doing well and so I just went back to silk plants and the new tank didn't even have a light. Betta's don't actually like lights at all, and the only reason I ever turned it on before the live plants was so it could dry out the condensation that got in the light unit. But when I changed tanks it didn't even have a light unit so I didn't bother with the light, went back to silk plants cut out actual bright day light getting in the tank and I have not a spec of algae anywhere. My tank was never really bad, but I just couldn't stand the sight of it.
My old tank was a 5 gallon built in filter light/ new tank 6 gallon, filter no light unit had heaters of course. lol my regime for both tanks was one 50% water change a week and one 80% one once a month. I have one betta.

Things you could do to help is cut down the light, 6-8 hrs will be plenty, your could also try lowering the bulb voltage in the tank. or get a co2 system which I know works as I had one on 4 foot community tank we hardly needed to do water changes as the plants were thriving and nitrate was zero with that system, no algae issues whatsoever. Although it is rather pricey just for a small tank. Or look into the NPT tanks I have no experience with them so cant comment on them specifically.

Or don't bother with the live plants and get silk and cut out lighting all together unless just to view your fish honestly your betta's wont mind they hate the bright light anyway.

I think algae issues have to be one of the most annoying aspects of the aquarium as there is no real quick fix to it, only environment changes can solve it. And it is not that easy to solve.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

The biggest issues is that you have tons of Java Ferns which is fantastic but not enough fast growing stem plants; those are the ones that will soak up all the nutrients like Water Wisteria, Anacharis and Hornwort are three of the better ones for that. Floating plants as well like water sprite and then any of the regular floaters like duckweed, salvinia, red root floaters, frog-bit. 

Bettas like light, they just don't like bright blinding lights. Mine have never had issues with the lights being on 10 hours a day and sometimes a little extra if I find myself working on tanks passed the normal lights-out time. That can be solved with more plants! lol

For co2 systems though you have to have the right balance and the right plants, it wouldn't work with just java ferns as they don't soak up a lot of the co2 which would bring an excess of co2 causing serious algae issues and possible poisonings of the fish if they got too high. co2 systems aren't always that complicated but it does take time to learn all of it and soak in the information of course. Same with an NPT except for me personally, it's a lot more simple; soil of the right type capped with some sand or gravel or whatever and then just loooooots of plants! I'm plant crazed lol

bB, what do you mean by lower the voltage? Wattage has nothing to do with how bright lights are or their color. Color temperature is what you are looking for when trying to grow plants. Wattage just tells you how much electricity the bulb is using and as I mentioned, doesn't depend on the Kelvin rating (color). An example being Incandescent lights (which are useless) can be at 15 watts but the Kelvin rating is down at 2,000 which gives extremely poor lighting for plants and honestly even the tank in general! It's the standard bulb that comes with regular tank kits. And then a CFL could be 7 Watts and be 6,500K which is 10 times brighter and much more energy efficient. Incandescent's also tend to heat up the water whereas CFL's do not or rarely do.

OP, do you know the Kelvin of your bulb(s)? Looks like 5,000K if I'm not mistaken. 5,000K is like a cloudy day compared to the sun where 6,500K is the sun at full height on a clear day when it's best for growing plants.

I digress though, Diatoms are normal for ANY tank that is maturing, it goes through this stage and then once the Diatoms are burned out they rarely ever come back. I've had this happen with all my tanks; you get a Diatom bloom and then after a few months it starts to go away, it just sucks to have to deal with it during that time is all.


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## beautiful Betta (Sep 19, 2013)

Yea I meant wattage, I don't know, when I had a tank with a bulb it took the bulbs that I could buy for the house, and like you say the kelvin number, I found while looking for the right kelvin number it was usually higher wattage that had the higher kelvin number, although my choices were pretty limited, but just assumed that was the case and because I wasn't sure if it was a light source from a specific aquatic light source which again is different light sources I just said lower as meaning the bulbs general power brightness. I am sorry if that info is wrong.

When I had co2 system we are going back a good 12 years, and I don't know about issues with them the tank was filled up with plants and it thrived that's all I know, we even had rare lace plants everything thrived. only really needed to top the tank up and we did do occasional sand cleaning with a gravel cleaner.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah, house bulbs, the normal ones are incandescent bulbs which the wattage will go up because it is using more power to achieve that Kelvin rating but that isn't true for CFL's which is why they are recommended. I can see why that is confusing though especially with your experience with them! I had a tough time learning about all the bulbs and all the stuff that went with them--there's a lot to it! Especially when you get into PAR and all that fancy plant stuff!


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## cmhensley (Jan 7, 2014)

The bulb is 6500k, There is only the one Java fern. The 3 big clumps are green crypts. Everything is growing really well. I was adding seachem flourish once a week, but they seemed to do better overall when I stopped. I bought all but the duckweed in feb. And everything has doubled or tripled in size. I was able to split the one anubias nana, and can almost split both of those. The java fern has doubled in size and produced the one baby. And the Green crypt has tripled in size and I could almost split it again as well. I would like to get more floating type plants. I had a friend that was suppose to send me some java moss and water sprite, but I guess its packaging leaked and it was destroyed by usps in route. If its a good sign, I will let it be and just take it off the plants. I have 2 fake leaves in the back as betta hammocks. And they can get underneath if they want to get away from the light but it doesn't seem to bother them at all. I would rather keep my live plants. I much prefer them over the silk.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Right, so it just sounds like you've got a lot of nutrients in the tank for the Diatoms to feed off of. If you add any of the plants I mentioned earlier it will help the Diatoms to die off early. I had a bloom that only lasted around a month before rather than the normal 3-5 month span, I had a lot of fast growers in the tank though and only one that was slow which was my Anubias Nana var. Petite!

I also prefer them over silk, you can double them basically for free whereas silk you can't lol. So yeah, I suggest just rubbing it off the leaves before a water change, get some more fast growers and you should be set! It's just a pain in the butt I know.


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## cmhensley (Jan 7, 2014)

I wish I could find someone more local to buy plants from. I have a few local pet stores that sell plants. But they flat out told me not to buy from them because they have snails (not sure what kind) since my tank doesn't have any.

Buying off ebay always makes me nervous. Everything I had picked out was overseas, and when I looked into it and saw it was illegal I decided against it. More plants I can get in the better. And when I went thru the tank today I had 5 shrimp left that are all doing well. I moved them all to the heavier planted side. As soon as my daughter wakes up its tank cleaning time!!! lol


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## beautiful Betta (Sep 19, 2013)

Are all your shrimps in the 5 gallon tank which is also divided for two betta's, if so you have quite a lot of animals living in that space which maybe why you are getting more nutrients than the plants can handle. Just a thought. Obviously when you move to a 10 gal that will help, but still most here recommend a 5 gallon for 1 fish.


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## KatNDog292 (Apr 10, 2014)

Actually, snails eat algae so you might want them. You could also buy one of those algae scrubbing tools to get it off your tank walls. Not sure about this but I think more light also means more algae, maybe I have it backwards.


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## AudaxViator (Feb 5, 2014)

cmhensley said:


> I wish I could find someone more local to buy plants from. I have a few local pet stores that sell plants. But they flat out told me not to buy from them because they have snails (not sure what kind) since my tank doesn't have any.
> 
> Buying off ebay always makes me nervous. Everything I had picked out was overseas, and when I looked into it and saw it was illegal I decided against it.


Snails can be pretty helpful but if you don't want them you can wash your plants in a bleach/water solution, I'm surprised your LFS doesn't know this. Just google "sanitize aquarium plants" and you'll get a bunch of instructions and the correct bleach to water ratio. 

I'm not sure where you live but in the states there are a ton of people on ebay that sell aquatic plants. And I could be wrong but I think the law is that you can't introduce some aquarium plant species into the wild because they are invasive. That's the illegal part.



beautiful_betta said:


> I think it is really hard to keep plants alive and really thriving enough to have the desired effects on water quality.


I'm sorry you had a bad experience with plants. Success with plants can depend on a lot of things and when you begin to grow plants (aquatic or not) there is a learning curve and it will take some trial & error until you get a system that really thrives. Cmhensley has started out with some really easy plants to grow, ones that don't need root tabs or even require much light. Actually she might have root tabs for the crypts but again, super easy to grow. And lilnaugrim has already explained kelvins, watts, and CFLs.

Cmhensley, it looks like you have a good start and you shouldn't be discouraged by the algae/diatoms, all you need is patience and like lilnaugrim said stick in some more fast growing stem plants. Oh and cut down your light schedule and wait for things to settle down. And wipe down the plant leaves. You can add a nerite snail if you want, they don't reproduce in freshwater and love algae. The only thing is that they're often too large to get on little leaves. But the brown diatoms on your heater and tank walls will turn into snail poop quickly  Also ghost shrimp are really sensitive to water parameters, I had a few die off in the beginning too but sometimes that happens.

Are you doing water changes that often because your tank is cycling? And you don't need to wring out the sponge, just swish it in old tank water once a month.

I'm going through the same phase in my NPT, it cycled and my levels are friggin PERFECT but I got a bunch of brown everywhere. So I lowered my light schedule and have a nerite and some pond snails helping, not to mention a bunch of stem plants. Should clear up soon, just normal plant stuff and nothing to freak out over haha. I'm also looking to get otos so I don't mind having algae and diatoms, it's oto food!


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## cmhensley (Jan 7, 2014)

I got it all cleaned, it should be cycled. But everything I had read on here since I have 2 in there I uped the water changes. With the big cleaning I just did I will probably back down to every 2 or 3 days. I found 6 shrimp when I cleaned, and they are all doing well. I will look into ordering some more plants online. I haven't looked in awhile. These I bought at petsmart but they were pricey! Oh I forgot to add there is a marimo moss ball in there. No sure it makes any difference in everything lol.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Have you looked at plantedaquariumscentral.com ? she's got some fantastic plants! I don't know if there are any that are restricted but it's worth a look! That an AquaBid has looooots of plants up for sale! It's like ebay but for fish and plants! :-D

You're tank looks superb! Since you do have the plants and they are growing, you can do once weekly changes ~50% and you'll be fine. Betta's really don't have a huge bioload and neither do shrimp so the tank should be fine! If you want to keep doing twice weekly changes then have at it, just saying once should be just fine for the tank


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## cmhensley (Jan 7, 2014)

I will happily drop to once a week lol. When I cleaned I noticed my duckweed, in less than a week, already more then doubled. And I cut back on the shrimp food since I know how many are in there. Thank you for the references I will be sure to check those out


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## KatNDog292 (Apr 10, 2014)

Duckweed is like super plant. It grows really fast. Before you know it duckweed will become the surface of your tank. Hope you want it there because it's really hard to get rid of! Personally I think it's pretty but bettas need space to come up and breathe too


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## cmhensley (Jan 7, 2014)

Oh yeah. I wanted it. I plan on throwing in on my compost pile when it gets too crazy


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## KatNDog292 (Apr 10, 2014)

lol I wish my tank had it... It never grew in my betta tank but I think it would be really pretty. How's it look in yours?


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Ug I hate duckweed, once you get it you won't be able be rid of it! I've been plucking it out of my tank whenever it pops up in my tank and I haven't actively bought duckweed in almost a year!! It's a weed for sure!


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## cmhensley (Jan 7, 2014)

I love it. I will have take some pics of it.


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