# Brown Algae



## cmarti (Feb 26, 2010)

Hi all,

I'm having a problem with brown algae in my 55 gal tank. I have two bio-wheel 350s on the tank and a lot of fake plants, the plants in the back are pretty tall, some about a couple of inches from the water link when it's full. 

Odd thing is the algae is growing on the tops of the plants right where the water falls back in the tank from the 350's. 

About 2 months back I had ick. I removed the carbon filters and phosphate removers from the filters and put just "filter floss" in the 350's. During the ick infestation my phosphates jumped way up (very dark blue). After the ick infestation was over I noticed that a little brown algae had started growing. I put the carbon and phosphate removers back into the filters and the phosphate levels are now back to normal, but the brown algae has gotten worse.

Before the ick started I was doing bi-weekly 40% water changes, but after I did weekly 40% changes. I'm going to up it back to bi-weekly 40% changes and keep the lights off for a few days. Is this the route to go with this or should I try something else?

I forgot to add that air flow isn't a problem in the tank even though I have a lot of plants. I have 2 350's, bubble wands that go all the way across the back of the tank, and a volcano that shoots out bubbles. All of the plants are constantly swaying in the tank from the flow. The fish aren't being blown around though so they're good.


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## Dmaaaaax (Nov 20, 2008)

Brown algae is usually found in new tanks or low light tanks. It prefers to grow on plastic because it eats silicates and phosphate. 

Did you treat the tank with an anit-ich or antibiotic medicine? 

This could have killed some beneficial bacteria, and caused a "new" tank environment. Other than this, if you have your phosphates back down, just do a good cleaning of your tank, remove plastice plants, scrub them, and return...and your brown algae should eventually die off.


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## cmarti (Feb 26, 2010)

Thanks for the reply. I used coppersafe to treat the tank. I put the same bag back in that had before, but I guess the bacteria doesn't survive being out of the water for a couple of weeks. I'll also clean the plexiglass on the cover to make sure the tank's light isn't obstructed.

Thanks for the info.


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## Dmaaaaax (Nov 20, 2008)

Sounds like a mini-cycle. The brown algae should run it's course and start to disappear in a few weeks.


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## cmarti (Feb 26, 2010)

I think I just figured out what's going on...

I have 2 biowheel 350's. In one side of the 350 I have filter floss, the other side I have a 50% mix of carbon and phosphate remover. WHen I treated the tank I took the carbon/phosphate remover out and put floss in both sides. After ick treatment I took out one side of floss and I changed out most of the carbon/phosphate remover mix and replaced it with new. I bet that's what's doing it.... I bet I lost most of the beneficial bacteria by changing out the carbon/phosphate remover.. *sh

Thank you for your replies...


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