brown algae - suffocating all plants

[finfan]

well, i've had my planted tank for about 4 months now, i've had the regular green algae on my tank walls from the beginning, i clean them every week or so and they grow back, but they don't seem to be over my plants, or at least they are not visible, over the last 5 or 6 weeks this brownish algae started appearing on all my plant leaves, they basically cover all the leaf tops completely and now all my leaves of all my nanas and other plants have this gunk looking brown layer of algae, at first my one and only ocat did not do much, then for a few days he cleaned a few leaves and now he does not seem to be interested in that anymore (plenty of green stuff to go around i guess), i bought a BN pleco couple of days ago, he has never sat on any leaves so far, so i am now clueless as to how i can get rid of this nasty looking algae, any suggestions on any other algae eaters that will eat brown stuff or do i get more ocats?  any shrimps eat the brown algae?  

tank residents
german blue rams (4)
glowlights (4)
cardinals (4)
black neon tetra (1)
ocat (1)
BN pleco small (1)

dimension 24"L*12"W*24"T

please advise

[Brownsnoutuk]

Re: brown algae - suffocating all plants

Maybe a couple more BN.

[spyke1969]

Re: brown algae - suffocating all plants

How much light do you have on it? Does it get sunlight on it ?
I would suggest another bn & some olive nerites.
Brownsnoutuk usually has bn's & Harrishawk the nerites.

[finfan]

Re: brown algae - suffocating all plants

thanks for the suggestions

there is no sunlight, the hood lighting is not much, the regular marineland fixture (can't remember the wattage, should not be more than 30 watts or so)

what is nerites?  snails?  what do they look like?  available easily at any lfs?

"Brownsnoutuk usually has bn's & Harrishawk the nerites."  - what does this mean?  sorry not very technical here!

[fishlady]

Re: brown algae - suffocating all plants

i had that in my 75....but now that i've moved that to the 135 i have 3 golden algea eaters in there along with 3 bn's i don't have the problem in this tank....

[spyke1969]

Re: brown algae - suffocating all plants

They usually have them for sale &yes the nerites are snails.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: brown algae - suffocating all plants

Water circulation/flow?
Water maintenance routine?
Lighting photo period/length of time light is on?
Feeding regime?

[High-PH]

Re: brown algae - suffocating all plants

I think someone talked about this before, but I assume that the nerites would not survive in a tank with three 4" clown loaches?

[finfan]

Re: brown algae - suffocating all plants

water circlulation is decent, currently quite a bit because i am running two filters, the one i have had since the beginning and the other i want to switch to and so i am seeding it while the old one still runs

i clean the tank walls and change ~20% water roughly in 2 week intervals, i have never really vac'd because of plants, there is debris from some melting plants due to low lighting (plan on changing/increase lighting soon), the only plant that has done quite well is nanas

lighting is less than 30watts, but it is on for about 12 to 14 hours a day on average

feeding is usually once a day, ocassionally twice, usually don't overfeed (food is gone within a few minutes)

i guess i will see if i can get nerites somewhere locally

[eklikewhoa]

Re: brown algae - suffocating all plants

How much is decent?
I would probably up the water changes since algae usually comes from excessive nutrients in which the plant can't uptake.
The lighting seems a bit high too....and as for "on average" I am guessing you manually turn on/off the lights..Trying keeping it at about 10hrs for now.
Feeding...I usually only feed what can be gone in seconds.

HarrisHawk is a new member here and he has tons of Nerites.

[Mzungu]

Re: brown algae - suffocating all plants

I agree. I'd lower the photoperiod to about 10 hrs a day for now. You can even go to the drug store and get a timer, they make my life SOOO much easier! (Be sure to get one with 3 holes for the plug prongs, if you're going to upgrade your lighting, as a lot of the PC fixtures have 3 pronged plugs.)

I also agree to tone down your feedings...Once a day is plenty. If you see any food lying around after 5 minutes (10 at the most) then try feeding less next time. Usually, like ek says, the food should be gone very quickly.

Is the brown algae just a layering on the plant leaves? Or is it elsewhere in the tank? Does it spread like a blanket, or does it appear as dots? I'm wondering what the ID of the algae is, since that might help determine how to get rid of it. Some fish/snails like certain types, but won't touch others.

[Zulaab]

Re: brown algae - suffocating all plants

I had brown algae ALL over 40 yesterday.. this morning its all gone...  (this is what happens when you put two hungry 7"+ common Pleco's into the tank..  they went nuts over night..  my tank will sparkling tomorrow morning :)

[finfan]

Re: brown algae - suffocating all plants

will reduce photo period to 10 hours

food is usually gone within 5 minutes and its only once a day

the brown stuff is all over, but mostly on the leaves, it is like a blanket, not hairy but more like a layer, i have seen my lone ocat sometimes will clean parts of leaves from this menace algae

i will look into getting some nerite snails and see what happens, hopefully between the ocat, bristlenose, and some snail one of them will be effective!

[eklikewhoa]

Re: brown algae - suffocating all plants

Nerites will devour diatoms!

[RussGB]

Re: brown algae - suffocating all plants

Nerites! I have plecs, otos, various shrimps in various tanks. But the effective of just 10 nerites in a 150g planted is unbeleivable - completely algae free....nothing.....