Brown algae explosion. Help!

I set up a 55 gallon tank on December 1 and started with a fishless cycle and then slowly added fish. Right now there’s only six corydoras, four zebra danios and three Nerites. It also has a good amount of plants.


Since about week one of the tank being up and running, I have been experiencing a nonstop invasion of brown algae. It just will not go away. It looked like it was on its way out, as some green algae started appearing and most of the brown algae turned white.

After a recent 50% water change, the algae overtook the tank in just a few days. Although the algae on the glass looks about 50/50 green and brown algae right now. But everything on the plants, substrate and ornaments is brown.

Not sure what to do about this. I don’t plan on adding any additional fish until I can get this under control. Any advice would be appreciated!

 

Its a pain for new tanks but will go away on its own. Just clean what you can and cringe the rest of the time. It will get better!

 

Brown algae is called "diatoms" and while a bit unsightly, it is super common in newly set up planted tanks. It should go away on its own. My planted tanks get it a lot because I've redone the scaping a few times and it comes back. The green algae is different. If you're getting green algae, you should cut back on lighting a bit. So, if the lights are on 8hrs turn them down to 6hrs. Your nerites should be eating up the brown algae pretty well (mine do, anyway, though they ignore the green algae), but you can always get a glass scraper and scrape it off. I recently got one and it's the best $15 I've spent. Clears up brown easily and the stubborn green algae.

 

Its a pain for new tanks but will go away on its own. Just clean what you can and cringe the rest of the time. It will get better!

Brown algae is called "diatoms" and while a bit unsightly, it is super common in newly set up planted tanks. It should go away on its own. My planted tanks get it a lot because I've redone the scaping a few times and it comes back. The green algae is different. If you're getting green algae, you should cut back on lighting a bit. So, if the lights are on 8hrs turn them down to 6hrs. Your nerites should be eating up the brown algae pretty well (mine do, anyway, though they ignore the green algae), but you can always get a glass scraper and scrape it off. I recently got one and it's the best $15 I've spent. Clears up brown easily and the stubborn green algae.

Is it normal for the brown algae to still be around even after three months? I’m wondering how long is “too long.”

The Nerites are going to town on the algae. But the three of them seem to not be able to keep up with the insane amount of algae. Should I get more Nerites or just be patient considering this amount of algae most likely won’t be permanent?

 

Just like everything in fishkeeping there is not usually a set time on anything.

 

Just like everything in fishkeeping there is not usually a set time on anything.

Bummer. This tank is basically in the center of the house and all I can do is stare into an ugly algae ridden wasteland. Although I do enjoy looking at the snail trails left in the algae on the glass.

 

Yeah new tanks are something sometimes. Taking a piece of decor out at a time to clean it and scraping glass helps but Im sure you are doing that already. Scrape glass at water change time to suck it up.

 

Is it normal for the brown algae to still be around even after three months? I’m wondering how long is “too long.”

The Nerites are going to town on the algae. But the three of them seem to not be able to keep up with the insane amount of algae. Should I get more Nerites or just be patient considering this amount of algae most likely won’t be permanent?

As StarGirl said, all things take time. My two planted tanks have been set up since October (10 gallon) and January (5 gallon) and both of them have diatom algae. I just scrape it off now, but I've also redone my scapes in those tanks a few times too. Both were redone earlier this month due to debris in my stratum substrate, but I'm already seeing diatoms in both. The 10 gallon has had diatoms since it became a planted tank in... end of November I think? I'd rather the easy-to-remove diatoms over the scraper-required green algae though.

You can get more nerites if you want or try otos too. I'm not sure how much the otos enjoy brown algae (I have 3 in my 29 gallon but it gets green algae only and they seem to like that). Scraping has been a lifesaver for me and is quick and easy to do with water changes as StarGirl said.

And I too, am holding out hope the diatoms go away if it helps. I know part of it is me rescaping things but I think I'm finally satisfied with the tanks and won't be rescaping again anytime soon. So hopefully it gets figured out on my end too. Patience is key and I really don't have enough of it, lol

 

I tried nerites for the diatoms and the only measurable outcome was that I had to pull dead snails out of the tank soon after.
I saw major improvement when I increased my water change schedule. Unless there is extra diatom food in your tap water, you can’t do too many water changes in pursuit of eliminating the brown stuff.