20 Gallon Tank Help ID please, are these brown spots Diatoms or Algae?

I bought a variety of different live plants & I've had most of them since June. These Red/green leafy ones I bought thinking they were a type of Ludwigia- they were labeled "red hedge" & they have long flowing white "roots" from top to bottom. But they keep getting these brown spots. I use Seachem Flourish & the root tabs. These photos are from 2 different tanks, some of the smaller stalks- or broken pieces I put in my 10gal nursery to regrow. I noticed these spots are turning up on other plants & places. So am jw if they are indeed Diatoms or algae, or a nutrient deficiency? Any advice appreciated Thanks!

 

The pot in pic 5 looks like diatoms on the pot, I think maybe the plants too but I’m not sure. Some of the plants might have diatoms or a deficiency, but I don’t know a ton about plants so I can’t say

 

Okay thanks! I've been looking up photos online & trying to match my photos to others & it is difficult. Diatoms are a very new thing to me, I found whatever it is, on the glass in the nursery tank & scrubbed it off- it kept coming back for 2 weeks, then went away, now it's on th plants!

 

I just watched a video & the guy in it said Diatoms Will come right off & look like a brown film. May float in water & reattach elsewhere. I took this bunch of Red hedge out & scrubbed with a toothbrush & pruned bad looking leaves. It took some elbow grease! I was sitting in the floor with it in a bucket for over an hour- so I'm conflicted if it really is Diatoms or not. I've only been keeping live plants for about 6 months so it's a learning process. Went to petco & clerk sold me some green filter pads that supposedly remove phosphate she said she thinks too much extra nutrients in water.

Any other thoughts on this?

 

It looks like diatoms to me. Just well controlled. How old is the tank? Diatoms usually have a process they go through in newish environments.

 

It looks like diatoms to me. Just well controlled. How old is the tank? Diatoms usually have a process they go through in newish environments.

Okay, so this 20 Gallon I started I think about 6 months ago. 2 weeks after I started it I had brand new fry so then I started up a 10 gal nursery. I saw this brown in nursery first. On glass- which made sense- because I feed fry 2x day & there was 2x the amount of fish. It kept coming & going. Its almost gone now. I purchased 3 Octocinculus & more plants, it's stayed pretty good. But it just started blooming in the 20 gal maybe 2 weeks ago. Not on glass- just on plants & a few bigger rocks, I also found it on the top of the adjustable heater- it has a blue knob so it was easy to see. Its just driving me crazy spreading all over the plants! Lol I purchased some tissue cultured baby tears & they are growing in so thick & now are covered in nasty brown

 

UPDATE: So it's been almost a month since I've posted this. I'm finding less & less on the glass, and the filter ( was on intake tube & water outflow area) less on other plants BUT the Red Cherry Hedge in BOTH tanks drove my crazy. I took it out & soaked it in a bucket of water for a over 1 week. Then hacked it off for hours, I couldn't look at it anymore. So I threw it all back in the nursery tank to regrow about a week ago & it's doing "fine". ( 2 cups of coffee later She stares at the plant in annoyance :mad it's regrowth looks really good, strong white runners are all re-growing. Lets hope the brown doesn't cone back. & all the leaves do. Oh I also added green phosphate removal pads, seemed to help a bit. They are the small ones that fit into the front of the Aqueon filters.






I bought 8+ bundles of these stalks, they each had 3-4 stalks per bundle. So there is quite a lot there. Once it grows back in..