# Hairy Brown Algae



## Osiris1414 (Sep 26, 2007)

My 20 gallon aquarium has been operational for 2.5 years, for the past few months some kind of brown algae has developed in my tank. It starts out as small furry patches, then attaches itself to my cryptocorynes, then soon grows along the contour of the entire leaf. I am afraid if unchecked, it will take over my tank. Nitrite level = 0.3
ph = 6.6 (going up???!! It was 6.2 three months ago) 
gh = 140 ppm calcium carbonate 

The water is not crystal clear, and I have a huge population of benign snails. Maybe the calcium from the decomposing snail shells is responsible for the strange rise in alkalinity of my water. Could this be? Should I kill them, if so, how? The algae is a definite problem, any advice would be lovely.


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

There should be zero nitrite in the tank. The fact that you seem to have some means either the test kit is incorrect, or you have a source of ammonia in the tank. The huge population of snails, especially dead snails, could be the cause of that. How much light do you have, and what fertilizing do you do, and do you use CO2?

Yoyo loaches will eliminate the snails if you have room for a couple of them.


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