# dust brown algae



## kamel_007 (Jan 7, 2006)

hi
i have a brown algae that looks like dust, on my plants, gravel and glass, what the reason of this algae and how to get rid of it?

java moss lokks brown now, is it diying ? 
what should i do?


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## IxIBluePitIxI (Feb 13, 2011)

Best thing to do is look up diatom that's what the "brown dust algae" it's called. It can be fairly common in newly set-up aquariums. If I remember correctly it's cause by 1.having an abundance of silicates in the water column and having the condition in the tank that aid in the algae establishment. I still have alot of this algae in my living-room aquarium. There are plenty of things that will eat diatoms but if the tank is not established or fish ready then elbow grease and some rinsing of plants in the water you take from the tank during changes will clear that up.


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## IxIBluePitIxI (Feb 13, 2011)

I forgot to say if your leaving your tank light on for to long it could play a part in the problem. A least it was for me I got a timer and leave the light on in my low tech tank for 8 hours. Java moss doesn't need a lot of anything in my experience with it however, in my ongoing struggle with the diatom in my livingroom tank it looks really bad. It for the most part is dyeing if yours is doing the same I clean what I can and scrap the rest save the green part of the java that will com back in time. Hope I helped a little.


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## kamel_007 (Jan 7, 2006)

thank you so much for the information, i want to say: even the co2 running while the indecator shows green it also appear!
where does the silicates come from? when i change water i mix tap water with RO, tap water is fairly hard here, GH for my tank is 10.
lighting is 12 hours 30W, i reduced it, and the diatoms increases from day to day.
the tank is already established


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## Se7eN (Sep 23, 2010)

Mine went away after about 3 weeks. Guess it ran its course. I did change my lights from 8 hours to 5 hours a day and that really seemed to help out.


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