# brown algae timeframe?



## copperleaf (Oct 1, 2006)

My 90 gal is on it's 4th week of cycling from scratch and for the past 2 weeks I've had some brown algae. I cleaned the plants and glass and did a 50% water change 4 times since it started and it's still coming back. Can anyone tell me when I can expect it to desist as this is my first time dealing with this type of algae. My lighting is 130 watts for 10 hrs with a 2.5 hr noon blast of another 130 watts. ph is 6.8 with a dkh of 5. Also I haven't used any ferts except root tabs and a little liquid potassium and iron. The plants are doing fine and bubbling away.
TIA


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## copperleaf (Oct 1, 2006)

Man, this stuff is evil. I had to change the water again today. The brown slime coated everything again. I've searched other sites for a clue but didn't get a definitive answer. Most places described the stuff I have in reef tanks which doesn't really help me. 
I checked my parameters again today and everything is normal except the kh which is higher at 10dkh. I've never had many problems with algae and this is driving me kookoo. It does not seem to respond to conventional methods of getting rid of algae.
Have I named it properly? It's brown, slimy and grows faster than anything I've ever seen. It's very easy to remove but clouds the tank up something fierce when I do.
Please help.


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## Homer_Simpson (Apr 2, 2007)

It is not uncommon for brown diatom algae to appear 4 weeks into the cycling of a tank, if diatom algae is in fact what you have. Some state that silicates in water or substrate contribute to it and once the silicates in the tank are depleted it will go away. Some use silicate removing filter media in the hopes of getting rid of the silicates that feed it. That media also removes valuable phosphates that your plants need so your plants could end up suffering from a phosphate deficiency. 

Most people find that Otocinclus catfish will readily consume it and wipe it all out in a couple of days. I had this C*ap algae in my 40 gallon tank, which was up and running for 9 years and not undergoing cycling. In my case the otocinclus did not consume it but the Siamese Algae Eater and Bristlnose Pleco did a number on it. Even then it was so bad, I had to do water changes 2 times a week, reduce feedings from once a day to once every 2-3 days, vacuuming the substrate each time for almost 3 months before it completely disappeared.


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## copperleaf (Oct 1, 2006)

Thanks for the response Homer. I looked around for diatoms and found this interesting article.www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/algae/diatoms.shtml#diatom


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