I'm so glad to know that brown algae is a phase. I am a little over a month into my very first planted tank and I have recently had the diatom explosion. I'm having a hard time finding otocinclus right now, but I did get some snails and a clown pleco. It's really helpful to have all this advice on the internet for those of us just getting into planted tanks!

@Ryotbh

Жыл бұрын

I set up my tank on 1st Feb and have just added some fish a few days ago (green neon tetras and Ottos). I did have some shrimp in their beforehand (cherry reds and Pinocchios). Initially I used conditioned tap water and had a tonne of algae growth. I live in an area where the tap ph is 8.2, so I switched to RO water and not only did most of my green and black algae disappear but also I managed to drop the ph to a more neutral level (around 7.4). Part of me now worries that my fish are running out of algae to eat. The otocinclus are doin a fantastic job and I only have 4 in a 90 litre tank. I can appreciate its hard to find them, I had the last 4 from our local aquatics shop, and the manager said he had sold out in days.

I feel a little more relaxed now about the algae I have knowings it’s a phase (I have a new tank week 4). Thanks man.

@Dobromir_Chodkowski

2 жыл бұрын

same here

A very thorough discussion with plenty of helpful tips. Thank you, I enjoy your videos!

That was amazing 👍so much Ive learned in a few minutes 👌

Man I can’t begin to express my relief when you said it’s just a phase. Your aquascape videos are what helped me create my first aquascaped aquarium. Needless to say…full of brown algae. I will be getting some Ottos. Thanks so much love your content

Just found your channel, thanks for all the informative videos, very helpful for the beginner planted tank aquarist!

Very helpful! Thank you MJ

Thanks Man. Whatever, I experienced you were spot on with your context.

Best video I’ve found on the subject thanks

what a beautiful tanks you have there behind! very informative videos thank you

Very useful. Especially your document.

Very informative. Thank you

Very good video , a lot of information 👍

Thanks for sharing good information. Greetings from Brazil.

This video is very helpful for me. Thank you so much ❤

Really helpful and easy to understand thank you 👍

What a fantastic video, thankyou !

Thanks for the advice

my tank is exactly in its 4th week so makes sense also its only ever so slightly on the glass and higher plants. i used sand and lots of lava rock so pretty happy that this is normal thank you

Very helpful! Thank you ♡

Yup about 4 weeks, i got it on fathers day. Thanks

Finally! somebody talks about the quality of the tap water, every shop I go tells me to do more water changes, but the KH in my area is terrible, I´ll be running to the shop to buy silicate filter media. Great videos! Thanks

@MJAquascaping

3 жыл бұрын

Glad I could help!

Very useful❤️inforamtIon

Thanks for making useful videos 👍💚

@MJAquascaping

3 жыл бұрын

Very welcome!

Very useful information, this helped me a lot with my newly set up aquascape. Thank you !

@MJAquascaping

3 жыл бұрын

Awesome! Very welcome 😊

My tank is well established and suffering from brown algae coating the plants. I reduced feeding and cut fetilizer, cut light also. This seems to be something other than the new tank setup brown algae. I am also running co2. My tap water has almost no KH but very high GH. I'm still experimenting to see what works.

It's great that you spend your time so and help new aquarists with a "simple" mistake most people make, I was also just as green even though it's a long time ago. Remember as an aquarist you are not 100% trained because there are always new issues so that's great KZread and you.

This is just what i needed thank god! I am experiencing this in my new tank!

@MJAquascaping

3 жыл бұрын

Great timing 🤩

@theodoredarian7889

2 жыл бұрын

I dont mean to be so offtopic but does anyone know a method to log back into an instagram account..? I was stupid forgot the account password. I would love any help you can offer me.

@jacobjavion9346

2 жыл бұрын

@Theodore Darian Instablaster :)

@theodoredarian7889

2 жыл бұрын

@Jacob Javion Thanks for your reply. I found the site through google and I'm trying it out now. Seems to take a while so I will get back to you later with my results.

Well in my case i got 3 Pleco fishs they do clean the tank very good after having this problem for 2 weeks i started to turn off the light for 2 days then it started to go away .. try turning off the lights if you dont have plants in ur tank this worked for me

NEEDED

I have diatoms in a 10 month old aquarium. Didn't used to have it, read that a dirty filter could be a problem. I cleaned it out as it was dirty and still a couple weeks later I still have diatoms. That Phosgard gets rid of potassium which I don't want to do so now I'm at a loss.

I'm part of the unlucky ones with diatoms persisting after 6 months in 2 of my community tanks, even with otocinlus, amano shrimps and nerite snails. The one tank that never had any is my cherry shrimp only tank. The 20~ shrimps are cleaning everything very efficiently and I never had an outbreak of diatoms. I will try Seachem PhosBond and hopefully that'll do the trick.

I had my tank cover with brown algae after I move back to my home town. Never get it from my old place. I my tank is already 6 months old only get brown algae. I will try the silicate remover filter media and see how it goes.

Thank you 👍❤️

@MJAquascaping

3 жыл бұрын

Very welcome 😉

I have had this probkem for months and it's getting worse! I will look to buy the filter and also come catfish and hope it works. Finally someone whose advice is not multiple water changes as that didn't solve the problem! So that must mean our tap water is high in silicates!

@Danny_Casolaro

2 жыл бұрын

How did it go?

I've got a young tank, about a month old, and am having brown algae. I was excited about if at first! I know it was a good sign for my cycle, but it has started to take over everything. It's killing my plants, and I can't get it under control. I do plan to do a deep clean soon, and try to get it more under control.

clear explanation thanks a lot

Thanks Mark, I am currently suffering this on my Anubis leaves, the clean up crew, snail and shrimps are struggling to clean it all up, once my pet shop opens again in March due to our lockdown I will buy a few ottos 👍🇮🇪

@MJAquascaping

3 жыл бұрын

Sucks that you have to wait that long, but yeah they are a great addition to any planted tank.

@Scouse.raver1

3 жыл бұрын

Hi, are you sure your pet shops are closed in the UK they are allowed to stay open because they sell living animals maybe one is open good luck with your tank. Emma

@stephenclarke9302

3 жыл бұрын

@@Scouse.raver1 Hi Emma, our local pets at home are open but Maidenhead have had to shut shop and the only other store I use only sells supplies now and not fish which is strange? 🤔

Great advice as always, I’ve actually done the dark start and have brown like water and slim. Is this brown algae please. Not sure how when I’ve had it covered up for 4 weeks. Thank you in advance.

I didn't know i had brown algae in my plant, since you said it was a phase of silicate, i went searching all over the place why my plants are covered with some algae, i thought it was green dust or spot and FINALLY found out, brown algae is NOT only a phase. I watch all these tuto saying the stuff are c02 ferts and light, which i had, but what I lacked was FLOW & CYCLE. I was using a HOB while u guys use some external pump filter. Even if you(I) had SEA, nerites or shrimps(scared of fish wont go out) they cant clean the whole carpet or every plant. Amano is good for cleaning wood.

My diatom phase was delayed it didn’t start until 3 months in by then all my carpeting plants and stem plants were doing exceptionally well

Two tanks both always have diotems, 4+ mths, healthy water. Tap water can't be high in silicate as a non filtered planted tank (no fish) doesn't get it.

18 months with Diatoms in a 350 litre and a 240 litre. None in my cold water 220 litre. Have high Phosphate at the tap. Spent literally hundreds of pounds on Phosphate removal products which has helped ( slightly ) but still got them. Difference in my cold water tank is it doesn't use LED tubes or have fertiliser as it has no plants. Currently experimenting with cutting down light to 3 to 4 hours a day and reducing my plants ferts.....but they are suffering. Diatoms have reduced, but still there. I'm not convinced it's the Phosphate as my cold water tank doesn't have an issue. I've been using RO in both tropical tanks fir the last 2 months. Again, there's been a reduction, but still there. I'm convinced it's the LED lighting on for too long and the ferts which are feeding the Diatoms.

Is there a typical timeline on when this typically clears up on its own?

Been struggling with diatoms for too long now. 10g tank is 9 months old and covered in it. Do not have a silicate test kit but my well established non planted 75 has zero diatoms. Makes me want to tear down and start over!

Awesome video! I fear that im in the 10% tho lol! Could you do a video about hair algea aswell?

@MJAquascaping

3 жыл бұрын

Coming up soon!

I got brown algae on my night ambience spot. I have a night ambience light to see my fish at night but the brown algae always grow there.

Would it helps if u put uv filter?

Just got a few otocinclus, as my tanks sand and plants were covered in brown algae, they are a lovely fish and damn good at cleaning! I was worried about my plants dying but thankfully the roots appear to be growing strong, even if the algae does give the leaves a muddy-looking complexion.

I have this problem at first but when I got nerite snails... Now I want to have brown algae for them to feed on. (As they don't touch algae wafers and blanched veggies)

Hello, I'm new to your channel, but I would like to ask about the dark start you mentioned. Do you add beneficial bacteria to get the cycle going and do you add anything to keep the bacteria alive during the dark cycle. Thanks! I enjoyed learning more about brown algae.

@aymond101

2 ай бұрын

Also wondering that and if you save the water your drain out or put in fresh water?

Does high density polyethylene coz silicate.. I'm using water tank made up of this..i got brown algae

My otocinclus didn't eat the diatom algae at all. In fact, they started dying when the diatom algae appeared... I'm very frustrated, I have brown algae all the time. I have to do a deep clean with bleach every 2 weeks... I can't ever cycle my aquarium. I've been trying to cycle it since I got my first tank in 2021. I bought turbostart from fritz in the hope that it'll quickly start my cycle, but I tested the parameters this morning after I put it in yesterday. It still doesn't have any nitrites or nitrates.

I’ve suffered from all the algae all the time in all my planted tanks. I guess my water is shit. Put new Anubias in 15 year old gravel tank and they went shit fast

I think I must have over cleaned my tank And disrupted too much bacteria. So I had green algae already, but hadn't gravel vacuumed since the beginning. I had just been doing weekly water changes. I use RO water and add equilibrium to bring GH up. I had No ammonia, no nitrites, about 10 in nitrates but water looked dirty because of the sediment in the bottom. So I gravel vacuumed and did 50% water change. The next day boom my Anubias and sword pants were covered in brown stains. I only have one ramshorn snail in there haha. And to be honest it didn't seem interested in eating it. Its been eating everything else. Ive been checking my water parameters and everything is OK. I think I just need to give it time to balance itself again.

Great info about brown algae! How long does this phase normally last? Are we talking about a few weeks or months?

@MJAquascaping

3 жыл бұрын

Few weeks only 😊

Do fish need to drink or do they get thursty?

"Like acne, it'll go away after puberty." Ha... No. No to that and the brown algae. I think I fit in that very unlucky category you spoke of.

@MJAquascaping

3 жыл бұрын

Bad luck is always temporary 😊

If I use phosgaurd will it help or do I have to use silicatex

Have a question. I have a reef tank saltwater and wanted to no is it possible to use not just Ro water but Rodi water or does the RDI water strip too many of the nutrients out of the water ? And other than using phosphorus guard can I use GFO in a reactor which is commonly used in saltwater tanks to control your phosphates Of course I’m referring to using these in a freshwater tank.

Found brown algae all over my first tank last night when I got home... Started looking it up... This dude "usually pops up 3 or 4 weeks after setup".... Yup tank is three weeks old.

He MJ , about cycling during the dark phase ; you said leave the tank dark for 3-4 weeks so it can build up beneficial bactery. But how does that work if there's no fish inside ? Where does the ammonia/nitrite come from to be able to build up those bactery ?

@MJAquascaping

2 жыл бұрын

The ammonia will come from the substrate, if you are using an aquasoil. If not you will have to add it manually indeed.

@Droopypower

2 жыл бұрын

@@MJAquascaping thnx

Hello, i want to know the reason for getting brown algae in a old or established tank. My tank is 1+ year old and all of a sudden i am getting brown and green dust or green spot algae on my plants

Hello MJ from Spain, I have 2 question: 1. with the method dark start, I need change water daily with nutritive substrate? and 2. which TDS and PH parameters do you think are best for a planted aquarium? Thanks, greetings from a spanish fan :)

@MJAquascaping

3 жыл бұрын

Hey! Yes I forgot to mention this. With a dark start you don’t have to do a single waterchange. Because you don’t use any lights, so there’s no risk of algae. I like ph 6.5 and tds about 150.

@cuentaspremium1687

3 жыл бұрын

@@MJAquascaping and my last 2 question, when I finish dark start method (about 3-4 weeks) I suppose that I change the water 100% and I can start plant right? and.. when I done this, need change water everyday again with nutritive soil or I can start with 1-2 times in week water change ? thank you very much

@MJAquascaping

3 жыл бұрын

@@cuentaspremium1687 yep! After the dark start you do a 100% waterchange, plant the tank, and from then on you can do water changes once a week.

@cuentaspremium1687

3 жыл бұрын

@@MJAquascaping Deluxe!! Thanks again. I hope start soon with dutch Style and you are the culprit haha. Have a good day ;)

I wanna ask why my stone gone brown is that also brown algae? And i touch it its didnt gone tho 😅(and i put my fish after i set up the aquarium didnt wait for days or weeks 😅)

I am using bottled water with ph7 and i change water every 2 weeks, most of my plants now are covered with this brown algae and it is not good in the eyes. I am still hoping that as you said it is just a phase as my aquarium is only 3 months old and it would go away, but i am also already thinking of rescaping it - wash all hardscapes and soil and buy new plants. I am so frustrated whenever i see my tank in this situation.

I have had brown algea issues in 2 of my established tanks for a couple of years. Tried many things to no avail. In one of the tanks I recently added spike moss. And the brown algea is going away. I am not sure if adding moss was actually the reason why the brown algea went away. I would be curious to hear if others have the same experience.

@dax8753

6 ай бұрын

The only tank I never got brown algae was one I added loads of moss to at the start

I am 9 months into this 10gal and we cant seem to kick it. Our hillstream loach keeps the glass and some hardscape clean but it takes the beauti out of the plants

In my case...it first happened after almost a year after i setup my tank

How would I clean the dead brown algae from my sand once I’ve managed to get it under control?

Is that good for shrimp?(brown algea)

I did the dark start but still getting bit of diatoms , i have no sand , but maybe like you said tap water in london have silicates And i have two ottos in that tank and they dont do anything 😂

I have tons of ottos but they won’t eat the brown algae why

Thanks , this algae is driving me crazy it comes back every day i clean it

@amberray6262

2 жыл бұрын

Me too

It’s not just silicates, phosphorus can cause it

Idk how I can solve my problem regarding diatoms. The only water source here on my town is tap water but the problem is everytime I water change, I notice that diatoms get worse than before, making me realize that our tap water have high amount of silicates (I don't have a tester tho), I'm beginning to give up on my tank because of it. I hope someone can help me regarding this.. P.S: No, I don't have budget for RO water. 🙃

Do you think Seachem Phosguard will work the same? It’s a lot cheaper than Sera, where I am. It eliminates phosphate and silicate in the water column, but I don’t know how effective it is.

@MJAquascaping

2 жыл бұрын

I would not recommend this for a planted tank. Phosphate is a macro nutrient, and eliminating it means plants will suffer which will only result in more algae.

@afifahzulkefli2647

2 жыл бұрын

@@MJAquascaping Okay then I’ll get Sera Silicate Removal. Thank you for your input!

Its covering my plants and moss. Seems like its killing my $25 crinum. 2 mystery snails died and the hillstream loaches dont seem like they're making a dent in it.

I had gone through that fase and then I completely rescaped the whole aquarium. Changed the substrate, added live plants, and brown algae came back like terminator. Hoping it will go away.

@stephaniechristy9402

Жыл бұрын

Omg I was thinking of doing the same thing no I’m scared.

@luisen1996

Жыл бұрын

@@stephaniechristy9402 It’s worth it, just make your research on gradual lighting and nutrient increments. I believe I had algae due to having too much too quick

I was among the 10% last month. I finally decided to take it all apart. Sold my fishes, took everything out and nicely cleaned everything. Now after half a month Brown Algae is back in my tank again 🥲

Hey MJ Aquascaping. I saw in your recent video's that you have some experiences with Chihirios lights. I myself have a Chihirios one plus for my 25l aquarium and would love to hear some tips/recommendations from you. Groetjes uit Swifterbant.

@MJAquascaping

3 жыл бұрын

Hey! Yes I'm a big fan of chihiros lights. What exactly do you want tips and recommendations for?

@nimavi5141

3 жыл бұрын

@@MJAquascaping I would love some tips for the app like the light periods you use and the light colours. Soon I'm going to try out some diy co2 myself and would love to hear how you keep the aquarium in good balance with the lighting periods! Thank you for responding, keep up the good work.

@MJAquascaping

3 жыл бұрын

With my chihiros lights I keep the light colors all on the same % and same level of intensity, and most of my lights are running on 70% power only. My lights always turn on at 13:00 they will slowly (30mins) ramp from 0 to 70% and after 7 hours they will ramp down again to 0% Balanced is achieved over time, this can't be rushed. And with the DIY CO2 you just need to make sure you have a stable output, but if you follow everything I mention in those videos that should be no problem.

@nimavi5141

3 жыл бұрын

@@MJAquascaping Thanks a lot!

Shrimps love this as a snack lol

@MJAquascaping

3 жыл бұрын

For sure!

Is it normal for algae to appear in week 2 of new tank set up?

@MJAquascaping

Жыл бұрын

yep!

RO water isnt a guarantee. Using RO water but I am still having Diatoms issue for 2weeks already. I really hate this phase..

Does phosphate or dead leaves also cause brown algae? Because I've got tons of brown algae initially put some cherry shrimp and nerite snails to clean, but now my shrimps seem to not be thriving. Silicate test gives me barely any silicate in tanks, but phosphate on my tap water is 5ppm! (But is 2ppm in my tank). TDS is at 450 though, and my tap water's TDS is 250 so I'm wondering if phosphat does something. I do wonder if my carelessness at the start played a role as well because my cube tank is heavily planted and at the start a lot of plants seem to have melted/not growing to the point that I only noticed it when the plants literally melted (e.g. I touched stem with tweezers and it just snap/melted) so I wonder if my lack of keeping an eye on plants helped cause issue? Water was cloudy as well at first few weeks of tank then cleared up by itself. But brown algae is booming (more brown algae than any of the pics you showed) and it's been like that for more than 3 weeks now

@toptechtips9334

2 жыл бұрын

Forgot to mention it's a no filter tank as well. Having said this, plants are doing well now tho

I did a dark start with my 20-gallon and things were going very well for 5 weeks with a beautiful monte carlo carpet then I got hit hard with the brown algae. I have been doing water changes every 2 days, have some shrimp and pygmy cory's but I can't seem to get the brown algae under control. Any thoughts?

@peterphillips4566

8 ай бұрын

That’s exactly what’s happening to my tank….no problems until about 5 weeks after I finished the dark start, the the brown algae appeared and I’m still battling to get rid of it. How is your tank doing now?

@thecoinjar

8 ай бұрын

Well, I was trying to be patient and continued with water changes and making sure I wasn't overfeeding not too many frets etc. but to no avail. I did take it down and revamped the tank about 3 weeks ago still using dragon stone but moved towards stem plants, so far so good but we'll see. Good luck and thanks for you interest @@peterphillips4566

First brown algae and next green algae so then ????

ive had my fish tank for over 7 months and still have brown algea

@Jayzha7

Жыл бұрын

its been lasting for months now

How is it possible that the algae is just a phase? A phase for how long? My tank is almost 8 months old and its taking over. Sounds like nonsense to me - sorry to say.

Please add Turkish subtitles to your videos.

well no, I can't agree with you. you omitted the most important brown algae we have, are they diatoms (which I made this episode about) or do we have all kinds: brown algae (Phaeophyceae) .. I think others were referring to brown algae (Phaeophyceae) seeking advice from you because diatoms are not a problem .

This algae is killing my Monte Carlo. It’s making me really sad.

@icekinggaming121

2 ай бұрын

Same 😢

Call me crazy, I actually like the look of algae on my rocks haha. Not my plants and glass though

I put a spongebob house in my tank and my diatoms went off. The 10% unlucky once can try my method.

I bought 5 otos, only one survived.

Adding fish to a tank that is cycling and out of balance isn't a good advice.

I found the best way was to use Seachem phosgaurd. Works like a bomb.