Things You'll Need
- Coarse cloth
- Algae magnet
- Bucket
- Toothbrush
- Aquarium water test kit
Instructions
Wipe brown fluffy deposits from your tank glass with a coarse cloth or algae magnet. Remove algae from affected tank decorations, scrub rocks and ornaments with a toothbrush. Diatoms come away from flat surfaces easily, but it can be difficult to clean textured rocks. Soak items in a bucket of hot water for about 30 minutes before rubbing away the brown algae under running water.
Soak substrate in hot water and agitate to remove as much algae as possible. Brown algae mainly affects low-lying tank items, such as gravel, in places where there is insufficient light. Once you correct lighting levels, any remaining brown algae in the gravel should die off naturally.
Check your water for signs of excessive ammonia, nitrate and nitrite with an aquarium test kit. In a new tank setup, fish waste and uneaten food can overload a new filter before a beneficial bacteria colony has a chance to grow. Toxic chemicals rise to dangerous levels, and algal blooms develop. Carry out a partial water change if ammonia, nitrate and nitrite are above normal levels indicated on the test kit's guidelines.
Do not overfeed your fish. Uneaten food decomposes, releasing the nutrients that algae spores need to grow. If you have an algae problem, feed your fish every other day until you start to see a difference in the amount of algae on your aquarium glass. Add some algae-eating fish to keep all types of algae under control. They are unlikely to consume an established outbreak, but algae-eating fish constantly graze on new growths before they can flourish, so use the fish as a preventative measure.
Increase the lighting levels in your aquarium to between 10 and 12 hours per day. Too much light encourages green algae, so adjust the number of daylight hours gradually over 3 or 4 days. If you see a green bloom replacing the brown algae on your aquarium glass, reduce the lighting by 30 minutes the following day.