Brown marks on aquarium glass?

Question

Hello, i have brown marks on the inside of my aquarium , i do a 30% water change every two weeks and i also change the filters once a month and the top white one once a week .The fish are looking healthy but what are the brown marks ?? is it algae? if so how to get rid? without buying a algae eater, thanks!!!!

By the way it's a tropical aquarium

Answer 1

DONT DO AS MANY WATER CHANGES, ONCE A MONTH!


Algae in the tank is natural, as long as the growth is controlled and not spreading with at an explosive, destructive rate.

Algae eaters are a helpful tool to prevent algae from getting out of hand, however they do not eat all algae types. Further, they prefer "fresh" and "young" algae. Outgrown old algae are mostly left untouched.

Algae spores are always present in the water. Spores can be introduced by almost everything that is introduced to the aquarium. New fish, snails, plants, rocks, freeze dried food, shrimp, etc. All these spores require to explode is enough nutrients, that's when the trouble starts.

Algone controls nutrients. Effectively absorbing excess nitrates, thus making it unavailable for the algae to consume. Controlling nutrients will control the algae growth by either reducing or preventing any blooms and/or rapid growth. Controlling vs. destroying is the only method of keeping the aquarium naturally balanced.

Answer 2

Venice girl has some great advice. Here's my take on it.

2 big causes,

Lights are on too long (more than 8 hours),

There's too many algae nutrients (phosphate, nitrate, iron, silica in that order of importance) floating in the tank.

Its harmless. Its either brown algae or colonies of diatom corpses.

Doing more frequent smaller water changes, 20% every week (on the same day) can help. If you have dying plants, cut the dead parts off with scisors and remove the death from the tank.

If you have community fish, ottocinclus and snails can consume tracts of it making nifty patterns in the filth. Many "algae eaters" do not eat this stuff since its not really algae, but little critter corpses.

If your tank is overstocked with fish, this stuff will not go away no matter how many water changes you do. It will consume nutrients before bacteria do in such a case.

Its just a nusiance though. Just scrape it off the glass with a algae scraper & use a clean scrubbrush & hot water on your decorations.

You don't have to do anything signifigantly wrong to have this stuff appear so you shouldn't go crazy dumping chemicals in the tank to attempt to correct it. Often times its part of the normal beginning lifecycle of a tank.

Oh, I use Mag Float brand magnetic glass cleaners & they rip this stuff right off of the glass 0 problems. Just don't use them if you have magnetic gravel (flourite).

Answer 3

This is brown algae and it wipes off very simply from the glass and surfaces that it is on. Brown algae is one of the first types of growth to occur in a new tank, so it may just disappear on its own once the tank stabilizes. Brown algae is mostly a result of too many nutrients, i.e., food, in the tank. So, consider cutting down on the amount you feed or make sure to remove all uneaten food after 5 minutes. While green algae is a result of too much light, brown algae is a result of not enough light. So, you may wish to consider a little more sunlight or more tank lighting. Of course, you may trade off brown algae for green algae by doing so, but such is the way of fishkeeping. Algae isn't attractive to our eyes, but most of it is not at all harmful to the fish. You are doing correct water changes as far as the percentage, but increase your cleanings to weekly instead of bi-weekly. Also, adding live plants may help in ridding your tank of algae because they will use up the carbon monoxide and other nutrients that feed the algae. I applaud you not wanting to get an algae eater. Most people make the assumption that, because these fish live on the bottom and eat some of the detritus, they are a "free" fish and do not need to be considered into the overall bioload of the tank, when in fact, most of these animals grow very large and add a considerable amount to the bioload of the tank. Plus the fact that they far from eat all of the algae and detritus and none of the poop. So, unless you just plain love the looks of algae eaters and remember to consider them into the bioload factor and buy an appropriately sized tank, it is really not in your tank's best interest to get one.

Answer 4

You should be doing 20% water changes weekly, but the brown spots are indeed algae. To get rid of them, just scrape it off the inside of your aquarium and do 10-15% water changes every two days for about a week or two. Also be sure that your aquarium is away from any sunlight.

Answer 5

its the first stage of algae, after a while it will become green and harder to get rid off. you should make sure the tank is not in direct sunlight. an algae eater is the best option to go gor but since you dont want one you can go to a pet shop that sells fish and buy an algae treatment for the water which is not as good as an algae eater but will stil do the job.

Answer 6

It is algae. Brown algae is a result of not enough light and green algae is too much light. It should be on 8-10 hours a day with no live plants and 10-12 with a well planted tank. Buy an algae scraper to get algae of the tank, they have a soft scourer on one side, a sponge on the other and a rubber fin on the bottom. They won't scratch the glass.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AQUARIUM-ALGAE-SCRAPPER-ALGAE-CLEANER-FOR-FISH-TANK_W0QQitemZ330159686290QQihZ014QQcategoryZ20756QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Answer 7

It is algae. But there is a simple solution no algae eaters involved.

Any good Pet store will sell you a magnetic device one side of which goes outside of the glass the other on the inside and the magnet holds them together through the glass.

You then simply move the outside one which takes the inside one wherever you pull/push cleaning all the muck off the glass.

The one I have is simply called "MARINA" and is about four inches long and quite heavy due to the magnets. but it does work a treat.

Answer 8

do a 20% water change once a week.
the brown stuff is just brown algae, a natural occurance as your tank matures. it's harmless and can be cleaned off during your water changes. anything above the water line can be wiped off with some kitchen towel during the water change, below the water line can be rubbed off with a finger and the filter will deal with it.

all tanks get algae. completely natural. if you don't have live plants, don't have your tank lights on for any longer than 8 hours.

Answer 9

My fish tanks have algae growing in them and my solution to the problem was a product call mag-float. it is 2 pieces, on the outside is the magnet, and the inside is the piece that cleans the algae off the tank that is also magnetic. the magnet is very strong and if the inside piece falls off it will float to the top.

Answer 10

This is natural, it is algae and algae need lots of light to breed. if you are keeping your tank lights on for more than 8 hours a day it is too much. A quick remedy it to buy a magnetic tank cleaner from any pet shop.