# Brown gunk in my tank?



## bourgoine (Jul 16, 2008)

I have been fighting this brown what I think is just fish waste for a few weeks now. I have an Aquaclear 70 power filter and a Marineland C-360 filtering a 46 gallon bow front tank with caribsea african cichlid sand. I have cleaned both filters to get the waste out of them but after a week I start seeing brown buildup on my rocks, fake plants, and heater. I never see it on the sand either? So if anyone has any idea how to cure this problem it would be a huge help.

This is my stocking list:

2 Acei Cichlids
4 Aurutis Cichlids
2 Cobalt Blue Cichids
1 Jewel Cichlid

All are less than 3 inches long.


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## bourgoine (Jul 16, 2008)

after doing some research i found out its brown alage. How do I cure this? I know a BN pleco would work but none of the fish stores in my area carry them and its expensive to buy online. The only plecos we have in the area are common and those chinese alage eaters. Would either one of those be ok in my tank?


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## RyanR (Apr 29, 2008)

How long has the tank been set up? Newer set-ups take some time to equilibrate.

Might be worth a drive to some BN plecos. Perhaps your LFS can order a batch next time they put in an order?

For bottom cleaners, I've had good luck with cory cats and BN pleco's. Asian algae eaters can be evil little buggers!

-Ryan


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## bourgoine (Jul 16, 2008)

The tank has been set up now for about 8 months now. As for the fish stores in the area none of them seem to want to special order any fish? Alot of them seem to like to sell the cheaper fish that they can get rid of in a quick and easy way. I have gone to all the fish stores in a 50 mile radius of me and none of them have ever carried BN Plecos


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## thor meeki (Sep 12, 2008)

I have the same problem . All I do is more frequent water changes. Then take the decoratios, fake plants large rock ect. and run them under hot tap water . It takes off most of the algae. Also rember algae needs food to grow if you over feed your fish the byproduct of that & fish waste help algae thrive. 
You may be leving the lights on too long as well. I only leve mine on for 8 hours or less it seems to help


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## knotty dreadlocks (Oct 31, 2008)

i have this exact same issue in my tank. my water is crystal clear but i got some brown algae on my texas holey rock. i think its time for me to start rinsing them with the tank water during my weekly water changes


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## addicted2cichlid (Apr 8, 2008)

brown diatoms are eaten by very few species. its basically the first algae u get in most new freshwater set=ups, give it time and it will become nice bright green algae.


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## JALOOS (Sep 6, 2008)

addicted2cichlid said:


> brown diatoms are eaten by very few species. its basically the first algae u get in most new freshwater set=ups, give it time and it will become nice bright green algae.


Agreed didn't take more than a week setup to start getting diatoms. They will go away on their own as mentioned.

Don't know how well adult YOYO loaches would fare with Cichlids but in my community tank I have 6 of these and man there are great janitors. Nothing lats on filter intakes, gravel, plants or whatever for long and provides alot less waste than a large pleco. Worth a shot its only a 5 buck fish.


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## knotty dreadlocks (Oct 31, 2008)

addicted2cichlid said:


> brown diatoms are eaten by very few species. its basically the first algae u get in most new freshwater set=ups, give it time and it will become nice bright green algae.


should i be scrubbin them off the rocks or just leave it as is.


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## gremlin (Oct 23, 2002)

would a uv sterilizer help with that at all??


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