Algae in my planted tankHe

[Lars6]

I have had an awful algae problem in my 20 gallon long since I started it 2 months ago. I started a fluval 2.0 on the tank. In the beginning, I had the light on for 10 hours. Algae ran rampid and coated every surface. String algae was everywhere. I then changed the light to 8 hours. The string algae disappeared, but brown algae still covers every plant. I dialed the light down to 6 hours today in an effort to get rid of the brown algae on all of my plants. Any suggestions on how to get rid of my algae problem and what I’m doing wrong? Pics are attached

 

[koipie doll]

View attachment 1320875 View attachment 1320876 View attachment 1320877 I have had an awful algae problem in my 20 gallon long since I started it 2 months ago. I started a fluval 2.0 on the tank. In the beginning, I had the light on for 10 hours. Algae ran rampid and coated every surface. String algae was everywhere. I then changed the light to 8 hours. The string algae disappeared, but brown algae still covers every plant. I dialed the light down to 6 hours today in an effort to get rid of the brown algae on all of my plants. Any suggestions on how to get rid of my algae problem and what I’m doing wrong? Pics are attached View attachment 1320878

Bristle nose pleco seat most types of algae

 

[koipie doll]

Typo....plecos eat, not pleco seat. Stupid spell check

 

[Lars6]

I have 3 nerites and I had 4 otos but I haven’t seen them in weeks. I want my tank to look clean and my plants to not be brown. Algae eaters help but I cannot solely rely on them. Any other suggestions?

 

[Gourami Swami]

Excess brown diatom algae is pretty common in new setups, and also often points to high nitrates, do you test your water?
Are you using any fertilizers or products? What kind of lights on tank?

 

[Lars6]

I haven’t tested my water in a while but I will soon. I use seachem flourish once a week. I have a fluval 2.0 as my light

 

[Lars6]

What would I do about high nitrates?

 

[Gourami Swami]

A good water change schedule and reasonable stocking will keep nitrates in check. Looks like you don't have an overstocked tank, I would recommend once weekly 50% water change schedule. If you do have high nitrates (over 20ppm) once you test the tank, I would do a larger water change like 70% and then keep on the regular schedule.
I would also recommend getting a few more plants. More plants will take up excess nutrients and the algae won't grow as rampantly hopefully. I'd go in there with a magic eraser and get all the algae that you can off. And then you can see a "fresh slate" of how fast the brown algae is growing.
Your tank looks good by the way. I don't think the algae looks all that bad, but can see how it would be frustrating.

 

[Lars6]

Would any sponge work? Thanks for the suggestions. Would keeping my light on for 6 hours be fine?

 

[Gourami Swami]

I wouldn't use a normal sponge they often have chemicals in them. Get a mr. clean magic eraser or an algae sponge from a petstore, they won't release anything bad into your water. You can try 6hr light, might not be enough for your plants though. Got to play around with it and find an amount that works. The brown algae is probably from something in your water like excess nitrates or phosphate. if you take care of that you can probably have a longer light period and not have an algae problem.