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So I'm battling brown algae, I think. Here are some pictures of what I'm dealing with. The first picture is what my tank looked like the first day I added the big river rock. After about a week the brown stuff started to take over, and it only took about 2 days to develop to where it is now. Also in a couple of the pictures you can see little silver bubbles, what are they, and are they dangerous? Any help/advice would be much appreciated!!

Oh 1 more thing, the brown stuff is ONLY where the light penetrates the water.......











As you can see it is also all over the entrance to his basking ramp. Is this stuff dangerous?

its like regular algae. it wont hurt it but it will make the tank look dirty. so if i wore you, i would scrub them one by one or replace them. or just take out the water plants and put fakes.

They are fake plants....And this is the 3rd time I've tried different substrate. I've had smaller rock...it formed brown algae....Sand....brown algae after 2 days....and now the river rock...algae after about a week. I already tried brushing the rocks off and doing a 50% water change and that didn't help anything at all

A new tank set-up? Brown algae is actually diatoms and is common in new tanks. It will go away on its own eventually. Plecos and otocinclus catfish are great at eating it but your turtle may eat them.

The bubbles are dissolved gases from your tap water. They will go away after a couple days. I'm guessing you recently did a big water change.

thegrandpoohbah wrote:A new tank set-up? Brown algae is actually diatoms and is common in new tanks. It will go away on its own eventually. Plecos and otocinclus catfish are great at eating it but your turtle may eat them.

The bubbles are dissolved gases from your tap water. They will go away after a couple days. I'm guessing you recently did a big water change.

I find it doesn't go away on it's own, but if you scrub it once the tank is cycled, it takes longer to come back (and comes back less). For some reason, I have a problem with diatoms in Frankie's tank, but not in Ralphs!

The only solution I've ever known to work for killing algae completely is as follows:

Get a liquid solution of 25% bleach, 75% tap water. Mix and enjoy

Soak everything in that tank in that solution for about two hours. Rinse them off well, then soak them in straight tap water and rinse again until the smell of bleach is COMPLETELY gone.

I haven't done this yet because I'm just to lazy. And I think green algae is pretty.

Ultimately, your algae will come back someday the second the UVB hits the water. I think the reason why some things grow it back when hit by UVB is because of the water depth. So far, my water level is about well over a foot deep, and the algae is growing back but very, very slowly. When my water was six inches high, algae bloomed like Christmas! Even if the rays don't penetrate the water more than a few inches, I think the depth still matters for some reason...

Here's a good article for you guys to read: http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm. It covers most of the common forms of algae found in aquariums.

It looks like it could be diatoms to me. Look at Diatoms/Brown Algae in the link above.

You can also black out your tank. Essentially, set it up so that the light doesn't get into the water. I believe it is the light that is allowing it to grow, so if you can build an ATBA or something so the light only shines there, the algae should go away. Also, make sure your tank isn't by any windows as sunlight can affect algae growth as well.

ok fist of the bubbles are from the algae, they are plants that breath witch cause air bubbles and second the algae only grows by the light because they need light/sunlight to grow hence the algae by the bulb....and the algae isn't dangerous,just buy a algae eaters so they will eat it and your problem is solved...p.s. get a Chinese algae eater because there super fast and won't gt eaten by the turtles unless there hungry