Brown algae in canister filter

[inveritas]

Hello,

I have a lightly planted 45L tank with guppies and corys. With 50% PWC weekly I put in Prime, and also 2x Excel daily. Moderate feeding and 7 hours' light on a timer.

Recently I've been having problems with brown algae clogging up my external canister filter. I've taken it out and ran it through bleach concentrate to remove the algae from the tubes, but it just regrows when I put it back to the tank. I don't see signs of the brown algae anywhere in the tank.

Any ideas please? Thanks in advance!

[Berny]

excel 2x daily? that's over dose right? - mistake 1
brown algae in canister? Not quite possible, its bb colonizing all the whats not in the media, hose and whatever surface i believe. algae cant grow in places without light, and worse still, tank is algae free but canister got algae

[Mystikboy]

I doubt it's algae per se; more like mulm; build up of organic matter that is colonized by bacteria. As long as your tank is free from it, there should not be any cause for concern (:

[inveritas]

excel 2x daily? that's over dose right? - mistake 1
brown algae in canister? Not quite possible, its bb colonizing all the whats not in the media, hose and whatever surface i believe. algae cant grow in places without light, and worse still, tank is algae free but canister got algae

Yes it's an overdose, was hoping to kill whatever it was as I read that Excel helps kill algae. Of course, the dosage was gradually increased. And come to think of it, you're right, can't be algae as the filter is not lit! Thanks!

I doubt it's algae per se; more like mulm; build up of organic matter that is colonized by bacteria. As long as your tank is free from it, there should not be any cause for concern (:

I see. The issue is that my inlet/outlet tubes get clogged up by it really fast, and I'd need to clean it every month or the water would not flow well (dripping outlet tube).

There is some brown stuff on my plants and deco, but it looks more like dust than anything so I'm not too worried.

Thanks!

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[Mystikboy]

I seriously doubt that it will clog that quickly. My pipes have been brown for a long time (say, half a year) but any decrease in flow is indiscernible

[milk_vanilla]

Don't worry about that thing, it's applied all canister filter user

You could slow it down by clean your filter regularly, make less disruption on your tank soil, or any organic buildup that could speed up that brown stuff.

[nickky23]

that tubing of mine turns to DARK brown after only 3 weeks (after changing to new filter), and I couldnt tell the difference of the flow. basically the tetras are still swimming hard against the outflow hahha

[thebaldingaquarist]

If you are concerned about clogging, this is what i do.

I have a low bioload (150 plus shrimp with 2 SAE and some nerites) tank and a 2260 running for that .

I fill the 2260 with Ceramic, sintered glass, biohome media. no sponge and a thin layer of eheim mech media.

I have 3 internal filters which i fill with bio foam and/or fine sponge. i point the outlet of 1 of the internal filters to the inlet of the 2260.

i position the 2260 inlet in the middle (height) of the tank.

Intention is that the canister does the filtration, the internal filters does the polishing of the water. I clean the internal filters every other week or once a month, depending on the condition of the sponges.

another thing i do is to backflush the canister for water changes, in other words, instead of taking water straight from the tank, i take water from the backflush outlet in the canister. but not all filters have this.

Its been 6 months. no cleaning of filter and no noticeably lowered output.