brown dirt on bottom of tank..

[riveria]

hi dudes,

need some help here... my tank is always dirtied by these brown dirt which doesn't seem to go away...

could it be "brown algae"?

thanks.
albert

[David]

Have you tried siphoning?

[riveria]

hi david,

ya, i've siphoned them, but these things will come back again...

i would say my bioload is heavy, but still doubt it can make this kinda mess...

[tawauboy]

you will be surprised.
try reducing feeding to once every 3-4 days.
you will notice a significant reduction of mulm accumulation.
you can try to improve water circulation so that the mulm will be filtered away but this may not be possible for a heavily planted tank.
so i guess siphoning is the only way out else you may have to live with mulm accumulation.

[riveria]

hi tawau,

i can't reduce feeding, as my mollies would feed on my plants...

kinda in dilemma now, to keep my mollies or not...

cheers,
albert

[PeterGwee]

Are those diatoms algae? If it is a new tank, those algae tend to grow and then will fade away as the tank matures. Just get plants to grow in the position if you find those brown stuff unsightly.

[sherchoo]

Siphoning during water changes should remove the mulm. Well, if it comes back juz siphon it again... no big deal rite.

[Goondoo]

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On 8/16/2003 12:03:53 AM

Siphoning during water changes should remove the mulm. Well, if it comes back juz siphon it again... no big deal rite.
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Wait till how my tank of japonicas look like every end of the week.... they are typically brown in colour... haha.... But I still siphon them every week, maybe I will get some other foreground plants to make it less obvious... hehe...

[riveria]

ok broz... siphon hard hard... more work to be done... haha...

i for one reason, suspect my plants are rotting... how do i know if they are?

merci

[hwchoy]

they normally rot in the roots, use a stick, pincer, chopstick, anything sharp and insert it into the substrate near the spot where you think the plant is rotting, pull it out and have a good sniff (mmm… seem to be prescribing this a lot today). If it smells like clogged drain, bad breadth and swamp gas then the answer is YES!