Hi Guys I'm new to this forum and would like to thank you for any advice in advance....

I have had my tank set up for about 5 months now, I bought the tank and setup 2nd hand so have no idea what bulbs they are or how long they have been in use apart from that they are 2 x flourescnet tubes.

The problem I have is that the plants in the tank dont seem to be doing that well and are covered with a brownish layer which just makes them look dirty. I have been a bit of research on this and it seems that it could be DIATOMS....could anyone confirm this?

The lights on the tank are on for roughly 9 hours a day while I am at work. The fish seem to be halthy and i do regular water changes with and whenever doing a water test everything seems fine.

any help on this would be appreciated.

many thanks

Sounds like diatom which is common in newer setups.Could you possibly get a picture?It would help if you can get a pic of the plants,the light you have and the flourescent tubes in them.

Different plants can handle different lights so if they are a high light species and you have low lighting,they will indeed turn brown and melt away.

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"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

sure, i can get a picture this evening - if it is diatom - what is the best way to treat this?

Time mostly,and keeping a good schedule of waterchanges.Oto cats are known to eat the stuff too so look into a few of them.Adding them will depend on your tank size as I believe they like to be in groups.You can also get some ramshorn snails or nerites to help as well, and also rubbing the leaves gently between your fingers to remove it will help as well.

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"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

Thanks, I have also read that it could be down to poor lighting?

Good morning Ima...

Here's some basic information, that may be helpful.

You have algae growing in your tank like we all do, it's not a big problem. I have a large number of plants in all my tanks and have esstenitally no algae in them.

If you have lighting in the 1 to 2 watts per gallon range you should be able to grow most of the aquatic plants on the market, so to control the algae, you just need to get more plants into the tank.

Aquatic plants are tropical and need a minimum of 10 hours of light. I have my tank lights set for 12 hours on and 12 off.

Your plants need two types of nutrients: macro and micro. The plants get the macros from regular and partial water changes. I do 50 percent every two weeks and the fish provide the rest of the macros. The micros need to come from a commercial source and you can dose either dry or liquids.

Plants can take a very long time to get used to your tank conditions. The best thing to do is to maintain them by keeping the dead leaves trimmed to stimulate new growth.

Give a shout if you have any questions.

B

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Low Tech Water Building Keeper

If the plant's health has been comprimised, each plant can get covered in algae. If you really want to eradicate it, you could kill your light for a few days. It does need light to grow. I would try rubbing off as much as I could, as it can affect how much light gets to the plants. I had a serious problem like this with one of my tanks and changed my light (adding more light) and it went away. You may want to check the kelvin rating and make sure your lights in the the 6000K-10000K range.