I have brown algae in my tank. looks nice actually. fish seem to love it. is brown or green algae better

brown algae is actually a bacteria (cyanobacteria) but it acts in much the same way that algae doeas and isnt harmful. to me, both green and brown are pretty much the same. they will both help by eating up a little nitrates, phosphates and sylicates. you can pretty much clean it at your leisure.

if i had to/could pick one that id let gow on things, id go with green beard algae. i looove the way it wafts in the current of the water and its very crisp and clean looking.

paul

Paul, I have to disagree with you on this one. The brown algae we see growing in a freshwater aquarium are diatoms not cyanobacteria.

Having brown algae (Diatoms) growing in an aquarium is not at all harmful and usually indicates a lack of light and or an excess of silicates in the aquarium water. Increasing the light levels in an aquarium will usually make the brown algae disappear. Diatom cells contain yellow-orange pigments along with green which gives the cells a brown appearance.

Cyanobacteria, is a bacteria but is often referred to as blue-green algae. Having blue-green algae in an aquarium is most often caused by poor water quality.

Rick

Diatoms also proliferate when there are Nitrates present in the water.

Green algae is good, as long as it does not allow view of the tank. They act as regular plants, and help to bring the Nitrate level down (Nitrogen Cycle). These usually start to appear as the tank begins to mature.