Well I finally got through the tank cycle and the fish seem much happier. However... there is a brown tint to the tank that I don't really like. The silk plants are getting brown spots all over them and the water doesn't seem like it's as clear as it could be. I'm gonna speed up the water changes. Maybe twice a week. Chemistry seems good though. Although the pH seems a bit low. Using baking soda to keep that in line. How can I get rid of the brown look though? I'm kinda mad about the plants they were expensive.

Sounds like algea. it can be a big pain sometimes. If the water is turning a greenish color, its probably algea blooms in the water. As for the plants and the tank getting a brown look, you can get an algea scrubber for the sides of the glass, and take the plants out to clean them when they start to get brown. There are chemicals you can use, but I wouldnt recommend them.

As far as I understand,part of the reason that brown algae shows up,is that it's telling you that your tank is about cycled.-which is a good thing. I take the plants out,and scrub them with a toothbrush in some of the tank water.Eventually the brown does disappear. Congrats on your accomplishment!

By the way,upping your water changes will help get rid of that tinted brown water.

May not be alae, but just tannin and lignin stain from the decomposition of organic matter. Can be removed with water exchange or activated carbon.

Thats funny. My tank has been cycled for quite some time now, I always have tons of brown algae, and never any green, cept on the plastic cover over the lights. Once a month or so I rip everything out and bleach it to get the brown algae off, then rinse it out in dechlorinator. How come I still have it and have to go through all this work? Hmph! <shuffles out whining some more>

What exactly are you ripping out & cleaning in bleach? Are you also doing weekly water changes on the tank,and testing the parameters?

Yeah I test and do my changes. I take out the silk plants and the couple of ornaments. Then I scrub the sides with the algae remover sponge thingy. Week and a half later it starts up again. I let it go for a few more weeks, then I do it all over again.

Ok so scrubbing the plants will work. I grabbed 'em and tried to make them submit to some thumb scrubbing didn't work though. OK then some more work for Jonny. Hehe. Guess I'll get to it. Thanks again for the help. Ev'ryone here's so nice. Good forum.

FOune out why the stupid water looked so bad... hehe... I'm a bonehead... Bought a t ank brush last week. Hehe. It seems that the sides of the tank were really dirty. The plants did need scrubbing. I did that and the fish liked the attention. They seem to like it when I mess around in the tank. But yeah most of the reason that the water looked brown is cause I've been cleaning the tank with one of the bottle style brush for cleaning the filter. You know with the wire coated in plastic. Yeah well I found out that doesn't work on the sides of the tank so good. Heheheehehe. GOD I"M CHEAP!~!!!! I wouldn't buy that tank brush cause of all the money I'd spent on the aquarium so far... guess I need that. Hehe.

On a serious note. The alkalinity is really low in my tank what should I do>?