After months, my tank finally cycled. It's a 30 gallon that is home to my fantail Po & my pearlscale phoenix. Both are bordering on 2" long, head to tail. Anyway, I have this hideous brown algae everywhere in my tank; filter, plants, gravel, glass, everywhere. I've tried to scrub it off but in a day or two its back. What kind of fish can I get. I want an attractive fish and some of the plecos and loaches that are out there have a face only a mother could love. (Sorry that was kinda mean). Or is there something I could do to get rid of the algae without a fish? Scrubbing the tank everyday is very time consuming.

Thanks
Jessica

erm, i used to have a butterfly plec! theyre lovely!!

let the fishes settle in some more and try to get a better lighting system, then remove the brown algae so that you can get a better chance of having green algae, the goldfish would be more then willing to eat green algae all up everytime they appear

Sorry, I should've mentioned, the fish were there during the cycling process. So they are pretty adjusted. I have a flourescent loght hood on the tank so what type of lighting system should I get? I originally tried to only put the light on for two or three hours a day, but the tank is in a corner of my room so they don't get any light if they tank light isn't on. I'm really torn because I wanted to get another goldfish, but I can't have 3 and a pleco because I'll be overstocked. So how do I make green algae? The brown algae's been there for two months or so.


Thanks
~ Jessica

the pleco i have isn't very active when i see him. hes only out at nite and the rest of the time hes behind the intake tube or behind the heater

You say you have Brown algae in a realtively new tank. -This often happens in new tanks that haven't been set up for long, in my first 6 ft tank it took almost six months of nasty brown algae to finally die down, the bloom of algae can be self-limiting, ie, after it has used up all nutrients in the tank it will die-off of it's own accord. After reading a bit, I found that brown alge thrive off stuff like silicates and phosphates that are found in tap water, you can try using stuff you put in your filter that sucks phosphates and silicates out of the water that will starve off the brown algae faster. Ask for help at your LFS for brands of products that will do this.