Hi..my silk plants are covered in brown algae - what is the quickest way to remove it? Bleach? That will probably ruin the silk plant, right? I put them in the sun to dry them out, and now the leaves are dark brown, should I just buy new plants???

This brown algae is killing me!

I have pretty good success in removing that brown stuff with a soft, unused, tooth brush. Brushes right off under running water. The sooner the better - the longer it sits on those silkies, the harder it is to get off. When I didn't know better, I let it go for too long, and now I have to literally scrape it off with a razor blade, which of course doesn't do too well with the plants... Finally I gave up and just tossed them, swearing that I be more thorough and on a schedule with brushing it off...

Ah..a toothbrush! Thanks...I'll give it a try.

I found an easy way to get ALL the brown algae off. I was able to get them somewhat clean by rubbing and scrubbing, but they still did'nt look clean. There was always some brown stuff that just would'nt come off (especially on the lighter colored plants). It was almost like the silk was stained.

I'm not sure how I stumbled on this but,...I fill the kitchen sink with the hottest water I can get out of the tap. Then I just drop the plants, and other ornaments in the hot water. Let them soak while I clean the Glass in the tank, and do my water change. So after 20 minutes or so of soaking in that Hot water,... Badda Bing! Clean as a whistle!

I don't even have to scrubb them anymore.

I rinse them in cool water to get the temperature down before I put them back in the tank.

I'm sure this kills all the "Good" bacteria,...but it gets rid of the dirty look'in algae pretty easily.

The hot water is also a good idea, Golfnut! I don't think the bio load of the tank gets much affected by it anyway, unless you have dozens of dozens of those silk plants. A few missing bugs on a few plants don't do that much at all.
Btw, I love your panda oranda in your sigi!

AWESOME! That sounds so easy! I am thrilled..thanks so much guys..you've saved me so much time!