Keep or scrub away?

[Helena]

I set up my tank about 6 weeks ago and this brown algae has been steadily growing. I've read that it seems to be diatoms since it's a new tank and is expected. Should I let it run it's course and go away on its own or would it be better to scrub it off while it's manageable? I've read conflicting information so I wanted to see what everyone else would do

[Patrick_G]

I think you’re going to eventually have to scrub it away or get some fish that will eat it. I’ve found that while it eventually stops reappearing you’ll need to take steps to remove the current buildup. 
Looks like a nice tank, do you have a full tank pic? 

[Helena]

On 12/13/2022 at 5:48 PM, Patrick_G said:

Looks like a nice tank, do you have a full tank pic?

I do! The first pic is when I just started the tank so the white cloud minnows we're replaced with my fish: panda Cory's, khulis, long fin zebra Danios, and a Columbian Zebra Pleco (pleco and Danios are impossible to photograph)

[Patrick_G]

Wow, nice 😄! You clearly put a lot of thought and work in to it. The Kuhlis give it extra pop!

[Schuyler]

Are you thinking about getting any otos out shrimp? If so you could leave it for them.

I would probably at least scrub it off the Anubias leaves 

That's a really cool setup there. It will be awesome in a few months when your tree grows out a bit.

Have you considered putting a frosted glass coating on the back? With the mirror there you may get a soft backlit look

 

[Misa]

Beautiful tank! If it was me I would clean the anubias but leave the hardscape.

[Helena]

On 12/13/2022 at 7:14 PM, Schuyler said:

Are you thinking about getting any otos out shrimp

Yes I was thinking about getting some shrimp! I've been a bit nervous since I got khulis and I've heard mixed opinions on them and shrimp. But I'm glad to know that the shrimp would eat it. Since my tank is barely a month old, I was going to wait until the 3 or 4 month mark to make sure it's fully established. I think in my next tank cleaning I'll do a light scrub on the rocks and make sure it's not on the Anubis 

[Helena]

On 12/13/2022 at 7:14 PM, Schuyler said:

Have you considered putting a frosted glass coating on the back? With the mirror there you may get a soft backlit look

That is a good idea! I will definitely look into this! Thanks for the suggestion 

[nabokovfan87]

I vote otocinclus.

[Jennifer V]

I vote for letting it sit and adding a snail like a nerite and maybe some neo shrimp after the diatoms build up.

Love love love your tank! Totally derailing the thread, but can you tell me how you created the substrate divide? 

[Remi de Groot]

I've never seen neo shrimp eat enough algae to notice a difference.
Mostly they eat the bacteria living in the algae.

I'm on the same level as @nabokovfan87 on this one and would add some oto's.
Nice fish anyway to have in your tank and with them i actually notice a difference.

[Helena]

On 12/14/2022 at 1:19 AM, Jennifer V said:

Totally derailing the thread, but can you tell me how you created the substrate divide

I unfortunately did not take pictures of my process but I do have one:

What I did was lay out paper on the bottom of my tank to see what angle I wanted for the path, traced it and then cut it out, then I got small pieces of slate off of Amazon and stacked and glued them with silicone. Since I have a black rim on my tank I had to make it tall so it will stand out. But just make sure you wait a couple days for the silicone to dry

[Jennifer V]

It's so stunning! What kind of silicon did you use? Did that prevent you from having to use something like filter floss to fill in the gaps between the rocks? What kind of substrate are you using?

Sorry for all of the questions! I just want to do the same thing in my next tank so I've been doing a ton of research and your tank is Pinterest worthy. 

[Helena]

Thank you everyone for suggesting Ottos, they do seem like helpful fish but I think I will wait until I get a larger tank. I have redroot floaters and I thought the cherry shrimp would pop. Plus I have never had shrimp and would love to try my hand at having them!

Edited December 15, 2022 by Helena

[Helena]

On 12/14/2022 at 1:28 PM, Jennifer V said:

What kind of silicon did you use? Did that prevent you from having to use something like filter floss to fill in the gaps between the rocks? What kind of substrate are you using?

I used 100% silicone (made sure there was no additives) and I did not seal up all of the gaps. I actually made it modular so each side is segmented in 3 pieces incase I wanted to change the angle later. The substrate I have for the black is Seachem Flourite Black Clay Gravel and the white is some small gravel I got on amazon, if you are interested in the specifics let me know and I can hunt down exactly what I used.

To make the hill for the tree, I didn't have a lot of black substrate (it's expensive) so what I ended up doing was buying a cheap 100% plastic pot from Home Depot and cutting it to the height I wanted, then I got some cheap filter bags (make sure they have drawstring and not a metal zipper) and filled it up with the white sand and put a couple around the pot to fill in the space. Then I topped it off with my black gravel so you can't see any of it. I have a 20 long and the 15.5 lbs bag was enough to cover my whole tank because of the pot and filter bag/sand combination I did. If you don't want gaps in-between the two sides then you can mix some of the substrate and use that as a filler for the gaps. Personally I don't mind some mixing of gravel and as you can see, my khulis like to wiggle between them.

Edited December 15, 2022 by Helena