Brown algae

[Juan colin]

Ive been having brown algae problems since i got my first aquarium and ever since  i havent been able to get rid of it in my 39 gallon tank.How do i get rid of it and how do i prevent it from happening again?

[H.K.Luterman]

How old is the tank? New tanks will go through a brown diatom algae phase that will typically last until the excess silicates are used up in the system. It can take a few months.

[Doug_E]

Mine has had a bloom in recent weeks, just after I re-scaped which kicked up a lot of sand particles (sand substrate). I got 4 nerite snails yesterday and already they are making a difference. More of them and more time and they could probably take care of the problem, and add a nice new element to the tank. 

The good news is it is normal, and not harmful. But it may be an indicator of other problems that could be a problem. IE high Nitrate. I wasn't great at water changes so mine were up around 40-50ppm, now down to 20 and the diatoms seem to be slowing down. I also added more plants so the plants may be doing their part. 

[Karen K]

I had some of this as well.  Got a bristlenose pleco that took care of it for me.  I'm now having issues with a tufted green algae that my Oto's and current Bristlenose don't seem to want to eat.  I have a Siamese algae eater that took care of beard algae in a 7 gal I have so I was thinking about moving him to the 75.  Hoping he'll eat that.  anyone know why the Oto's might not be eating it?  I have 3 and they had eaten regular green algae I have on my side glass.