What kind of algae is this exactly?

I'll have to try some excel in the 10g and see if that does anything to it.

 

i completely understand where your coming from...Seachem line gets expensive fast on the larger tanks too imo!

<--trying to do away with everything but the excel and probably the iron (although I have been out of it for almost a week now).

 

Hey Lemon I just started getting that brown looking algae in my tank. Stuff grows crazy fast. I am having major algae problems lately. I am seriously thinking of throwing in the towel and doing a complete break down of the tank.

 

yea, but if you don't figure out the source and breakdown the tank and bleach it...and reset it back up your more than likely going to end up with it again sooner or later

Did that with the 90g in order to paint the walls behind it...had gsa...set it back up and did excellent for awhile...and I am just starting to see several spots on the front and side glass of it again

 

i heard marimo balls are good for out-competing algae for nutrients and even killing off existing algae. soon as i get some extra loot im gonna give um a try. bayleesfishees sells some giant ones on aquabid. ORRRRRR go for a diy co2 and see if it works. it will help your plants soak up more nutrients faster and you might even decide you like it and keep it. all you gotta do is activate 1/2 tsp of yeast in warm water, add 2 cups of sugar to a 2 liter with an airline glued into the lid, and fill it with warm water about to the label line at the top of the bottle. probably need 2-3 of these for a tank that size, or use something larger and use the same ratio for the recipe(not sure if the ratio thing will work) i put the other end of the line through the bottom of a clear plastic cup with a suction cup attached to it and tilted it to create enough surface area to diffuse the co2 into the water in the cup and placed it next the out flow on my filter(you might want to get one of those nano diffusers but thats just more money). you can also put the airline next to the intake of a powerhead or another filter intake and the propeller will dissolve the bubbles and spread the co2 out. make sure you use a check valve though, you dont want something crazy happening(just dont squeeze the bottle). this will only cost you 99cents for the yeast, a couple bucks for sugar, extrra airline, and some gorilla glue/silicone. ive been using this method for months and it really does work. when i first started trying it i saw results immediately. some folks worry about the ph dropping at night but i havent had any problems with it and if your really worried about it slap an airstone in there for night time.

 

I have a huge one I got from aquariumplants.com in the 90g (can see it in the photos) and a medium size one in the 10g (can see it in the photos I think?)....
AND BOTH tanks still have algae!

The 90g only has a few tiny spots of the gsa that I just scraped off the glass with a razor (tom cleaning wand)....the 10g is dealing with fuzzy maroonish colored algae and this blackish grey colored whispy like algae.

So don't count on the marimo to help (unless it's only good for certain types of algae).

 

Agree with Dawn especially since Marimo's are no more than Cladophora themselves. That looks more like some type of string algae to me.