Your aquarium plants become brown? Here’s why.

Are your aquarium plants turning brown? Chances are

Aquarium plants that turn brown are actually suffering from an algae: “brown algae”. This type of algae crawls over the plant leaves which gives your plant leaf a sort of brown appearance, almost like a layer of dust. Of course, this is something you want to avoid as much as possible. In this article I will explain what causes brown aquarium plants and how you can fix it.

The reason why your aquarium plants become brown

It’s always important to find out the correct causes of algae in your planted tank. Brown alge often occurs when:

• You have too much waste in your aquarium water: rotten leaves, fish excrement, …
• Inadequate maintenance of your aquarium
• Poor water circulation
• Bad plant growth causing more waste

Until you address these problems, you won’t get rid of brown leaves.

Here’s how to get your aquarium plant leaves green again

Right, now that you know what causes your aquarium plants to turn brown but how do you get rid of it and turn the plant leaves green or red again? Here’s a road map:

1. Check if your filter is not clogged and check that the flow in your tank is still okay. If necessary, clean your filter
2. Remove debris in the aquarium (e.g. rotting leaves)
3. Don’t feed your fish too much, once every other day is more than enough
4. Very important: change your water weekly, especially if you have a lot of plants and/or a lot of fish
5. Last but certainly not least, make sure your aquarium plants have everything they need to grow well: CO2, fertilizers and good lighting

Also check out this article with all kinds of tips to preventive algae.