Brownish Algae

Question
I was on vacation for the last week and left my parents in charge of my tank. I had told them exactly how to care for the fish but now there is brownish algae all over the glass and ornaments. As I have said it is sort of brownish orange and my parents said it was sort of green yesterday but it got worse and now it is this color. My bridge ornament is almost black with dark brown algae. Please help me get rid of this, my tank lights are on for 10-12 hours a day

Answer
Brown algae is common and shouldn't be too big of a worry. If you have a pleco or Chinese algae eater, eventually they will get around to eating it, but it's not their favorite. If you don't have any algae eaters at all, consider a bottle of algae killer at your local pet shop. they're generally around 4$ US and depending on the kind you get, will kill the algae without harming biological filters, fish, or plants.

Or you could scrub it out with a tank cleaner, gravel vac, and about 3 hours (eww)

Best of luck!