Algae growth on plants

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Nøjo

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Oct 2, 2005
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Location
Victoria, BC
This is a great site, thanks to all for sharing all the much needed information on so many different levels.

I have a 55 gallon planted tank, and after a few weeks of feeding my plants fertilizer I have the predicted algae growth starting to take over. Now, I don't actually mind the growth on the back and side glass. To be honest, I don't really know enough about algae in a tank to know whether or not I should be really concerned by it. The problem I have is that it's growing in spades on my plants and I'm wondering if this is harmful, asides from being unsightly. If it is harmful, how do I get rid of it? I have four plecos and 5 otocinclus but they don't seem to be making much difference. Some of my plants (I can't lie and tell you I remember the names of all of them) used to be a really nice red but know they are looking more like an algae covered ornament then a healthy plant. What do I do?
 
Welcome to Aquarium Advice, Nøjo! :mrgreen:

Hopefully we can help you with this. If the algae is not bothering you and not bothering the plants, then it is not anything to worry about, but if it is actually growing on the plants it will ultimately kill them so it needs to be addressed.

Algae and plants use nutrients and light to grow, so what we have here is that the plants are not getting enough of what they need to "outcompete" the algae for nutrients, and since algae has an easier time getting what it needs out of the water and from the available light, it is taking over. We need to find out what the plants need to really suck all of the nutrients out of the water before the algae gets a chance.

We need to know what kind of lighting you have (wattage, the amount of time you leave the lights on, etc.) and any water parameters you can give us, particularly nitrate but pH, ammonia, nitrite and phosphate too. Also what is your water change schedule, and are you using tap water or well water, RO water, etc.?

Also, can you describe the type of algae you are seeing?
 
You may want to cut back or stop fertilizing all together.

For example, my 29 gal has a good fish load and doesn't need fertz. I am finding that it is so sensitive that 1 drop per week of Flourish can cause hair algea to show up on all my plant leaves! 8O Please note that this is a low light tank, so it doen't use nutrients very quickly.
 
Thanks for the prompt replies guys. Now if only my landlord would act so fast when I had a problem...

I have a single light canopy which houses a 42" Flora-Sun light bulb (38 watts). I used to have a Sunglow but while brighter it wasn't doing much for the plants except turning them brown so I made the change six weeks ago. I don't have on a timer but usually have on for about 13-15 hours a day. The tank sits near a window - not so that direct sunlight strikes it but there is plenty of indirect light in the room. I don't know my phosphate or nitrite levels, but my nitrate and ammonium are almost nil. I check usually each fortnight and do a water change then - about 15-20%. I use tap water but treat it before adding it to the tank. To be really honest, I've been lazy with the water changes as I was waiting for my nitrate levels to rise and thus figured I was safe. My last one was probably 6 weeks ago.

The algae itself is long, almost hair like strands sticking out from on top of the leaves. I'll try and get a photo up to show you, it's bound to be a bit easier to see than imagine. I also have some "Algae Destroyer" but didn't want to use that until I was certain it wouldn't hurt the plants. Isn't there a fish or something I can buy that will get it all away? Seems like a simple fix, albeit too good to be true...
 
Without additional info I'd say you have some excess nutrients in the water (6 weeks - yikes! plus fertilizer) as well as a very long photoperiod.

You'll want to consider cutting back the lighting to 10-12 hours a day for a start and see if that, combined with a little more attention to water changes, helps matters. Keep in mind that your lighting is extremely low, so the ambient light in the room is having an impact - with that low light level in your hood you should not have any algae problems, lol. I don't know what kind of plants you have but let's hold off on the ferts for a while as things get sorted out.
 
Ok, so I went ahead with the water change and won't be such a slack bugger with them in the future. I'm assuming that overfeeding may have contributed as well. With three lobsters in the tank, I have always been a bit leary of leaving them too hungry unless my pleco collection turns into a rather expensive buffet. Also, I got some snails and added some phosphate remover to my filter. Now what can I expect in the future - will the algae just disappear or will I have to actually rub it off the plant leaves?
 
"Three lobsters and a pleco collection" indicates to me that excess nutrients in the water are your culprit - if the plecos are not eating the algae (depending upon what kind they are) then they must be getting enough food otherwise, and they can seriously overload a tank with waste. The lobsters will likely make short work of the snails, and I'd recommend against adding to the bioload with any additional residents - anything that eats the algae will also create even more waste in the water and perhaps even work against your efforts.

I think small, frequent water changes are going to be the ticket for you, and it will be a slow process to eradicate the algae. Prune off or remove manually whatever you can, and keep up with your new maintenance regime, but honestly it could take several weeks. Don't get impatient and take any drastic measures, and you should see improvement.
 
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