iwantareef16
Aquarium Advice Regular
how do you get algae off plants. I have algae on a hornwort and crypt with hair algae with brown and green algae on the plants and on the hair albae
algae on plants
- Thread starter iwantareef16
- Start date
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
algae eating fish such as SAE or amano shrimp will do that job for you. You can also enjoy them eating away your problems =D . If you try to remove it physically, the plants will end up dying. Check your phosphate level, it should be below 1 on the test kits.
KaiserFish
Aquarium Advice Activist
Ameca Splendens are another great addition to a tank for removing hair algae especially. They do not get big, they do not damage the plants, and they breed like rabbits.
travis simonson
Aquarium Advice Addict
When it comes to algae eaters you've got a wide variety to select from. I like SAEs myself because they will eat just about anything. Florida Flag Fish have also worked well for me. I keep African cichlids so I can't put any shrimp in my tank, but I've heard they do wonders against algae as well. You might also look into snails (Nerite snails are great) but want to be careful because once you put them in they will likely continue to reproduce and it will be hard to get rid of them if you decide you don't like them.
All that said, it's never good to rely on algae eaters to fix your algae problems. You need to address the issues that caused the algae in the first place. Are your nutrients balanced? Are you running too much light over a non-CO2 supplemented tank? Does your filter need cleaning? There are a lot of variables to take into account, but if you look closely enough you will find a causal relationship in there somewhere
All that said, it's never good to rely on algae eaters to fix your algae problems. You need to address the issues that caused the algae in the first place. Are your nutrients balanced? Are you running too much light over a non-CO2 supplemented tank? Does your filter need cleaning? There are a lot of variables to take into account, but if you look closely enough you will find a causal relationship in there somewhere
iwantareef16
Aquarium Advice Regular
i have 2 40 watt bulbs and a hagen co2 system that i run 24/7. when i get home from school there bubbles everywhere and i think the co2 is just benitfing the algae only but i think i am going to get some otos and do some research on the sae and flag fish
frog girl
Aquarium Advice Freak
I have read that algae (in your situation) is usually caused by excess phosphates & or a deficiency in other nutrients or micro nutrients. The otos will help a lot (but it would be a good idea to figure out if you phosphates are high).
