Algae all over plants

[mumrah]

I'm still having trouble with algae growing all over my plants. I dont care about algae on the glass, i can clean that, but i think it's killing my plants.

This is happening in my 10g Ram tank. I have 2x20W 50/50 mini CF bulbs in there. I'm also injecting CO2, and do frequent water changes.

Is there anything else i can do to reduce algae growth and encourage plant growth?

Thanks

 

[Jchillin]

What type of algae is it?

 

[Hoovercat]

Two 20 watt 50/50 bulbs with CO2 injection is the problem. The small CF bulbs don't have nearly enough lumens to drive plant growth sufficient to starve the algae. More lighting is the answer. I had 2 10's with 2x20watt daylight CF's and it was barely enough light. The WPG rule really does break down on a small tank. You might work on your macro levels and see some improvement but 40-80 watts of cf light is the real answer.

 

[malkore]

I agree with Hoovercat. At most you have 20watts of usable plant spectrum, as the other /50 is actinic and not a plant spectrum. So that puts you at 2wpg, but its a small tank, so you aren't really meeting the minimum lighting intensity (this is why the wpg 'rule' breaks in very small, and very large tanks).

i think you'd see a big improvement in plant growth if you change them to both be 20w daylight bulbs.
Keep up the CO2, and watch nutrient levels. Just be patient. Algae starts fast, but takes at least twice as long to properly correct the cause so that it dies off all on its own.

 

[travis simonson]

What does your NO3 measure? If it's too high it can also cause hair/fuzz algae outbreaks.

 

[mumrah]

Nitrates stay below 15ppm.

I'll consider changing out the bulbs, but not anytime soon seeing as they were not cheap.

I'm not currently dosing ferts.. is this contributing to the problem?