algae on plants

[baysidefish]

Hi,

Any ideas how I can remove it? Please see the photo, algae grows on the plants.

This is a cherry shrimp tank..thank you

[BBradbury]

Hello bay...

Algae is normal in healthy tanks. It feeds on extra phosphates and nitrates in your tank water. The best way to control it's growth, is to remove and replace at least half the tank water every week. The more water you remove and the more often you remove it, the better. Water changes will remove the extra dissolved food in the water.

When you remove the water, plant or float some stem plants, like Water wisteria and Pennywort. These will feed on the phosphates and nitrates that aren't removed by the water change.

By removing it's food source, the algae will shrink and eventually disappear. I have planted tanks that have been running for several years and as the plants grew, the algae stopped growing. I have no visible algae in any of my planted tanks. But, I flush large amounts of pure, treated water through my tanks every 6 to 7 days.

B

[baysidefish]

okay, thanks

[fresh.salty]

Lighting? Ferts?

[baysidefish]

this is a 10G tank
PC 24W 7 hours a day
fluval shrimp stratum
co2
flourish trace twice a week

thanks

[fresh.salty]

With slower growing plants I think it's harder. Once the algae takes hold I'm not sure the affected growth will ever look clean again without manual removal.

[baysidefish]

okay, I will post back..thanks

[TrueAdrian]

Originally Posted by fresh.salty

With slower growing plants I think it's harder. Once the algae takes hold I'm not sure the affected growth will ever look clean again without manual removal.

so its okay to lightly scrub the leaves clean? Glad i found this post

[fresh.salty]

Some plants can take it, others obviously not so much. If you're getting good growth you might just trim the worst ones off the plant and wait it out. When they get really bad I don't think they contribute to the plants health anyway.