I have an order arriving today from Planted Aquariums Central, just a few additional plants to fill out empty spaces. The tank these are going into currently has an algae problem, mainly staghorn and possibly BBA (but I am not positive it's BBA...have had that before and this is more of a dark green than black, it might just be preliminary staghorn).
My tactic so far with the algae has been manually remove the severely infested leaves, more frequent water changes, ensuring CO2 is stable, and (just yesterday) I decreased the photoperiod from 8.5 to 6 hours. I've also been removing the manzanita to dose with peroxide every few weeks. I have been leaving some mildly infested leaves alone, simply to avoid pulling out too much plant mass, which I thought might weaken the plants.
My question is: Before adding the new plants, should I remove ALL traces of algae from within the tank? This would mean removing about 1/3 of the overall plant mass. Or is that too harsh?
Photos were taken today, and it's been about a week since I pulled any infested leaves.
Here is what's already in the tank:
Cryptocoryne wendtii
Hygrophila corymbosa
Java fern (newly added and not established)
Anubias nana petite (newly added and not established)
...and here's what's arriving today:
1x Ludwigia repens, Broadleaf
2x Cryptocoryne retrospiralis,
3x Cryptocoryne balansae
1x Micranthemum Tweedie sp. Monte carlo
1x Dwarf Lily Plant
Thanks for any input!
My tactic so far with the algae has been manually remove the severely infested leaves, more frequent water changes, ensuring CO2 is stable, and (just yesterday) I decreased the photoperiod from 8.5 to 6 hours. I've also been removing the manzanita to dose with peroxide every few weeks. I have been leaving some mildly infested leaves alone, simply to avoid pulling out too much plant mass, which I thought might weaken the plants.
My question is: Before adding the new plants, should I remove ALL traces of algae from within the tank? This would mean removing about 1/3 of the overall plant mass. Or is that too harsh?
Photos were taken today, and it's been about a week since I pulled any infested leaves.
Here is what's already in the tank:
Cryptocoryne wendtii
Hygrophila corymbosa
Java fern (newly added and not established)
Anubias nana petite (newly added and not established)
...and here's what's arriving today:
1x Ludwigia repens, Broadleaf
2x Cryptocoryne retrospiralis,
3x Cryptocoryne balansae
1x Micranthemum Tweedie sp. Monte carlo
1x Dwarf Lily Plant
Thanks for any input!
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