[xxokiexxdokie]

My biggest issue with my tank is that I am beginning to see unremovable black dots on the leafs of my plants. Its primarily on the Anubias but I am beginning to see it spread to my other plants.

I have a 20 gallon, Freshwater tank, No CO2 and I do not heavily dose my tank with excel because 90% of the fish inside my tank are cory catfish.

I understand Algae will be part of having a planted tank but do you guys have any suggestions how I can keep this under control.

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[Gooberfish]

In no way do I have the solution, but in my experience, the black stuff and algae on the anubias is from them being in direct light. I think anubias like to be shaded.

Idk about the other stuff. How often do you do water changes?

 

[ipkiss]

So, the simple solution is to reduce light.

You can do what gooberfish said by shading the anubias (this doesn't help with the other plants), you can put a plastic mesh screen between your light and your tank to reduce the intensity, you raise the light fixture to reduce intensity, and/or cut down the lighting period.

See if that helps any. Whatever you have, will probably be stuck with that leaf unless you try to spot treat it with some hydrogen peroxide or excel (even then the leaf may be permanently unsalvageable) so you'll have to trim it when you think the plant is strong enough to handle it. Just watch the new growth and see if it spreads to them.

The more complicated answer will require you to do some research and try to balance your tank with the right amount of fertilizers and carbon for your light intensity if reducing light doesn't work or is not something you want to do.

Here's Darkblade's primer to planted tanks to get you started.

 

[rcs0926]

It doesn't look like you have any stem plants in your tank. If that's the case, you might want to add some so that they can outcompete the algae for nutrients. It would also help to know what kind of lighting you're using and how long you have them on.

 

[AquaAurora]

People already mentioned some good points for control: reduce lighting amount/time, add fast growers to take up nutrients, etc. As for cleaning, I found the anubias very hardy and able to easily withstand a bleach dip then rinsed and whipped off the algae with a wet towel rag.. my java fern.. didn't like the bath as much (but I did leave it in a bit longer than you should >.>''). I've also done bleach baths for decor (natural rocks) let them sit a long time then very thorough rinsing and scrubbing.. and more rinsing.

 

[Raymond S.]

The regular quetions that go/w this are:
What size tank epecially how tall.
Which light for how long each day.
What ferts.