What Type Of Algee Is This

its the stuff on the back of the tank. its all over the glass. I had this years ago also when i had a planted tank. I had to empty the tank scrub it out and re-start it re-cylce it and i then went with fake plants and had no problems for the last year and a half. Now about 2-3 weeks ago i decided to go back to a planted tank. and its back again. How can i control it. BTW its a 46 gallon bowfront with co2 and 2- 55 watt compact flourecent lights about 2.4 wpg. I also use seachram floural tabelts and liguid firtilizer. I follow all instructions. the bulbs in the light fixture are the ones it came with. i dont know the k of them, nor can i find any info one the net. but they are white they look tobe right. The only bulbs i can find info on, on the net are the coral ones.

im sorry i gotta learn how to uploads better pics

its just common green algae
first scrub the tank clean so that its not obscuring your view of the tank and try reduce the light in the tank by not having them on for so long.
there is no true way of getting rid of algae. there are chemical ways of removing it but this would harm the plants in the tank and the general health of the tank. i choose not to use any chemicals in my tank because i try not to pollute my tank with unnecessary chemicals.

a better view

try getting some apple snails and dont supplement their feeding until the algae is clear then you can start giving them supplements
Apple snails dont reproduce if you only have one at a time unlike other snails so you wont be over run with unwanted snails also my apple snails have never eaten my plants

have you thought wether your co2 could be a bit low as i remember reading that low co2 can cause algae - just a thought

good luck Sarah xx

fifefish said:

its just common green algae
first scrub the tank clean so that its not obscuring your view of the tank and try reduce the light in the tank by not having them on for so long.
there is no true way of getting rid of algae. there are chemical ways of removing it but this would harm the plants in the tank and the general health of the tank. i choose not to use any chemicals in my tank because i try not to pollute my tank with unnecessary chemicals.

Click to expand...

^^^^^^^^^^^

Actually, Advanced Algae Destroyer is safe for all plants, and it hasn't even killed my snails, which was the supposed concern (my clams have also survived). Use it every 3 days, then switch to weekly dosing. When you have a tank full of florishing plants, ween it down until you eliminate it. I am no expert, but this product, along with excel, helped my get rid of hair and other algae blooms. It doesn't even harm my moss balls, which are essentially a form of algae, so I doubt it harms any 'higher level' plants. I leave the algae on the back of my tank, by the way. It's covered by plants, and only cleaning three of your four glass walls actually prevents more algae growth, fromwhat I have read at least.

If you decide to use AAD, after dosing 2 times in 6 days, scrub off all of the dead algae, and also buy yourself some algae eaters.



If you have a highly stocked tank, stay away from ferts with nitrates and phosphates for a while. If you use any kind of tabs, make sure you fully bury them in the substrate. Also, try use live and/or frozen food, as opposed to flake, for a while. at any rate, this is what has been working for my tank. There will always by some algae. Get yourself some hornwort too.

I tried advanced Algae destroy once too, my plants didn't grow for about a month after that. They didn't died, but nor did they grow.

I have the same stuff in my tank, I use a bladed algae scraper to get it off. Mainly cuz im to lazy to scrub it off. Be careful with those though as they can scratch your tank. I've got tons of cherry shrimp in this tank and I had a garra in their a while back. These are the too best algae eaters in the world IMO, they didn't eat it.

I was using ferts, combination of stuff from the flourish and the kent line, about 4 different types. I have no idea if it was messing with the ferts, but I would say no. I had H. polysperma in the tank and it barely grew at all.

take alook in my sig at the algae giude.

low CO2 cause some algae like BBA, but not all.

there is no true way of getting rid of algae

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i'll think you find there is, simply by correcting the problem that is causing algae in the 1st place.

Yep.
You have algae because there is something missing from the tank that is limiting the growth of the plants.

what iam i missing in my tank??

Click "Algae guide" in Aaron's sig. Should give you the answers you are looking for.