Is my pygmy chain sword alright?

Hello,
Just wondering if my pygmy chain sword is alright it has been in the tank for about 1 month. Is it just algae causing it to look like this? This is my first attempt at a proper planted tank so still learning.

@connorlindeman @Colin_T or anyone else who could help

There is some black brush algae, and you want to control this from the start. What is the light (duration, spectrum), and are you using any fertilizers? Do you have floating plants.

Hello Big. The plant looks pretty new to the tank. But, it's been in there long enough for algae to develop on the leaves. A little algae is a good, natural water filter. But, most tank keepers feed their fish a little too lavishly. I like that word. It means you're too generous with their food. Algae will grow in water with even a low level of nitrate from dissolved uneaten food, as little as 10 ppm (parts per million). That's not very much. Check your lighting. The Pygmy variety of Chain Sword needs at least 2 watts of light for every gallon of tank volume. 4 watts would be much better especially if you have a bit taller tank. Reduce the amount you feed and keep an eye on the algae growing on the plant leaves. The plant looks pretty healthy. That's all I can think of at this point.

10

Byron said:

There is some black brush algae, and you want to control this from the start. What is the light (duration, spectrum), and are you using any fertilizers? Do you have floating plants.

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Ok thanks not sure on the light spectrum but the light is on a timer for about 10 hours. I'm not using any fertiliser at this stage and don't have any floating plants.

10 Tanks said:

Hello Big. The plant looks pretty new to the tank. But, it's been in there long enough for algae to develop on the leaves. A little algae is a good, natural water filter. But, most tank keepers feed their fish a little too lavishly. I like that word. It means you're too generous with their food. Algae will grow in water with even a low level of nitrate from dissolved uneaten food, as little as 10 ppm (parts per million). That's not very much. Check your lighting. The Pygmy variety of Chain Sword needs at least 2 watts of light for every gallon of tank volume. 4 watts would be much better especially if you have a bit taller tank. Reduce the amount you feed and keep an eye on the algae growing on the plant leaves. The plant looks pretty healthy. That's all I can think of at this point.

10

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Thanks for your help I will check tge wattage of the light then, the tank is fairly new think the algae may be caused by a bit of plant mulm rather then food.

It is next to impossible to tell the intensity of light these day unless you have the data or a way to measure it, which most of us do not have. The "watts" per liter/gallon is useless unless one is using a known entity. I used to use two 40w tubes over my larger tanks, then they became 32 watts but brighter. So we can skip this.

I would reduce the duration. If you had good floating plants, this might be OK. But not here. Most of the time it is the light that is too much (or sometimes too little, but not here). You can twig the duration, I would move it down to 8 hours, then after a couple weeks if the algae is still increasing, another hour.

You probably do need plant fertilizer. You could use a substrate tab, which can work well for swords. Flourish Tabs are very good, the API is not.

The balance of light/nutrients is very important; after I got my tank lighting down to 7 hours, for more than six years I saw no "problem" algae. It doesn't take much though, the increased daylight during summer impacted it, until I solved that problem.

Ok thanks appreciate your help