Algae and poor plant growth

[Oli]

As the title suggests, I am really struggling with algae and my plants just don’t look great at the moment. This has been an ongoing issue for the past couple of months and I am at a loss.

The tank is far from high tech - root tabs and liquid ferts.

I aim for 6-8 hours lighting a day but wouldn’t say I’m the most consistent. The tank does get full day light (being a show tank in the living room), with a fair bit of sun during summer. Im wandering if these long summer days are having an impact. The thing is, when I don’t use the tank light, even for a day, the plants look noticeably worse off and grow forward towards the natural light.

Tank is kept at 28c so quite high, but it has previously not caused this much of an issue. Attached is a video - where you can see it is looking in a pretty sorry state. It’s really making me not enjoy the tank and I’m pretty desperate for some solid advice.

 

[Magnum Man]

It sounds like you plants are missing something… there are a lot of things they need… it’s possible they need a more minor nutrient…

My tanks are all heavily planted, but I won’t add any fertilizers, any more, and haven’t for over a year, but that means I have to be choosy on which plants… most are terrestrial, growing out of the tanks, as emergent, and as far as fully aquatic, I mostly do Java ferns, and Anubis, which seem to be doing well… this is one of my favorites… for scale, this is a 24 inch deep tank, and is nearly to the surface

A big tangle of Java Fern, in the same tank

 

[Oli]

Appreciate the post but most epiphytes can survive anything - looking for specific helpful information to my situation with a heavily planted, stem plant discus tank

 

[MaloK]

I have the same ugly thing in my shrimp tank at the moment.

The 3 things that has the most impact on it's growth in practice for me.

1) Make sure that nitrate is as low as possible, all the time.

2) Also that other fertilizer nutrients are present in sufficient quantities to promote plants over algae.

3) Reduce the blue in the spectrum of your light. Start with the maximum you can cut back without the light becoming too yellow.

If you can meet all 3 requirements. It will take some time, but after a couple weeks it should start to recess.

 

[Archerfish]

"This has been an ongoing issue for the past couple of months..."
Okay, so from your description above everything was good until a couple of months ago. Look to see what has changed before doing anything like adding more ferts or playing with your lights. Have you added more fish? Have your partial water exchanges decreased in frequency or quantity? Is there more food or fertilizers added than before? Artificial lighting and ambient lighting were discussed as a possible variant. You are at the height of summer with a long photoperiod which might be an issue. Algae loves lighting, nutrients and stagnant water. Again, look to see what has changed in your tank.

 

[MaloK]

In your case you could probably raise the intensity of your light for the months that the tank has less natural light. And lower it back during the "good" months.

OP didn't mention his water change routine, But if nothing been changed since, I would think of nutrients buildup.

Tanks that receive good amount of daylight will become sensible to that, getting older.

 

[Colin_T]

It looks like black beard algae but it's a bit hard to tell from the video. A still picture might show more. If it is black beard algae it's a pain in the blank to get rid of. One of the local pet shops recommended something years ago but I can't remember what it is. They also said shrimp ate it. I'm fairly certain they were talking about glass/ ghost shrimp but you could try some of them and see if they help. Unfortunately once black beard algae is in a tank, it's generally there for good or until you wash everything out and start again with clean plants.

 

[MaloK]

Cherry shrimps don't eat this algae in my tank, but they help reducing it by foraging trough and pulling it out.

With a fine sponge in your filter you can help remove the free floating particles. A well maintained fine mechanical filtration stage gives many advantages regarding prevention of early Old Tank Syndrome.

It's a very stubborn algae, But, it always starts in the higher current area of the aquariums before invading in my case and can be addressed early.

Sometimes just a piece of cardboard blocking the light in the crucial area is enough to fend it off. Low Nitrate and Phosphate are the best tools to keep it under control. And Co2 addition liquid or gaseous is a excellent way to help the plants out-compete them in general. If you are using Fertilizers, the addition of Co2 can make a great difference.