Algae covered plants

[Dbrs4me]

Hello,
I started a new tank a couple of weeks ago. I was aware of the nitrogen cycle, should have read just a little more about before I got started. That's beside the point. I put few fish in it, just 4 danios and 5 tetras, all around an inch or less, and one pleco, about 3 inches long. I planned to use them to help the nitrogen cycle along. Anyway, that's not why I'm posting. When the plants went into the aquarium they were nice and clean. Now the tips of them are brown with what I am assuming is algae. I did a quick google search and someone recommended cleaning them with bleach and just rinse them good and put them back. I don't know how comfortable I am with that. Any ideas? The pleco doesn't seem interested in them. Water parms: .25 ppm ammonia, 0 nitrite, 2.5 ppm nitrate, 150 ppm total hardness, 120 total alkalinity and 7.8 pH. I know theses aren't ideal conditions for all the fish I have, I plan to remedy that soon.

 

[ancient11]

I am having the same problem but I have started treating it. Algae needs two things to survive and that is light and nutrients. I have turned my light off and I will leave it off for three days and then I will turn it on for one half the time that I was running it before. I am also cutting down on the amount that i feed my fish.

In your case I think water changes twice a week is in order. Remember I am not an expert and all of my experience is in the olden days but I do believe the above will help your problem greatly.

 

[seangee]

If it is brown and wipes off easily this is to be expected in new tanks. It will settle in a few weeks and you can just wipe it off. Plants also take time to settle into a new tank and can take a month or two to stabilise. SO I would not rush out and treat anything. If you start struggling with green or black algae that would indicate an imbalance between light and nutrients which should be addressed at source rather than by treating the symptoms.

For now I would suggest just keeping an eye on things.