Do live plants cut down algae levels?

[jeef]

Do live plants cut down algae levels?

 

[mrV]

When plants grow well, they use nutrients from water and algaes haven't so much nutrients to grow. So, the answer is yes. But not only live plants - there are also other things too, like water quality, lights...

Algaes belongs to aquarium and you cannot keep them away. But you can affect on it how well algaes grow

 

[Tempestuousfury]

However, you need to have lots of them in a big tank, and water changes and lowering the amount of food you put in also healps. As does an algae scrubber and elbow grease.

 

[Magnus]

Jeef,
It's quite easy to have no algae (or minimal algae). Just keep your lighting to a minimum and don't situate your tank near a window.

 

[ChrisP]

Its not that simple though Magnus as not all algal problems are caused by excessive lighting infact I would say a lot of problems stem from not having enough lighting as some plants require more intensive lighting to grow well. If the plants dont grow well they wont use up the nutrients which will open the door for algae to thrive. Natural light of course is a different story.

 

[Alien_spawn]

To reduce algae in my tank I reduced the wattage on some of my bulbs. Which worked a treat. I had a bad algae problem a few months back which seemed to be triggered by adding live plants. (as this was the only thing different that I changed on my setup which had been running for a couple of years)

 

[Bangin]

I don't ever recall having algae problems until I setup a planted tank.

 

[Alien_spawn]

I don't ever recall having algae problems until I setup a planted tank.

that was exactly the same as me!!!

 

[Magnus]

Zaphan, maybe I was a little bit off topic. My answer is specifically for plantless tanks. If you're just decorating your tank with plastic plants, or rocks/woods, then having none to very little light will take care of your algae problem. It's simple as that.
People often get algae after they added plants because those plants probably came from LFS' tanks that have algae. If you get those plants from a healthy tank, there shouldn't be any algae. Nevertheless, you can also get algae from the air.
To answer Jeef's question, plants compete with algae for food. If plants absorb all the nutrients, then there won't be any left for algae. This is why plant people strive for an optimal environment for plant growth by adding lots of macros and micros, along with high light and CO2 injection. Of course, I'm being very general about this.