Advice On Ferts, Plus Algae

[0_Infinite_0]

I have a planted 5.5 gallon tank that recently has been growing brown algae. I only notice it on one side of the tank and on a few of the plants. I have brazilian pennywort, baby temple plants, moss ball, and anacharis. I also use liquid fertilizer and no CO2. In the tank I have a male Betta, about five ghost shrimp and five small mystery snails. My tank isn't directly by a window, but I think in the early mornings sun does shine on it for a bit. I turn the tank lights on at about 10:00-11:00 am and turn them off at about 11:00pm. The light is LED. I also feed algae wafers to the snails and shrimp. The plants are growing beautifully, and just concerned why there is algae. I use liquid fertilizer in my 10 gallon with the same light schedule, minus the snails and shrimp, and haven't had a huge algae problem like this.
 
Thanks for the help.

 

[cooledwhip]

Lights are on too long. 8-10 hours is max a light should be on.

 

[0_Infinite_0]

Thanks, I try this!

 

[StevenF]

 
 
I also use liquid fertilizer 

What brand and what elements are in it?  What are the ingredients?  A lot of companies make fertilizers but many don't cover all the nutrient requirement for the plants.  I use Seachem Flourish Comprehensive because they list the ingredients and cover the entire list of nutrients plants need.   I haven't seen any others that list all the ingredients on the bottle and cover all the nutrient requirements.
 
I have found through my own experience if the fertilizer is not complete plant growth will slow or even stop while algae will keep growing.   if the nutrient deficiency is not rectified algae can easily take over the tank and plant would die.  Unfortunately identifying the specific deficiency can be verify difficult to impossible in many cases.  Unfortunately no one makes a test kit that tests for all nutrients.
 
The other issue is that the tank is near a window.  outdoor light is typically many many times brighter than interior light or aquarium lights.  It doesn't seem that way to your eye but if you use a light meter you will see a big difference.  you could probably turn your tank lights on at 5pm and then off at 11PM and drop the window shades.

 

[cooledwhip]

I go 8am-6pm and it works great for me.