baehr4308
New Member
Is this some sort of algae on my plants? I see little fuzz coming off my plants and also on my little artificial decor in the back.
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Algae isnt dangerous to fish but can kill your plants as the algae rob the plants of nutrients. Algae needs 8 hours of continuous light to grow, even light outside the tank is enough from an outside window or room light. Decreasing the time the lights are on will decrease algae. Knock it down to under 8 hrs. When the lights are off cover the glass with a towel or something to keep outside light out. Decrease feeding. Uneaten food contributes to excess nutrients for algae to use. If your feeding twice a day switch to once. If your feeding once a day go to every other day.the fish will be fine and the algae not.check your water, excess ammonia nitrates can cause algae. Excess phosphates caused by organic matter, food, poop, dead dying plant matter will cause algae. Doing water changes gets rid of nitrates and phosphates. Get a comprehensive liquid fertilizer. If plants arent getting the nutrient they need then algae will use them along with the light to grow. Check your light intensity and spectrum. Plant lights should be between 5000-6500 K bulbs, low to medium light plants generally need about 20 lumens/liter of full spectrum light if the light is not bright enough algae grows, if the light is too bright algae grows, its a fine balance. Lastly get some snails. Nerite snails are especially good at eating all sorts of algae and wont multiply in your tank. Good luck!
Try to get a liquid fert with more potassium than nitrates and more nitrates than phosphates.Thank you for the information! I use a liquid fertilizer and recently got a new light for the tank. I have seen most of my plants begin to sprout more because of it. but also the addition of that algae. I will go ahead and try covering the tank when the light is not on, thank you!