Green Algae?

[bombdigiti]

Hey Everyone

I'm thinking it's green algae and I should cut down on the amount of time the light is on (12h atm). How do you balance algae and live plants with light?

 

[Uberhoust]

That's the million dollar question. Personally with my lights I find after 9 hours I get too much algae growth but it really depends on that tank, some are set to as little as 7 hours but others are higher as much as 9 hours. I find the sweet spot harder to find on the tall tanks. Your plants don't seem to have a lot of algae on them so I would start by trying to reduce the light by an hour to 11 hours.

 

[Naughts]

Welcome to the forum

Sounds simple doesn't it?
Trial and error.

Cut down the light to 10 hours, clean the decor, glass, substrate, filter. Give it a couple of weeks and if it improves keep it at 10, if not drop down to 9...etc. Don't go lower than 6 though as the plants will suffer.

Get into good habits of regular water changes and tank maintenance. Don't over feed. Don't overstock. Don't have the tank where it gets direct sunlight. Check the aquarium light is 5000-6500k with a mixture of blue, red and green spectrum.

Each tank is different and changes over time (seasons, addition or removal of a few fish, snails, shrimp or plants...) So keep tweaking it until you get it under control.

All the best.

 

[bombdigiti]

What's the best way to get it off the drift wood? Just scrap it off with a sponge and let the filter take care of it?

 

[Colin_T]

Just leave it alone, it looks great.

If you want to reduce algae, add more live plants to use up the extra light and or nutrients. Or reduce light and nutrients but then the plants you have won't do as well.