Green Dot Algae

[sheree]

Hi,

I've been running my Aqua One Windsor 66 (180 litre), planted tank for ayear now and noticed that i'm getting a bit of green dot algae on the glass. I've just been scrubbing it off but is there a particular reason why all of a sudden its started and is there a simple remedy apart from "elbow grease".

Cheers

 

[annka5]

The cause is likely to be an inbalance in light /nitrate /phosphate/ minerals - what the plants don't use the algae will.
The cure is ideally to redress this balance - add more plants, up the water changes, or whatever. I think there is a pinned topic on algae in the planted section, that would give you way more detail.

 

[Gazoo]

In my case, the only tank that got spot algae was the one that should have received more water changes and also got a fair amount of natural sunlight every day. Once I stuck to regular water changes and decreased the light the spot algae didn't return.

 

[timmystood]

I've got spot Algae on my tank.. it has regular water changes so it can't really be that, also my Nitrate is fine.
It gets a little bit of natural sunlight, but no different to my other tanks.
It may be a chemical inbalance somewhere in the minerals needed by the plants for me.

 

[ulster exile]

You should have a look in the planted tank section, as there's a thread on the go about this at the mo.

I think it's something to do with low phosphate and/or low CO2 levels

I've read (elsewhere) though that some green spot algae is healthy sign in a planted tank.

As for removal of it from the glass - invest in one of these to clean it off. Seriously, no more effort required than using a mag float or something. Highly recommended!

 

[George Farmer]

Green Spot Algae (GSA) in a heavily planted tank with good growth is typically caused by a lack of phosphate or CO2. Slow growing plants are likely to be affected i.e. Anubias sp.

Are any of your plants seeing this algae?

If it is limited to glass only then I wouldn't worry. Elbow grease is simpler, cheaper and often a lot more effective than many other techniques.

 

[sheree]

thanks for the advice. I test frequently which all show fine. think elbow grease it is then, I tend to give the glass a good scrubbing with one of those algae scrubbers everytime i do a water change at least once or twice a week usually about 10-20%.