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Algae on plant leaves

Lukes

Lukes

Member
Joined
29 May 2016
Messages
112
Location
Birmingham
Hello! Here I have some ludwigia and hygrophila which grow algae on the leaves, no matter if I lower the fertiliser dose (as I thought I was over dosing) or if I up the dose the algae always seems to grow, now this doesn't really bother me as I just trim the leaves/ stems and that's that! Would just like to sort this problem or at least try

I am running 2 interpet tri spec LED's on a fluval Roma 125 but both positioned towards the back above they are on for 8 hours a day and the one LED unit goes into a sunrise/ sunset with 3 hours night blue LED

I dose tropica specialised fertiliser, tried to up and lower and dose to bottle.
By upping the dose I meant to double so recommended for my tank is 13, I have tried 26 and 6 each for 2 weeks,
I am also running pressurised co2 with a JBL spiral reactor type thingy and it seems to be almost yellow (lime green) on drop checker any advice is useful and I thank you people in advance!

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Luke

Photoperiod of 8 hours is to long and I would not use the blue light - had a similar issue with a red and blue light, change to 6550k day light CLF and algea disappeared with 10 days.

Paul
 
You can agonise over algae like this and be forever disappointed. The king of the algae eaters is the siamese flying fox (Crossocheilus siamensis). These are now readily available in shops. Buy one per 10 gallons and your problem will disappear like magic. Also, do not over feed your fish. Uneaten fish food and fish waste feeds algae. Also hungry fish eat algae.
 
Thanks for both replies! I have lowered the lighting down to 6 hours, if that's more reasonable? I have also taken the night light blue from the timer!
Simon I have one of these Siamese algae eaters, if this is the same thing just different name, you can see the lazy thing in the arch way of the wood haha! Eats nothing!
 
Dolly Sprint 16v said:
Luke

Photoperiod of 8 hours is to long and I would not use the blue light - had a similar issue with a red and blue light, change to 6550k day light CLF and algea disappeared with 10 days.

Paul
Click to expand...

As far as I know the colour of the spectrum has no impact on the growth of algae, plants don't really care what the spectrum is.
 
There are loads of scientific articles on spectrum impact upon plant (& algae) biochemistry (& growth) .....
can/will plants adapt to available spectra, yes
But this is very different than being "indifferent" to spectra

Lukes said:
Simon I have one of these Siamese algae eaters, if this is the same thing just different name, you can see the lazy thing in the arch way of the wood haha! Eats nothing!
Click to expand...

Young SAE tend to be decent algae eaters, many full grown SAE just hang back & wait for the "good stuff" 😉

Given their adult size & recommendations to maintain in a shoal, I seldom encourage SAE, instead various species shrimp & snails & otocinclus if tank size is sufficient

Give your light changes a few weeks to determine effect
 
alto said:
There are loads of scientific articles on spectrum impact upon plant (& algae) biochemistry (& growth) .....
can/will plants adapt to available spectra, yes
But this is very different than being "indifferent" to spectra
Click to expand...

I've read a number of discussions on this forum where the general consensus is that spectrum has negligible effects on growth and health. It's certianly not the blue lights causing his algae, more likley the intensity of his lights. It has nothing to do with them being blue.

This is a great thread and worth reading

https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/spectrum-doesnt-matter-does-it.26717/
 
Thanks for all advice and I read through that topic about spectrums, so would reducing the lighting hours help? Anything else I could try to reduce the algae by changing fertiliser or how I dose? I also forgot to add I change around 40% of the water each week, thanks again
 
Lukes said:
Thanks for all advice and I read through that topic about spectrums, so would reducing the lighting hours help? Anything else I could try to reduce the algae by changing fertiliser or how I dose? I also forgot to add I change around 40% of the water each week, thanks again
Click to expand...

Sorry, I've just realised how useless we've all been in terms of advice so far! What's your flow like? what kind of filter are you using? When you do your water changes do you give the leaves a quick ruffle with your hand? I would certainly consider changing to the EI method of dosing ferts, as it is both cheaper and far more effective. Do you have a drop checker to see how your co2 levels are?
 
Okay I do have a drop checker which is lime green, almost yellow, the co2 reactor is at the far back right of the tank and the checker is front lower left as far away from the reactor as possible

I do swish the plants around to try break up the stems as they get tangled as the water level drops when cleaning

I have a fluval 306 on a 125 which the 306 I think is the model above the filter recommended for my tank size
Now you come to mention this, the filter outlet is green and the plants around it have algae on it no other plants seem to have algae on them could my filter be blowing small bits of dirt onto them causing algae to hold and grow quicker ?

And no I've not looked into the el dosing method as of yet
 
Lukes said:
Okay I do have a drop checker which is lime green, almost yellow, the co2 reactor is at the far back right of the tank and the checker is front lower left as far away from the reactor as possible

I do swish the plants around to try break up the stems as they get tangled as the water level drops when cleaning

I have a fluval 306 on a 125 which the 306 I think is the model above the filter recommended for my tank size
Now you come to mention this, the filter outlet is green and the plants around it have algae on it no other plants seem to have algae on them could my filter be blowing small bits of dirt onto them causing algae to hold and grow quicker ?

And no I've not looked into the el dosing method as of yet
Click to expand...

OK, it sounds as if you're doing all the right things. How bright are the blue LEDs? if they're purely a dim moonlight setting, i wouldn't worry about them, if they're very bright i'd turn them off as you're then having an 11 hour photoperiod (which is a tad on the long side). Definitely consider EI, aquariumplantfood do a starter kit which lasted me around 2 years of 3 tanks before i had to go start buying the dry salts myself.

I don't think your filter is causing the algae, you're pretty close the the 10xturnover reccomended so i wouldn't worry too much. How often do you clean out the canister, as dirty filters can contribute to algae.
 
Okay so I went onto the a website that sells them, they have the par and I think the brightness at 400nm? Not sure if that's what your after
I clean the filter quite regular I'd say at least once a month and every few months I shove a wired bottle brush specially made for the filter pipes to ensure the filter is entirely clean (bit of OCD)
I will consider the EI method I can reduce the blue, red and white down individually if this would help?
Thanks again

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Unfortunately 400nm is just the spectrum. For the time being i'd just turn off the moonlight setting all together. The colour of the light is almost entirely personal preferance, so i wouldn't worry about reducing them individually. Is it only plants near the top that are suffering the algae? if so i'd reduce the intensity if possible by around 20% rather than shortening the photoperiod as 8 hours is a good length.
 
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