I know that algae growth can be caused by a number of factors, but Im looking for the most obvious to start, im willing to work to narrow this down.
*** got some hair algae growing over a lot of my plants, it tends to be the older growth as opposed to the newer growth, but that might just be because it hasnt had time to grow yet. I have not noticed any nitrates in the water, so I dont think thats the problem. I do an ~10-20% water change once per week. The tank is a 55 gal. planted south american blackwater, but the water is more yellowish than it is brown. *** been running about 3wpg over the tank for 12 hours per day. So, what should I do to reduce the algae?
Yesterday I pulled some microsword that was growing amoungst my val forest (you can check out my tank to see what I mean) and it had no algae growth on it, as opposed to the val, which is pretty covered, or the microsword that is in the "open". Now, because of the location, I would assume it was getting less light than most of my other plants, and it was algae free. So, would it be a good idea to drop my light to 2wpg?
Another thing I noticed was some yellowing of the leaves of my amazon sword, and some holes in the leaves of my cryptocorne, which, in my experience mean a lack of nutrients, so should I up the ferts to twice a week?
The plant list is java moss, java fern, bacopa, val, green sword, ocelot sword, cryptocorne, anubias nana, pygmy chain sword, and microsword if that at all helps.
Originally, I had 2wpg and dosed ferts 2x per week. Everything seemed swell, moderate algae, but nothing too bad. I wanted to grow carpet plants, and was told 3wpg would be necessary, so I upped the light. I run a 2L DIY co2 connected to a wood microbubble stone as well. I had a bad outbreak of algae, so I put the tank into blackout, and decided to reduce ferts to once per week. This worked fine for a little while. but it wasnt algae free or anything. Now the algae is back (I might have left the lights on for longer than 12 hours for a couple of days though....its on a timer now), and I'm back to fighting the battle I dont want to be. Im looking for suggestions on how to keep this algae in check, especially since the beard algae is next to impossible to remove from my plants, and my oto's and BN dont seem to eat it.
*** got some hair algae growing over a lot of my plants, it tends to be the older growth as opposed to the newer growth, but that might just be because it hasnt had time to grow yet. I have not noticed any nitrates in the water, so I dont think thats the problem. I do an ~10-20% water change once per week. The tank is a 55 gal. planted south american blackwater, but the water is more yellowish than it is brown. *** been running about 3wpg over the tank for 12 hours per day. So, what should I do to reduce the algae?
Yesterday I pulled some microsword that was growing amoungst my val forest (you can check out my tank to see what I mean) and it had no algae growth on it, as opposed to the val, which is pretty covered, or the microsword that is in the "open". Now, because of the location, I would assume it was getting less light than most of my other plants, and it was algae free. So, would it be a good idea to drop my light to 2wpg?
Another thing I noticed was some yellowing of the leaves of my amazon sword, and some holes in the leaves of my cryptocorne, which, in my experience mean a lack of nutrients, so should I up the ferts to twice a week?
The plant list is java moss, java fern, bacopa, val, green sword, ocelot sword, cryptocorne, anubias nana, pygmy chain sword, and microsword if that at all helps.
Originally, I had 2wpg and dosed ferts 2x per week. Everything seemed swell, moderate algae, but nothing too bad. I wanted to grow carpet plants, and was told 3wpg would be necessary, so I upped the light. I run a 2L DIY co2 connected to a wood microbubble stone as well. I had a bad outbreak of algae, so I put the tank into blackout, and decided to reduce ferts to once per week. This worked fine for a little while. but it wasnt algae free or anything. Now the algae is back (I might have left the lights on for longer than 12 hours for a couple of days though....its on a timer now), and I'm back to fighting the battle I dont want to be. Im looking for suggestions on how to keep this algae in check, especially since the beard algae is next to impossible to remove from my plants, and my oto's and BN dont seem to eat it.