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Algae on plant leaves, harmful to plant?

17K views 14 replies 4 participants last post by  Byron 
#1 ·
So, I've got some brown algae growing in my tank right now. I'm not really worried about how it looks but it's growing pretty thick on my Argentine Sword leaves. Is this harmful to the plant? Will the algae keep the leaves from getting enough light? I can pretty easily rub the algae off with a soft sponge so it's not a big deal for me to keep the leaves clean. If it's not a big deal then I'll just leave it...hehe:-D.

the tank is 3 months old
ph =8.0
ammonia=0
nitrite=0
nitrate= less than 5.0 ppm all the time it seems

5 lampeye tetra
1 serpae tetra
3 albino cory cat
1 golden mystery snail
 
#2 ·
Brown algae (actually diatoms) is common in relatively new tanks, and 3 months may still be "new" for this. Keep it off the leaves as best you can. Once the tank is settled biologically it should dissipate and not return. But if left unchecked, yes, it will continue to build up and the leaf may well die.

Are you using any fertilizer? And what is the light, type and period on?
 
#3 ·
1 T8 8,000k 15w. I added another 15w T8 6,700k that was full spectrum and that's when I started getting super fast algae growth, so I just use the first one now. It's lower light that's "bluer". I generally keep it on from 8 to 12 hours a day depending on my work schedule. Planning on getting a timer soon.
 
#5 ·
1 T8 8,000k 15w. I added another 15w T8 6,700k that was full spectrum and that's when I started getting super fast algae growth, so I just use the first one now. It's lower light that's "bluer". I generally keep it on from 8 to 12 hours a day depending on my work schedule. Planning on getting a timer soon.
The 6700k in my view is the light that should be kept on as it's a better light for plant growth. Important to know is the spectrum intensity of these 2 lights, as to what they may be. I would also ask for how long you had this here bulb the first one in question as usually most bulbs start losing their intensity anywhere from 9-12 months. That is when these lights should be replaced for planted tanks hope this will help you.
 
#13 ·
This fert only contains potassium and iron, according to the manufacturer's information on the website. This might be adequate if the other 15 essential minerals are present from your tap water, fish food and fish waste. Impossible for me to determine that. If other nutrients are missing, then a better fert would be a comprehensive one like Seachem's Flourish Comprehensive Supplement for the Planted Aquarium, or Kent's Freshwater Plant. These are dosed in very small amounts so a bottle will last you months with a 10g tank.
 
#6 ·
You have both these lights running same times? Over what size tank is that?

As Byron said earlier Brown algae is superst common in new planted set ups and once you tank balances out this will automatically subside. So I wouldn't worry too much about it. I'd just make sure you have the right amount of light there over you tank (hence my question lol) and run that 10hrs day, use a timer to regulate it super easily and done.

Do you have good plant growth as it is (eg stem plants about ~1" per week) or rather not so great plant growth?
 
#7 ·
okay... I have one fixture with one light over the tank right now, the 8000k 15w T8. I have in my possession another fixture with a 6700k 15w full spec T8. it says on the box-960 Lumen, 7500h and 95 LUX. I had this over my tank in addition to the first one. That's when I noticed the algae growing really fast so I removed the 6700k. The plants are growing good right now but the were really exploding when I had both lights on. tank size is 10 gallons by the way. which light should i be using?
 
#9 ·
While you were obviously looking for plant growth you probably were not supplementing plants with fertilization to keep up with all that extra light. I had only meant to ask the length of time that these lights had been around for. The 8000k light is this light fairly new and you just wanted to add the other light to help in the growth of plants. Depending on the plants you were growing in these conditions if they are the type of plants that need high light output to grow like some plants in the red coloration or some of the lighter greens. A website by the name of "AZGardens" which sells plants as well as give you a lot of information on them as well as to light intensity for such plants just in case you want to look up some particular species of plant. Then if the one light is sufficient enough to keep your plants thriving then I would save the other light for some future aquarium project down the line. I hope I didn't confuse you to much on my earlier post.
 
#8 ·
The 960 lumens on a standard 10g sized tank equals 7680 lux which is plenty fine right there as most aquatic plants will require between 300 and 6,000 lux dep on exact plants you have there. So that's what I'd use was this my tank, or maybe a lil less actually.

Either case you go: You have to balance the light with the nutrition provided if you run a high light set up (using both named bulbs qualifies for this IMO) then you really need to add a good comprehensive liquid fert (or root fert dep on what plants you have there) to balance these high lights 1-2 x week dosed.
 
#11 ·
You can use both lights; then its just high end and you'd wanna add more ferts then to avoid algae. You need to balance your tank between lights-ferts; more lights more ferts; less lights less ferts.
See I run my 55g on 30w lights here and my Vallis for example was bought late Nov last year as these little bitty few inch plants and now they're 4+ft long...personally I'd be scared to offer that tank ANY more light nor ferts right now
 
#14 ·
Interesting stuff, very interesting. Thank you all for the suggestions and info. will pick up some better fert sometime soon and switch to the one 6700k tube in the mean time. hehe, this is how I learn best... by "doing" first and asking questions later.
 
#15 ·
Well, at least the experience though bad explains first hand what we are saying. My recommendation for fert still lies with Seachem's Flourish Comprehensive as first choice; just make sure it is the Comprehensive, they make several products in the Flourish line and they do different things, some of which would be of no more help or even less help that the Leaf Zone.
 
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