fish_newbie

Recently I notice little round green dots on the inner surface of the glass of the tank. They are tough and the magnet cleaner can't scrape them off, I need to use my nails to do so. My tank has 10hr+ of light on, which type of algae is this and how do I treat it? I change my water very often (35% every second day) so they shouldn't be excess nitrate, I also have sufficient amount of plants too.

PS: Algae has never been a problem in my tank before, therefore I have 0 experience with it.

mathas

It's called green spot algae, and from what I've read, is usually caused by low phosphate levels. Further reading is available at the following links:

http://gwapa.org/wordpress/articles/...ium/#greenspot
http://plantgeek.net/article_viewer.php?id=9
http://theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm

Nate McFin

Without a picture it is hard to tell exactly what type of algae it is but here is a few thoughts given the info you gave.
My first thought is a Co2 deficiency in the plants. Plants require Co2 to process nutrients. If you have alot of plants and they dont have enough Co2 to uptake nutrients that makes it easier for Algae to gain a foothold and take advantage of the plant while it is down so to speak. Do you use DIY Co2, pressurized Co2, or Flourish Excel. All of these will help give the plants the advantage. Slow or nonexistent plant growth might be a clue to look for here.
A few other ideas- It could be a deficiency of some other sort. If the plants dont get enough nutrients this will also give algae an advantage. This is likely not the case as you would likely see some type of problem in the plants: Yellowing leaves, twisted leaves. Etc. LOW nitrate and low phosphate can actually cause algae as well as plants use KNO3 in pretty large amounts. Target range in a planted tank should be 20 PPM.
It doesnt sound like maintenance is an issue.
For a treatment I would suggest making sure the plants have the nutrients they need.Use of fertilizers to make sure is advised if your tank has quite a few plants!
If you dont use Co2 I would look into one of the options above. Excel is a good choice for cheaper start up but more expensive long term. It is a liquid carbon you just put into the tank. You can also use it to spot treat algae! I would also cut the lights back a touch, I usually run 8-9 hours in my planted tank.

fish_newbie

Hey Nate, my tank is nothing high tech, so no Co2 systems. Twisting in leaves I've seen on the main anubias in my tank, but 2 others seems to be in good health and have very green leaves. My nitrate level is also around 20ppm but I'm not sure about phosphate level (I bought a kit, brought it home and realize it was for saltwater XD). I'm currently having discus in my tank so I'm trying to keep the TDS level as low as possible so. What I'm curious to know is how does the algae affect the fish? I have the air pump on high around the clock so I wouldn't worry about oxygen level. If the algae doesn't do much then I wouldn't mind having it, just mean scraping. Guess light down for now.

Cheers

aquarist48

Hello fishnewbie. Sounds like plain old green algae to me I get a little of it sometimes and usually comes off with a little scrubbing with my algae scrubber. (my algae scrubber has a blue rough sponge on the end of it, very generic) Others have you covered with the CO2 info. Sooner or later just about every aquarium is going to have to deal with some type of algae.

I've moved your thread to the "algae" section of the forum.
Thanks!
Ken