Beginner friendly, study plants....

I am looking for some new plants. I struggle with many types of algae, and I need plants that can easily be cleaned off. Yes, I am working on my algae problem, but it's such a delicate balance. My problem is when I go to clean up the algae, I often hurt the plants. My swords and anubias handle being cleaned because they have sturdy leaves. However, my water wisteria can not handle having the algae rubbed off. I would like to replace this wisteria with something a little tougher. Thanks.

 

Banana plants? I have one, it has decently sturdy leaves that I think can cope with algae being rubbed off.

 

Hygrophila polysperma or corymbosa.

 

Thanks, everyone! This is helpful

 

But I think it s more important to try to stop algae appearing on plant leaves, as cleaning them constantly is not really a solution, and the fact that they get algae on the leaves means they are not doing very well. I would add a lot of fast growing plants (Hygrophila poysperma is good) also Limnophila sessiliflora (not easy to clean but grows quickly) and maybe reduce lighting?

 

But I think it s more important to try to stop algae appearing on plant leaves, as cleaning them constantly is not really a solution, and the fact that they get algae on the leaves means they are not doing very well. I would add a lot of fast growing plants (Hygrophila poysperma is good) also Limnophila sessiliflora (not easy to clean but grows quickly) and maybe reduce lighting?

I've reduced the lighting down to 6hrs a day, but I know that's not a long term solution. I have stopped all fertilizing, and I'm not overfeeding anymore.
It has stopped most of the green hair algae, but has made zero impact on the diatoms. I've had the tank for 10 months, and the diatoms are worse than ever. I honestly am just trying to continue in the hobby at this point. The algae has been such a discouraging thing.

 

I've reduced the lighting down to 6hrs a day, but I know that's not a long term solution. I have stopped all fertilizing, and I'm not overfeeding anymore.
It has stopped most of the green hair algae, but has made zero impact on the diatoms. I've had the tank for 10 months, and the diatoms are worse than ever. I honestly am just trying to continue in the hobby at this point. The algae has been such a discouraging thing.

That is a shame, cutting the lighting down to6 hours should have helped (do you know how many lumens per litre the light is giving?) - Have you tried using floating plants? I have water lettuce in all my tanks, it sucks up any excess nutrients and shades the plants from the light. I do sometimes get a little green filamentous algae in the floating plants but that is not a big deal. I once had an Anubias plant, it hardly grew at all and got algae on the leaves, but I don't have that problem with my other plants. I know its not straight forward and there are many factors involved. But I think having as many as possible of fast growing, undemanding plants and floating plants should help, and as the tank becomes more mature it should become less of an issue.

 

That is a shame, cutting the lighting down to6 hours should have helped (do you know how many lumens per litre the light is giving?) - Have you tried using floating plants? I have water lettuce in all my tanks, it sucks up any excess nutrients and shades the plants from the light. I do sometimes get a little green filamentous algae in the floating plants but that is not a big deal. I once had an Anubias plant, it hardly grew at all and got algae on the leaves, but I don't have that problem with my other plants. I know its not straight forward and there are many factors involved. But I think having as many as possible of fast growing, undemanding plants and floating plants should help, and as the tank becomes more mature it should become less of an issue.

I REALLY appreciate your help. I need to get some fast growing plants. I've had some floating ones, but none of them have survived my surface movement, other than some waster wisteria, which hasn't grown fast floating.

 

I tried water wisteria once but never had much luck with it, other people say its easy, that's why its good to try a variety of plants to start with. Water lettuce grows so fast for me, I throw loads out each week. But initially you have to protect it from the filter outlet using a piece of airline tubing with suction cups at each end. I find that once it gets established and starts to grow it seems to hold itself together and that tube is no longer needed. If the water is very fast flowing maybe it won't do as well, but I have reasonable flow on my tanks with no problems.

 

I tried water wisteria once but never had much luck with it, other people say its easy, that's why its good to try a variety of plants to start with. Water lettuce grows so fast for me, I throw loads out each week. But initially you have to protect it from the filter outlet using a piece of airline tubing with suction cups at each end. I find that once it gets established and starts to grow it seems to hold itself together and that tube is no longer needed. If the water is very fast flowing maybe it won't do as well, but I have reasonable flow on my tanks with no problems.

Ok, I'll buy some. I haven't tried water lettuce. I'll work on getting more plants and see what happens. Thank you!