Help with algae growing on plants

Hello FL, I’ve had an eternal problem in my 20 G tank of some type of algae slowly building up on my plants. I have some tools to trim my plants that I use to brush some of the stuff off. However, it slowly but surely gets worse & worse, until it’s caked on so thick, that the plants start to die.

I have a similarly planted 10 G that never has this issue, & all the plants stay bright green.

Any ideas on what’s causing this or how to mitigate it ?

I do weekly tests with a master kit, & all parameters are good

I’ll post some pictures of what I’m talking about. The last 1 is a plant I took out of my 10 G, so you can see the comparison between the healthy 1’s from my 10 G, & the nasty

 

how long do you leave your light on and do you dose any ferts? how much do you feed as well? seems to be some waste on the leaves and that causes growths

 

I have no answers, but I'll watch this because I have same problem. And if I transfer a plant from 40 gallon to 5, all algae will disappear. Including green spot algae. Weird.

 

how long do you leave your light on and do you dose any ferts? how much do you feed as well? seems to be some waste on the leaves and that causes growths

So I have a Finnex that changes brightness every 3 hours, that I turn on at noon, & turn off at midnight. However I read that only from 12-6 (the 2nd brightest is from 12-3, & the brightest is from 3-6) is the light in the right spectrum or whatever for the plants to photosynthesis...idk though.

I used to dose with Flourish, however I recently stopped to see if that may help.

I feed once a day

 

Do you have the same light on the other 10?

 

Lights are on way to long, 8 hours is more then enough for most plants. Is that the only fert you used? How often and how much?

 

Do you have the same light on the other 10?

Same brand, smaller model I believe

Lights are on way to long, 8 hours is more then enough for most plants. Is that the only fert you used? How often and how much?

So although they are technically “on” for around 12 hours, it’s only bright or completely illuminated from 12-6. From 6-9 it’s dimmed, & from 9-12 it’s a blue “night” shade. However I can try turning it off at 9.

The dosage was for “5 ML once or twice a week for a 60 G” & I would do about 2 ML once a week [for this 20 G]

 

Can you control the colors? Ive read a bunch of threads saying the blue grows algae like crazy. I would turn blue red green down to like 25%.

 

I would do as others have said and cut your lighting way down. I too have a similar issue and I’ve cut back to 4 hours
a day. The plants don’t seem to mind and the algae seems to have stopped developing. I’m hoping to see it start to go away soon

 

I would do as others have said and cut your lighting way down. I too have a similar issue and I’ve cut back to 4 hours
a day. The plants don’t seem to mind and the algae seems to have stopped developing. I’m hoping to see it start to go away soon

I’ll try this. It’s really getting bad & becoming very frustrating.

Has anybody has any experience using something like AlgaeFix from API ?

 

Ive heard a lot of people use Flourish Excel for algae.

 

Flourish Exel didn't help my tank algae problem, only adding 3 goldfish did. They eat the **** thing like delicasy.

 

Ive heard a lot of people use Flourish Excel for algae.

Interesting. I’ll have to try this. Any idea in the dosage ? I could’ve sworn someone actually suggested in another thread that I STOP using excel haha.

I’m pretty desperate at this point. I’ve tried cutting the light back to only 4 hours, however more times than not, I forget & leave them on for longer than that. Plus, I hate the idea of only being able to keep my lights on for 4 hours a day. I enjoy looking at my my tank [when everything is fine]

Would one of those ‘Green killing machine’ things work?

Perhaps I should get a different light ?

 

I have a Finnex and I took the plant setting off. I felt it was on too long especially with the moonlight.

Have you tried turning it off for a few days? If you shut it off for 4-5 days, it should be enough to kill off the algae without harming the plants too much. (As long as this is a light problem and not a water one). I've done this a few times if I have bad algae spikes.

Alternatively, I keep Siamese algae eaters in both of my tanks. They will eat anything!

 

You're not dosing enough fertilizer for that amount of light. Light tells plants to grow, but without adequate nutrients they cannot grow well, and stall, and decay, and algae feeds on them & the extra light. Try to get Nilocg Thrive (cheapest per mL), UNS Plant food, or Easy Green. If you have very soft water you may also need a GH booster

Normal photoperiods should be about 8 hours, but since you have an algae issue cut to 6 hours of light. No ramp up/down or dimmed light
Blue light does NOT cause algae, and along with red light is extremely important for plant growth. Plant lights mainly have large spikes over the blue and red portion of the spectrum.
Planted Tank Lighting 101: Understanding the basics of planted aquarium lights
Choosing the best light spectrum for planted tanks
What started this myth may be dim blue moonlights, which are not adequate for photosynthesis but could maybe be good for algae. Not sure, as I don't use moonlights

Excel can be used to kill algae, as it is a biocide. I do this by draining the tank during a water change, exposing leaves to the air, and then brush excel directly on to leaves. Doing so in air prevents excel from being quickly diluted in the water. Work fast and spray the leaves with water frequently, excel left on for too long can melt plants in my experience.