# Plants get black on 'em



## Gramazing (Mar 6, 2010)

Some of my plants have black coatings on the leaves. The worst offenders are my marselia, but my anubia has it as does my crypt spiralis and moneywort. It seems that any leaves that are old get black stuff on them. I'm guessing it's algae. Does anyone have any ideas how to stop it? It makes my plants look old and dirty.

It's a 55 gallon tank with 2.3W of T8 6500K lighting 11 hours a day, dosing with the EI method and a capful of Flourish Excel every day. I do not use CO2. The water is hard, GH of 10ppm (don't know the DH) and pH is about 8. See pics below.


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

It is a type of dark algae. It may be tiny plants of black beard. I think I see ramshorn snails---or is it just their shells?---in your tank, but isn't that an assassin snail I see in the picture of your Marselia? Your ramshorns may be able to take care of it, but not if they are being eaten by assassin snails!


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi Gramazing,

I get that as well, mostly Green Dust Algae (GDA) and / or Green Spot Algae (GSA). I have had limited success battling GSA by increasing my phosphate dosing. I have not solved the GDA problem yet.


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## Gramazing (Mar 6, 2010)

HeyPK said:


> It is a type of dark algae. It may be tiny plants of black beard. I think I see ramshorn snails---or is it just their shells?---in your tank, but isn't that an assassin snail I see in the picture of your Marselia? Your ramshorns may be able to take care of it, but not if they are being eaten by assassin snails!


I _did_ have ramshorn snails, but all my unwanted pond and ramshorn snails have been dispatched by my assassin snails. There seems to be zero left now, something I thought was impossible a couple of months ago. It's probably fair to say my algae problems have gotten a little worse in the last few weeks too, not just the black stuff but a bit more green stuff on the glass too. I have a couple of ottos but they're not keeping pace with it.


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## Gramazing (Mar 6, 2010)

Seattle_Aquarist said:


> Hi Gramazing,
> 
> I get that as well, mostly Green Dust Algae (GDA) and / or Green Spot Algae (GSA). I have had limited success battling GSA by increasing my phosphate dosing. I have not solved the GDA problem yet.


I'm so confused! I thought increasing phosphate only made algae worse.

Would CO2 injection help, do you think?


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi Gramazing,

I have found Otos to be very effective against Diatoms (brown algae) and the soft green flat algaes but not very effective against GSA, GDA, and the filamentous algae types like Thread Algae.


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## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

Gramazing said:


> I'm so confused! I thought increasing phosphate only made algae worse.
> 
> Would CO2 injection help, do you think?


yeah, you really need pressurized co2. With those slow growers in what looks like sand, you really need to increase their growth rate and keep the tank super clean with low organics not to get the black algae on them. Also the light duration of 11 hrs is too long.


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## Gramazing (Mar 6, 2010)

Ug.... CO2's a big investment. I've been looking into it already though. Yes, that's sand; I have some root tabs in there. I'm going to start making my own with clay and osmocote, that way I get some clay into the substrate as well.

How many hours do you think I should have the lights on?


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## Gordonrichards (Apr 28, 2009)

Invest in some otos.

Nerite snails have worked wonders on my tanks.

Do you dose with excel? It works well IME.


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## Gramazing (Mar 6, 2010)

I've got 2 Ottos. I have bought 6 on two different occasions, but these are the only two that have survived. I don't want to buy more and have them die. Besides, I was under the impression that Ottos don't eat BBA.

Regarding the Excel, I dose the recommended amount, but I have read here about dosing 2x and 3x the recommended amount to clear up BBA. I just started today dosing 2x and will try that for 10 days to see how it goes. In the meantime I will look at the cost of a CO2injection system.


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