# Algae troubles



## joemomma (Apr 7, 2006)

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I've had my 10g low-tech (Walstad style) setup since August. I've started to develop a nasty sort of algae all over the place (leaves, wood, glass) - I'll try to get some pics up tonight BTW. It's long and flowing, I guess hair algae maybe? I don't add ferts or Co2, lighting is two screw in CF in the stock incandescent hood. There is about an inch of soil below the standard gravel. I was doing water changes every couple of weeks to get rid of the tannis from the driftwood, but haven't done one in several weeks. Plants are several apons, a couple of crypts, and two large bunches of hairgrass. What can I do to get rid of this junk?


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## Aquatic addict (Apr 14, 2006)

Your tank is suffering the effects of excess nutrients - add fast-growing and emergent (or floating) plants to consume nutrients and starve-out the algae. Try hand-removing as much of the algae as you can and add some robust stem plants (Egeria densa, Hygrophila sp., etc.) and some floaters (water lettuce, duckweed - I used young water hyacinth from an outdoor pond to control hair algae). My new-tank bloom wasn't as serious-looking as yours, but simply adding the floating plants cleared it up in weeks.


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## joemomma (Apr 7, 2006)

Roger that...I'll try to get some fast-growers in there for a while, hopefully this weekend.


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## Jane in Upton (Aug 10, 2005)

If you can, get some Hornwort! I've found it really DOES have some marvelous anti-algae properties! Hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum) gives off allelochemicals that inhibit algae. I always have some on hand for just this reason. It doesn't need, or want to be planted, just let it float at the surface.

Also, floating plants will help, as they take their CO2 from the air above the water, while their roots take nutrients from the water, so they get the best of both worlds, and can mop up excess nutrients in record time. If you can, get the larger ones like Amazon Frogbit, water lettuce or even Salvinia, as the tiny ones like duckweed can be a bother to try to remove from your tank once they've done their "job". 

What sort of inhabitants do you have? Anyone who eats algae?

Keep us posted!
-Jane


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