# green dust algae?



## tapscrew (Jul 1, 2006)

Hi,
I have algae on my plants that seems to cover leaves but on disturbing them it seems to float off like dust into the water. Would this be green dust algae? I have been dosing with Algae Exit but it doesn't seem to work with this. Would an overdose of Flourish Excel be more successful? 

Thanks for any help and suggestions


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## Yo-han (Oct 15, 2010)

Is it green? Sounds more like dust from the substrate. GDA is usually only on the glass and is a little firmer attached...


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## tapscrew (Jul 1, 2006)

yep its green alright. There is some on the glass also but disturbance to the water makes it all float off the plants and swirl in the water. It doesn't float off the glass tho...


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## wwh2694 (Aug 15, 2008)

It's hard to get rid of GDA I don't think excel will do it. Look at Tom Bar's website they have some people there tried excel and failed. How much light do you have? Its an imbalance of one thing light, fertz and co2. Usually, just time down your light, that's what I did and mine never came back. I know it's easy to say but every tank is different. U just have to figure out what works best for ur tank.


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## Yo-han (Oct 15, 2010)

One well known trick is to leave it alone for 3 weeks and than scrub it off. This has something to do with the life cycle of GDA, see Barrreport.com indeed. I've overcome it myself 3 times now by adding Magnesium to my tank. My tap water is high in calcium and low in Magnesium. This worked for my multiple times, but I don't know whether this would work for others as well. Might be worth a try. Do you know your GH, and can you get Calcium and Magnesium readings from your water supplier?


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## DeeJayA1 (Oct 7, 2011)

Horned nerites do a great job getting rid of GDA for me.


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## maxwellag (Jun 1, 2012)

I had similar algae problems, and when I adjusted the timer so that the light was not on for as long, it went away.


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