# Fix lighting or ferts?



## Kehy (Apr 19, 2011)

I've been having algae issues with my anubias (brown algae of some sort), but I've also been having zero growth from my dwarf sag. The algae is almost impossible for me to get off without damaging the leaves of the anubias. My amano shrimp seems to eat well off of it, but it can't go to the most affected leaves (really aggressive betta). My dwarf sag is about half an inch long, or at least 2/3 are. The third has longer leaves, about an inch long, but these are turning yellowish and off color. There hasn't really been any growth since I got them about a month ago. I've also got a thick, dark green algae on some of the rocks.

Right now, the tank gets low, indirect daylight and a couple of hours under low spectrum lighting. Everything's planted in just plain, aged, bb-sized gravel, and the anubias was doing fairly well before the algae hit. My dwarf lilly is apparently loving the abuse though, it's doing great. Any ideas of what's going on and how I could fix things?


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

I was going to say cut your lighting time.... but you don't have a lot of light going into the tank... how many hours do you have the actual light on in the tank?

As for ferts, am I wrong or does dosing ferts if they're not needed sometimes cause algae? (Please, correct me if I'm wrong there - maybe I have that backwards...)


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## Kehy (Apr 19, 2011)

holly12 said:


> As for ferts, am I wrong or does dosing ferts if they're not needed sometimes cause algae? (Please, correct me if I'm wrong there - maybe I have that backwards...)


I was thinking about using flourish excel, so I guess that counts as a fert. 

As far as actual lighting time...hmm, 4-8 hours?


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## Pigeonfish (Jun 23, 2011)

Kehy said:


> I was thinking about using flourish excel, so I guess that counts as a fert.
> 
> As far as actual lighting time...hmm, 4-8 hours?


Flourish Excel isn't really a fert. It's a source of carbon for the plants. It's effect to kill algae is caused by the glutaraldehyde. It can also kill other simple celled plants. I stopped using it in my tank... a drop fell on my amazon frogbit and it went through the plant like acid. Plus, my plants are doing better now without it. Most people OVERDOSE to kill algae... but I UNDERDOSED and I had negative affects on my plants. I just don't think the positive affects of Excel are better than it's negative affects.


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## BBradbury (Apr 22, 2011)

Good morning Kehy...

I don't know your tank specifics, but algae is generally controlled with large and frequent water changes. I change out half the water in my tanks every week. Algae is affected by planting complex, fast growing plants in the tank. Water sprite (floated), varieties of Hygrophila, Hornwort, Pennywort and Anacharis are some good ones. Plant these when you do a water change. The low water level makes planting much easier.

Don't use chemicals to control algae. Seachems Flourish Excel contains a trace of industrial carbon "Gluteraldehyde". It can hurt your ferns, mosses and some kinds of Vallisneria. It will kill the algae, but the decaying plant just creates more nutrients for new algae. It's best to treat an algae problem naturally.

Please keep me posted if you like.

B


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## joevw007 (Jul 6, 2011)

definitely need ferts, this was the same problem I had. After I started ferts and let the plants grow for about a week and a half and saw brand new leaves and roots growing super fast. As for the leaves and roots with algae on them theres not much you can do. I pulled out my plants with the tougher leaves that had a lot of algae on them (Mondo grass and Anubias) and dipped the leaves in a 5% bleach solution for approx 20 seconds. i rinsed them for about 3 minutes, wiped them dry, rinsed again for about a minute and then placed them back in the tank. The leaves are still healthy and the algae has been lowered by about 95% and the plants seem to be doing well. I just plucked the leaves on my Wisteria plants and sorts because they grew back and then some within a week. just turn the lighting down to about 6 hours until you get ferts, then turn it up to about 10 - 12. 
hope this helps. comments on the bleach dip please! it worked for me but I dont know if I just got lucky or something, if anyone else has tried this please comment.


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## joevw007 (Jul 6, 2011)

Pigeonfish said:


> Flourish Excel isn't really a fert. It's a source of carbon for the plants. It's effect to kill algae is caused by the glutaraldehyde. It can also kill other simple celled plants. I stopped using it in my tank... a drop fell on my amazon frogbit and it went through the plant like acid. Plus, my plants are doing better now without it. Most people OVERDOSE to kill algae... but I UNDERDOSED and I had negative affects on my plants. I just don't think the positive affects of Excel are better than it's negative affects.


Flourish is good but its not the right nutrients to really make your plants grow. try this site aquariumfertilizer.com and checking out their Micro Macro Nutrient Mix, it has done wonders for my tank, 2 weeks of use and my plants have basically doubeled in size. the difference is quite amazing when you add ferts.


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Dip in peroxide is safer than bleach, will kill algae on anubus, but if the leaf is totally covered I would remove the leaf. You can use ferts but dose lightly as the tank isn't that big.


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

Love the peroxide dips! Since peroxide basically turns to water when it's mixed with water, so your fish/shrimp/snails will be safe. (Obviously rinse the plants after the dip, as _too much_ HP isn't good and cause negative effects on your critters.) As long as you're not using too much HP, you can even put some in a syringe and squirt it directly on the affected areas of the plants rather than up rooting them.


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## Kehy (Apr 19, 2011)

I might try the peroxide thing, since 80% of my anubias' leaves have the algae. I'm working on getting some pictures of it, but none of them are showing how brown-ish reddish it is. Also, it looks like there's tiny hairs or something. Very short now, but I'm guessing if I don't do something it'll get a lot worse. Shrimp seems to love it, but it won't clean most of the leaves because of the betta. 

How much peroxide to water should I make it? Also, does a dip + isolating betta so shrimp can work sound like a good idea?


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## Kehy (Apr 19, 2011)

Alright, here's some pics, if it helps any:

Most of my anubias is covered with this stuff, and it doesn't scrape off. THink a Peroxide dip would help?



And this is one of my dwarf sag that just isn't growing at all and is getting yellow


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## Kehy (Apr 19, 2011)

BBradbury said:


> Good morning Kehy...
> 
> I don't know your tank specifics, but algae is generally controlled with large and frequent water changes. I change out half the water in my tanks every week. Algae is affected by planting complex, fast growing plants in the tank. Water sprite (floated), varieties of Hygrophila, Hornwort, Pennywort and Anacharis are some good ones. Plant these when you do a water change. The low water level makes planting much easier.
> 
> ...


I do weekly 40-60% water changes, and I thought that the dwarf sag was going to be the "fast grower" of the group, since I've heard stories about it getting out of control. I guess not. :/ I don't know if I have enough light, or enough light in a higher spectrum for fast growing plants, that's why I've been sticking with the slow growers. My dwarf lilly is the fastest grower of the bunch; two crowns that add another leaf every couple of days, and is thriving on low light. 

I'm not terribly worried about using excel in my tank, aside from size (considering it's only 1.5 gallon), since I don't have any of the plants that you mentioned. I'm thinking about getting something to replace the non-growing sag though, so I'll keep that in mind.


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## Kehy (Apr 19, 2011)

Well, I fixed my lighting issue. I now have 40 watts of full spectrum lighting on my tank. Now to actually deal with stuff...

[edit]

I did a peroxide dip for the anubias, about 50-50 HP to water. I'd rather avoid cutting off the leaves since that would involve getting rid of most of them. If that doesn't work, I will do that, but I'll give it a few days. Also did a 60% water change. I guess I'll just wait for now.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Did I miss your tank specs? What is the tank size? Dwarf sag is a heavily rooted plant. I can't really see your gravel that well, but it may not like it much. Some root tabs may help, nonetheless. Your problem is not a fert problem though, it's your light. Whether it be how long it is on, or whether it is adequate, not sure. A tank doesn't really need ferts, although some plants do better with it. 

Florish Excel with work to keep BBA away as well as some other algaes. I would try and see if Flourish would help.


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## Kehy (Apr 19, 2011)

jrman83 said:


> Did I miss your tank specs? What is the tank size? Dwarf sag is a heavily rooted plant. I can't really see your gravel that well, but it may not like it much. Some root tabs may help, nonetheless. Your problem is not a fert problem though, it's your light. Whether it be how long it is on, or whether it is adequate, not sure. A tank doesn't really need ferts, although some plants do better with it.
> 
> Florish Excel with work to keep BBA away as well as some other algaes. I would try and see if Flourish would help.


It's a 1.5 gallon, with 2 inches of BB-sized gravel and a non-functional undergravel filter under that. What kind of root tabs are a good value, and would they mess up my tank since it's so small?

I'm pretty sure that now that I'm using full spectrum lighting, the lighting issue will just become a matter of timing. As far as the excel goes, I've heard some mixed reviews on it. I just did a hydrogen peroxide dip for my anubias, so I'll see how much good that does it.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

That small of a tank I wouldn't use them. I would wait and see how the added light is. May want to try a liquid fert.


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