What’s REALLY Causing Your Aquarium Algae Problems
Algae can ruin an Aquarium fast, especially when you don’t know what’s actually causing it. In this video, I share a simple 5-step system to diagnose algae problems in your Aquascape without guessing. Follow the steps in order and finally understand what your Planted tank is trying to tell you.
My shop:
https://underwatergardens.shop/
Algae types: https://youtu.be/pjdYcFKqqqA
Nutrient deficiencies: https://youtu.be/S7hN1hopCVc
14 Comments
Another great video! Something else to consider is driftwood in the aquarium. I use Seachem Purigen to absorb tannins leaching from the wood, but over time it gets saturated and the water slowly gets dark. The lack of light penetrating the water reduces plant growth, resulting in more algae. If you use Purigen, be sure and regenerate it every month or so (it's reusable), to ensure it's always active and your water remains crystal clear.
I made diy root tabs from ground up osmocote. I put 60 of them in my 75 gallon. The algae bloom was epic and lasted months. It started as blue green algae and then became string algae.
Clear, logical video. Thank you for this.
i never had a problem whit alge on plants cus i just clean with a toothbrush.
In your last video you tod about maning fertilizers from banana so How to make Potassium fertilizers from banana how much to use per liters and in hpw many days
Great video. I'm currently battling black beard algae. Impossible to clean off of filters and heaters
Thanks
To cut it short, if you have algae, watch this video again.
1:49 – I have a similar heater, but I have to set it several degrees higher to get the temp I actually want. Do you have the same issue with this heater on the screen?
Its one thing to know where algae are coming from and trying to change the tank to the right setpoint again but having a massive cleanup crew gives you a much bigger buffer before the setpoint gets thrown off again. I had a lot of bba in my tank slowly taking over. I decided to spotdose with h2o2 3% and added a bunch of amano shrimp (even when my tank has botias in it) my amanos are thriving and dont seem to be bothered by them and my tank is spotless from bba. Only a little bit of brown algae on the glass but nothing a glass cleaning can fix once a week
5:43 name of that plant please
shorter light duration and feed every other day are good ways to avoid algae in the first place
Been dealing with BBA right now. I'm hoping to lower the nitrate levels with steady water changes and Hydrogenproxide.
I like this as a quick heuristic. Taking notes.
I've been fishkeeping for 20+ years. I am heavily biased towards all-in-one fertilizers and DIY Salts from NilocG (KNO3, Monopotassium phosphate KH2PO4). For those who are curious, don't let those letters and numbers intimidate you. Most commercial fertilizers are weaker than what makes plants grow and they have you paying for water. In my experience, a robust dosing schedule helps me rule out nutrition early if/when algae happens. Most of my algae problems have stemmed from either excess lighting (or insufficient lighting to get healthy plant growth that lets them outcompete algae), plants shading each other out, CO2 issues, dead spots with little flow, or dirty filters. Just a thought.