New setup - Algae battle help

[mwc826]

Hi folks,

Just setup my first planted tank 2 weeks back .

But after the 1st week and got a fair bit of greenish/whitish/black algae (Green Dust/Spot Algae?) growing on the pinnatifida leaves...and it seems to have "spread" to the nearby plants and monte carpet

I know this would have been discussed before definitely...but really appreciate some advice on how to stop it currently (chop off the leaves? cut down lights?) and of course most importantly...any way to prevent future invasions

Current lighting: 12-3, 6-9 (cut back from 8 hours from week 1)
Co2: 3bps (up from 2bps from week 1)
Fertilizers: ADA brighty series (dosing as per recommendation)
Algae eaters: SAEs (love seeing them working on the leaves diligently, but the algae remains stuck...)

Many thanks in advance

[Urban Aquaria]

Green spot algae on leaves is usually due to too much direct light shining them for too long (it occurs more commonly with slower growing plants like anubias). Very few algae eaters eat green spot algae, though you could try nerite snails which have the ability to scrape off new green spot algae growth that are still soft. Though if the green spot algae is already very heavily embedded into the leaves, they may not be able to help much too, in which case its best to just trim off those affected leaves.

Some people find that dosing additional phosphate ferts also helps to weaken and prevent the growth of green spot algae, maybe you can try that and see if it works for your setup (though that might also encourage other types of algae if too much is added, so have to balance it).

[mwc826]

Many thanks UA Bro.

I will try out the leaf trimming & nerite snails path first...monitor for a week or 2 before trying out adding extra phosphate.

I cannot change much of the direct light part (maybe gather some floating plants above it) or intensity, but will try a shorter lighting period and hope it does not spread.

Thanks again