Ayone encountered white algae?

[SnottyCat]

About more than a month ago I added more lights to my main tank, which was great for my plants, with many of them doing well. But sadly it is also great for algae, with some green fuzy algae growing on my DW, BBA on my nanas, red algae patches on my other plants and algae spots on the glass.

But I also start to notice this past 2 weeks that there are a lot of white spots on some of the DW and plants which I initially thought was food. But closer inspection, some of these white spots have a small faint thin thread like hair growing out. Any idea what is it and how do I deal with it?

Currently trying out increased Excel doses, cutting back on the lighting hours and putting the fishes and shrimps on a reduced diet... not sure if it will help combat this algae outbreak.

[felix_fx2]

a picture will be good.
IMHO, more lights need more co2, higher fert dosage. and if overpowering it too much. invite more problems if your not careful..

[SnottyCat]

sorry for late reply.
Here's a photo of my crypt with the white algae (next to shrimp's legs)

Here's one of my sword plant with the white stuff seen clearly


Had some on one of my DW, but I had scrubbed & sunned that DW

[felix_fx2]

Crypt wendii ? seems like fuzz algae IMO.
But on the other hand, staghorn that is traded with excel looks like that, do you have Yamato shrimp in that picture? you can try spot dosing but it's not a solution for the problem.
Generally speaking, water change, increase co2, check your fert dosage.
since you increased your light, your co2 taken up my plants will be more.. so does the ferts they consume..

The below 2 may help you out.
http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_...ater_algae.php
http://www.aquaticscape.com/articles/algae.htm#fuzz

[SnottyCat]

So far the fuzz algae seems to be limited to one of my crypt wendii (brown) and the swords and is sparse.
That shrimp is one of my glass shrimps that has grown pretty big (there are larger ones in my tank), they don't seem to eat this algae other than occasional picking at other algae (green fuzz)
My 2 newly acquired Yamato shirmps seem to ocassionally graze on some of these algae though, as with my Oto. Will try scrubing these algae off the leaves when I next change water.

I don't have CO2 injection, and rely solely on Flourish Excel doses. So far my increased does seem to be reducing some of the other algae, as with the reduced feeding. Will continue and monitor though.

BTW, how do you measure the fert levels? So far I only dose once a week with Flourish fert, so not sure if my tank is lacking in any of the fert components.

[horst]

I don't have CO2 injection, and rely solely on Flourish Excel doses. So far my increased does seem to be reducing some of the other algae, as with the reduced feeding. Will continue and monitor though.

BTW, how do you measure the fert levels? So far I only dose once a week with Flourish fert, so not sure if my tank is lacking in any of the fert components.

You definitely need CO2. Here is the reason. Leafy plants without CO2 will slow down metabolism even with lights on. Slow metabolism leaves excess ferts in water. More light + excess ferts in water = algae bloom. The only way to eliminate is to reduce ferts dosage and add CO2 in water. I would mot recommend scrubbing off the algae. It will do more damage to plants.

[felix_fx2]

You definitely need CO2. Here is the reason. Leafy plants without CO2 will slow down metabolism even with lights on. Slow metabolism leaves excess ferts in water. More light + excess ferts in water = algae bloom. The only way to eliminate is to reduce ferts dosage and add CO2 in water. I would mot recommend scrubbing off the algae. It will do more damage to plants.

Else can reduce light and continue the slower pace low tech. Haha.

Btw, you still ask him lower dosage? Once a week if using the guideline dosage is quite low IMHO.

High light + low co2 + low co2 = potential algae
High light + co2 - fert = maybe will end up lacking nutrient to photosynthesis.

Only 1 case, your tank all crypts. Which take nutrient slower (grow slower too.) like shaded places more.

Edit, refine advise to cover slow plants as well.