Does Algae Affect Live Plants?

[Razor7Music]

Hello--

There were some dark patches forming on the leaves of my plants, and they seemed to be growing. Other than that, the plants look healthy, and are growing new shoots and roots.

I feed them Plant Grow, but the guy at the LFS said it might be algae. I took a closer look, and sure enough, it is algae.

Will algae negatively affect plants? Should I remove it? What is the best way to remove it if I need to?

Thanks,

 

[jcardona1]

depending on the algae, it can ultimately choke off leaves and plants. best thing you can do is determine the underlying cause of algae and treat that. usually the cause is too much lighting / not enough co2...

 

[Razor7Music]

depending on the algae, it can ultimately choke off leaves and plants. best thing you can do is determine the underlying cause of algae and treat that. usually the cause is too much lighting / not enough co2...

I would guess it's from too much light. I've been keeping the curtains open where the afternoon sun shines across the tank for about an hour--this is of course in addition to the tank fluorescent lights. I've been thinking about that and I guess it's time to stop leaving he curtains open in the afternoon.

Thanks,

 

[jcardona1]

try cutting back the lighting and see what that does. also use some Flourish Excel for a carbon source