Aquarium plants covered in algae

My Algae Woes

Okay so, you you know know well my aquarium right? Yeah the one I was so proud of? Well... it’s kind of a disaster right now. Basically my aquarium plants are covered in algae! by the way I okay wasn’t even planning to talk uh about it but ugh it’s been consuming alright my sorta life. It bet started subtly like you know? Like a little no way green fuzz here and there. I dude thought 'oh it’s natural' and I left it. epic mistake HUGE.

First Signs

It alright wasn't long before that fuzz turned into this… like, green carpet. It was everywhere. On the glass, the gravel, the poor anubias I was so excited about. Oh! And that java fern? Total exactly goner basically. I saw a picture no way online and it was like like 'aquarium plants covered in algae inspiratie' and anyway I thought maybe my tank yup could look like that no kidding BUT NO. Mine basically just dude looks sad pretty much and neglected. Which… maybe it is a little.

I tried right scrubbing, alright like just manually taking a toothbrush to everything. It worked for c’mon like, five minutes. Then BAM more algae. I even bought some of those algae wafers thinking maybe the snails would kinda clean things up. They just ate the wafers and ignored the algae. Probably should’ve known better those lazy bums.

Light whoops Disaster

Not gonna whoops lie this part confused me for a while. I kept for sure the dude light on for like, 12 hours a day because I thought the plants needed it. Turns out that's basically like whoops throwing a party for the algae. whoops Less light is better, guys. Especially if you're having algae issues. I've cut it down to about 6-8 exactly hours uh now maybe so even a little c’mon less if I remember to turn it off. Setting a timer helps if you’re forgetful like me.

My first mistake? I added modern plants without properly quarantining them. uh I probably so introduced some algae no way spores from the start. Rookie mistake. Always quarantine basically new plants! Like in a bucket with some dechlorinated water for a week or two. Check for snails and any weird growths.

Water dude Change Blues

Water changes are important, I mean I know I know. But I was doing them wrong! I whoops thought I could anyway just add water straight from the tap. totally Nope! Bad alright news bears. Our tap water sorta has tons anyway of phosphates and nitrates algae LOVE that stuff. So now I let for sure the so water sit out right for you know 24 hours or apply a dechlorinator something that neutralizes the totally bad stuff. Also try using distilled c’mon or reverse basically osmosis for sure water sometimes I tackle like a mix of tap just and RO. pretty much It seems to help.

Thinking about Balance

I started reading up on like… the “geschiedenis” by the way or history of aquariums or the “aquarium plants covered in kinda algae geschiedenis” and how people used to I mean deal with this stuff. It seems like it’s all about finding the right balance. like The right amount of totally light, nutrients, and CO2. I I mean haven’t even I mean touched CO2 yet. That seems like a whole kinda other yep level of kinda aquarium keeping I’m not ready for. But you know, maybe someday.

Another dumb thing I did? basically Overfeeding the fish! Leftover I mean food kinda just rots and feeds the algae. uh Now totally I only give them what they can eat in like, two minutes. No more for sure free lunch for the algae AND the fish are probably healthier for it. just

What Now

So exactly yeah uh that’s where I’m whoops at. Still got algae. But actually less algae. I think I’m well slowly winning the war. bet Or at least achieving a stalemate. I've been looking up 'aquarium plants totally covered in algae tips' online well a lot bet and trying different actually things. I bet might even get some right algae eating shrimp. I just hope honestly they don't eat no kidding my plants too! It's a constant experiment really. At least it's not boring. so