Is there anyway to keep algae from growing on plant leaves, or getting rid of it once it's there? My slower-growing plants have both green and brown algaes on them, and while its not too hard to wipe off the majority of the brown algae from the bigger leafed plants, the green algae does not come off. Will having algae on the leaves affect very much how efficiently my plants can absorb nutrients from the water, and use light?

there is no way to avoid it but you can slow down its growth by turning the lights off in the tank. as far as i know it does not affect how the plant works although it may not be able to absorb light as efficiently. once you have it, there is a remedy you can put in the water to get rid of it. not sure how effective they are. hope this helps

How long do you turn the lights off for? And how effective is this, how long before it comes back? How do people get tanks that look like there's no algae at all even on the slow growing plant's leaves?

Theres a few other things you can do. Check your phosphate levels, if they are high, phosphate sponges/filter pads are inexpensive. Problem is, I haven't researched enough yet to find out what is "high". Summertime is horrible for me for phosphates in the tap water where I live, lately its been horrible. My tanks are normally spotless (I have amano shrimp and siamese algae eaters and bristlenoses) but this summer just was crap.

Lights should only be on approx 12 hours a day, any more than that the plants won't be using the light (and nutrients) anyways and the algae will gladly continue to photosynthesize after the plants have stopped and left all nutrients at the mercy of the evil algae.

When's the last time you got new bulbs? Technically you should replace normal flourescant bulbs every 6-8 months, yes, they will still work, but no longer really putting out light the plants can use effeciantly. I don't buy special bulbs, just a nice, white color from the local hardware store or Target.

There has also been some discussion about using Hydrogen Peroxide to get rid of green spot algae. Supposedly you can mix up a solution, and either apply it to the plant in the tank using a turkey baster, or dip the plant in the solution, or spray it on the plant out of the tank. Many people fear the oxygenating properties of the peroxide, and won't add it to their tank, I'm tempted to try the spray or dip on my anubias. Its so covered in algae and looks horrible...

Here's some discussion links to more talk about this idea:
http://www.aquaden.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4553

The discussions on using hydrogen peroxide to get rid of algae are very interesting! I'm considering removing my moors from my 20 gallon tank and trying this method (I'd be too scared to leave them in!). I have lots of java ferns in that tank. If I decide to do this I'll let you know how it turns out!

I'm probably going to try dipping a couple of my anubias barteri plants tomorrow, I'll definatly post and let you know how it works for me. I am having issues with thread algae and green spot that I just can't seem to get rid of...

Keep your fingers crossed!

I took my fish out of my 20 gal, and added 4 oz hydrogen peroxide to it. After 24 hours, there's been no change at all in the algae, and I added another 4 oz. The water looks a little cloudy, and for hours after adding the peroxide there's little tiny bubbles clinging to the plants and other things in the tank. The plants are perfectly normal and happy. The moors I took out of the tank love being in my other tank with the orandas. I was surprised to see that my largest moor is almost a big as my biggest oranda, because for some reason he looked like he was smaller in the other tank, lol. I'm disappointed that I haven't seen any change in the algae. Oh well, I'll keep at it for a few more days and see how it goes.

I'd worry about your biobugs. There won't be much ammonia happening in your tank to feed them without the fish (unless there's a bunch of debris on the bottom of the tank). Don't want to lose your cycle...

My goldies graze on the green algae.

I also have ramshorn snails that seem to help with the brown algae.

I've heard that ramshorns are notorious for eating plants. Do they eat yours?

My tanks look awful because of the amount of algae growing on the plants. Its the first thing anyone who looks at the tanks notices. I'm worried that the plants aren't able to use light etc. efficiently because of the coating of algae.

Well, I dipped mine tonight, hope it works...

With a combo of live plants and probably enough uneaten food, etc in there, I doubt her cycle will suffer much if she has the fish out for a few days. I wouldn't push it much past 4-5 days though, maybe just drop some fish food in there every day to keep feeding the bacteria anyways.

Myag: good idea.

Val: I have ramshorns, pond snails and Malaysian trumpet snails and have noticed no eating of plants. There was some brown algae growing on some chain swords in one of my tank... thought they were dying, but the ramshorns cleaned it off for me and the plants were actually happy.

I tried to get ramshorns established in my heavily planted goldie tank for several months... but they kept getting eaten. I finally got a clue and put in the largest rams which are doing just fine now. They lay bunches of eggs but I never see any small snails, so they're also providing a renewable food source for the goldies as well as serving as a cleanup crew.

I've heard that anacharis (which is fast growing) secretes stuff that inhibits the growth of algae. So far, the only plants I've had trouble with algae growing on are the swords.

How much of what kind of light do you have over the tank?

I have two of my tanks by south windows and I get a lot more green hair algae growing in those.

I have 110 watts on my 50 gallon and 55 on my 20 gallon, both compact flourescents (9325K), with fairly new bulbs. A small amount of light coming through a window hits the tanks, but only for a short time.

That's not bad. are they 6500K?

Right now over my 55, I have
1 40 watt 5000K fluorescent tube
1 40 watt wide-spectrum grow light fluorescent tube
1 75 watt compact fluorescent 6500K bulb, and
1 75 watt compact fluorescent 5000K bulb.

I'm noticing more brown algae on the glass since I added the extra lights.

No, they're 9325K.

Well, I noticed some improvement after the dip but nothing major, I think I'm going to try the turkey baster method and squirt it right on the leaves .