Algae attack

Question
I have a crazy problem with algae right now. I am a very experecned aquarist but I have never had a problem like this. No matter what I do the algae keeps coming back. I'm not 100 percent sure what kind of algae it is so that is a problem. It grows on everything but the fish and it looks like little green dots. On the glass, plants and rocks is there it is most intense. I know its not slime or blue algae. The strange thing is, my aquarium is about 50 percent full of plants and plants are natural algae killers because they out compete algae for nutrients. Last week I bought an amazon sword. It grew like crazy for about one week growing from 5 leaves to 30. After that algae found it and most of the plant is covered in algae as the rest of my plants. I also have several algae eating fish.  I have a golden nugget pleco, tiger pleco and brushey nosed pleco. They are very busy in my aquarium. I also have several loaches. I feed my fish every couple days and I don't use fertilizer for my plants. My light is on about 12 hours a day.

Every week I clean the sides of the tank and scrub all the rocks and wood in my aquarium. Thats like shooting a pistol at a tank. It really doesn't do much. I just can't find the source. Here is my water chemestry
ph. 7.2
kh. 7
gh. 4
nitrites. 0
nitrates. 0
ammonia. 0
This is an established aquarium, and I did the tests a couple minuites before I wrote to you.

Is there any suggestions or cures you know of to help me? Thank you very much for your time and help.

Joe

Answer
Hi Joe;


If the algae is hard to remove and almost brushy or hairy looking, this is called "beard algae" also known as "hair" or "brush" algae. It is a rough algae that most fish don't like to eat. I have 'gold barbs' that eat that stuff from my 55 gallon tank. It choked my plants too. The gold barbs keep it under control now.

If it isn't the harder algae it could be growing from too much light. You might cut back to 8 or 9 hours instead of the 12 you have going now. You might also test the phosphate levels. Phosphates can be elevated and cause excess algae as well. Since the nitrates are virtually non-existent phosphates would be a possibility.

Followups welcome

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins

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