Algae on anubias

[dmagerl]

You didnt say what your lighting is. Lighting drives every other nutrient uptake. High lighting means high nutrient requirements. Having said that, Flourish isnt a macro nutrient. Its pretty good at supplying micro nutrients but you need to dose something else for the macro nutrients. With low lighting, you might be able to get away with only Flourish though.

Are you dosing any form of carbon? CO2 or Excel? Carbon is probably the most important nutrient and with high/medium light, you're going to need to add some.

Lack of any nutrient combined with excess light is a sure fire recipe for algae, which you're discovering. One theory is that light makes plants grow, but without nutrients they cant. So they get stressed and cannibalize themselves for the needed nutrients. This leaks organic compounds into the water which algae then utiilizes to grow.

Do some googling on EI dosing where you supply all nutrients in adequate amounts to take them out of the growth equation. That leaves just light and CO2 as the only two variables you need to play with to optimize plant growth. If you also provide adequate carbon, then light is the only variable in getting good growth.

The important point to take away is you have to provide nutrients in direct proportion the amount of light you have. Low light = low nutrient needs, high light = high nutrient needs. This is where balance comes in.

[AussieJosh1996]

I have a single Hagen T5 HO Life Glo bulb and the tank is about 60 gallons/not very tall. I thought this was low light, am I correct or is it nearing the medium light range?

[AussieJosh1996]

I forgot too add Ive just started dosing API Leafzone once a week (4 days after I dose Florish).
I'm thinking about getting root tabs although I will start a new thread about that.

[bignellm]

By single, are you saying it's a single bulb fixture, or a single unit with dual bulbs? If its the later, it would be solidly in the medium bordering the high. If it's the prior, its just about medium lighting.

[AussieJosh1996]

Yes it's a single bulb fixture. Any idea on what ferts I should be dosing with this lighting?
Thanks

[Lady Hobbs]

My anubias never had green spot until I added my new Nova light. Got so tired of it I put the plant into a tank with nothing but a shop light and now it's doing great. They don't like much light and are often put in darker areas of the tank or under another plant that helps shade them some.

Green spot is some tough stuff. I was scrapping my tank with a razor blade. I started dosing more ferts (on advice here) and it's better now.

You might want to get some Excel and use it for awhile.

[dmagerl]

I think your lighting is firmly in the "medium" category, especially with a not so tall tank.

You are also not providing any of the major nutrients. Leafzone is only iron and potassium. No mention of nitrogen or phosphate. Of course, nitrogen might be provided by the nitrates in the tank.

I would look into using a slow release root tab such as Seachem Tabs. Your substrate from your pics seems to be just gravel so slow release is almost mandatory.

Or read up on EI dosing and dose the water column. Dry ferts are soooooo much cheaper than Seachem products but I cant say if they're available in your area.

And definitely look into doing some kind of carbon dosing. With medium light, Excel may not be enough but its definitely a start.

[Lady Hobbs]

I meant to dose with Excel only until his algae is gone, not for daily use.

[AussieJosh1996]

Thanks for the tips guys. I am looking into seachems root tabs and I was also thinking about getting flourish excel

Although with the excel I was only planning on getting one bottle like Hobbs said because you use it daily and I think it would run out quickly and therefore become expensive to purchase regularly.

[bignellm]

Yeah, it does. That's why I started using DIY Co2 bottles to supplement on Carbon. It's something that makes the cost of Carbon, just a bit more affordable. I wouldn't recommend it though, unless your comfortable with DIY projects and would like to add a Co2 system to the tank.

Sorry been out for a bit, family issues, but what was stated above, is spot on. Good information.