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How your lighting can cause algae ...

Pff sometimes things really don't seem to go your way, do they?

Despite everything, you are still left with algae. You've already added fertilizers, adjusted your CO2, trimmed here and there in the hope that the plants will improve.

Unfortunately ...

Those algae just remain

Let me tell you something. Your fertilizers and CO2 are probably already in order (keep it that way!).

No, it's down to something else.

Your lighting.

Your lighting as an energy source for your plants

Your plants use light to engage in “photosynthesis.”

This means that they convert the radiant energy of light into “chemical energy.” This chemical energy allows them to grow and reproduce. The stronger the aquarium lighting, the more energy you create. Your plants will therefore grow faster, but faster plant growth also means that you will have to add more fertilizer and CO2.

You can compare aquarium lighting with the gas pedal of a car. The more you press on the gas pedal (aquarium lighting), the faster the car will go (plant growth) and the higher the consumption. However, in order to keep going you need gasoline (nutrients), otherwise you will break down (plant stops growing). Do you see the link?

YOU determine the growth rate, the demand and ... the algae!

Light determines the growth rate of your plantlets and therefore plant growth. That also means that YOU can determine how fast your plants grow and how much demand there is for the nutrients.

“But I’m adding your fertilizer and CO2, isn’t that enough?”, you’re probably thinking now. Yes, that should be sufficient in most situations. But sometimes your lighting is so strong that you still don’t have enough for healthy plant growth. Very often it is CO2 that is in short supply.

You can then add even more, but that is not practical and with CO2 it can even be dangerous.

Therefore, you do just the opposite. You're going to reduce the brightness.

Because of the weaker light, your little plants are going to grow more slowly, but healthily.

The slower plant growth will reduce their demand for nutrients and CO2. This will reduce the nutrient deficiency (in more than 90% of cases a CO2 deficiency), the plants will grow better and the algae will gradually disappear.

You really shouldn’t be afraid of the weaker light, your plants will still do fine. They will just grow slower.

How to dim your aquarium lights.

How can you dim your lighting? There are several ways to do this:

Install a dimmer if technically possible;
Use floating plants, lots of them!
Increase the height of you aquarium light;

You will see that after a few weeks the algae will gradually disappear.

Some anti-algae strategies for you

This is also even more helpful for you if you suffer from very specific algae.

In fact, on my blog I have written out some comprehensive strategies that will help you get rid of specific algae.

I recommend that you definitely follow them, they work extremely well.

Strategy against BBA
Strategy against thread algae
Strategy against brown algae and diatoms
Strategy against BGA
Strategy against GSA
Strategy against green water

Good luck!