# Duckweed and salvinia vs. hair algae?



## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

'Excess' nutrient isn't an issue, your light is.
Yes, give a try. The floating plants will block out a lot of the light. 
In the meantime, physically remove as much of the algae as possible and provide nutrients & CO2.


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## Aleks (Jul 9, 2008)

I recently started 29g With 72 watts of T5 lights. Still waiting on most of plants in the mail. I have a bit of salvinia on top. 

12 hour photo period, Top soil Substrate and no algae. Dosing crazy amounts of nitrogen and potassium, still no algae (my poor nerite snails!) Heck, the salvinia has Cleaned up the nutrients so well that their roots are 10-12 inches long (a sign of them looking for more nutrients) 

Now I wouldn't go with duckweed as it's so small it gets everywhere and you can never get rid of it. Although with salvinia, sometimes I plant some plants, and somehow some of it goes from the aquarium, to my arms, to my great dane, to the park and ALMOST into a little pond before I notice (Good thing she hates water!). I'm pretty sure Parks and Recreation Canada wouldn't be happy with me if I introduced an invasive species to my local park!

Just remeber that it'll slow to stop the growth of algae (after it settles) but you'll need to clean out the remaining stuff by hand. 

Maybe Try some Netrite snails too, I haven't had much experience (tank has only been up 2 weeks), but they don't eat plants and only feed on the green stuff. If you do get some, get the smaller ones (Males are smaller than females) as I hear that females like to place eggs on the glass that won't ever hatch)


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