# Fuzz algae



## confuted (Jan 31, 2007)

I've been getting quite a bit of fuzz algae in my 10g aquarium. Lots and lots of very short (1-3mm) gray strands. It appears almost entirely on my apongeton crispus leaves, with a little bit on my amazon sword. There's also a little bit on the top of a sunset hygro plant which is touching an afflicted amazon sword leaf. It's not present elsewhere in the aquarium - there's none on the anarchis, java moss, hair grass, or the rest of the sunset hygros. I've been trying to keep it controlled by snipping and discarding the most affected leaves from the apongeton, but this option seems a little silly, even if it does keep the plant under control.

While Greg Watson's prices on ferts are great, his shipping charges are not, so I don't does any ferts. Until yesterday, the light over the aquarium was 2x 13W 6500K spiral flourescent bulbs with no reflector; I've now added some white paint to the top as a simple reflector and a third 13W bulb. That puts me at 39W of lighting, but a lot gets wasted by never making it into the tank, so I'd estimate that I have medium lighting.

What's causing the fuzz algae?


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

Most algae are "caused" by tiny increases in ammonia in the water which signal algae spores that it is a good time to start growing. If you have an adequate plant mass, with healthy growing plants, the ammonia is used by the plants as fast as it is produced, and the algae s pores don't get the wake up call. To grow healthy plants you need fertilizers, including NPK, carbon and trace elements, plus adequate light. That's the summary answer to your question.


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