Who Gives A Fish Forums

I'm getting overwhelmed with this algae, is there a way to stop it taking over the tank? I've only just started cycling and it's already grown so much in 48 hours. Do I really need to start from scratch?

I've found that adding more plants helps a lot. I had the same issue with hair algae in my tank, but once I got my plant coverage up to around 60% of the tank volume, it pretty much vanished.

I'd suggest a combo approach to tackle that algae. Firstly, manually remove as much as you can - I use aquascape scissors to cut it back. Big water changes and a good gravel clean will help reduce the nutrient levels that are probably fueling the growth. Also, consider dialing back the lighting a bit - it's probably just too much for the plants to handle right now. And lastly, think about adding more live plants to the tank - I've heard they can really help balance things out and keep algae at bay.

If you've got a lot of other plants in the tank, you might not need to do as many water changes. The key is having enough plant mass to keep things stable and algae under control. Anubias can be a problem, though - they grow so slowly that algae loves to accumulate on their leaves, and it's a real pain to get them clean again. I'd recommend cutting the lighting in half - that should give the Anubias enough to grow, but not so much that it encourages the filamentous algae to take over.