Algae Control in Planted Tanks

Brown fuzz on the glass. Green hair on your Monte Carlo. A haze in the water that makes you wonder what went wrong. Nothing went wrong - your tank is just young. Here's what's actually happening in a new aquarium and how to read the signs that it's fixing itself.

How to clear algae without algicides. Early steps to prevent algae from getting a foot hold on the tank.

Hair, fuzz, and string algae are hobbyist labels for the same filamentous green algae, and on plants they nearly always trace back to one thing: stressed plants. This guide breaks down what actually triggers them, how to tell them apart from Cladophora, and the two-step fix that clears them for good.

Not all algae issues are tied to CO2, light or nutrients. In this example, we examine how eddy currents depositing debris around a stem plant bush can trigger algae in particular spot.

Green water is a bloom of free-floating algae, driven by strong light plus dissolved waste. It rarely harms fish, but it hides everything. Here's what actually triggers the bloom and the tools that reliably clear it.