Hello, I have what I believe to be (as in photo) algae, though I am inexperienced. The medium is partly rockwool and other things (I didn't start her off) and she has been in a glass tank with fish filter. After discovering problem placed opaque cover over pot to cut out light onto surface. This picture is the reduced algae result (doesn't look entirely healed yet). Can anyone tell me a bit more about what's happening? Any comments, tips, insight welcome.
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Hi Janave. As far as I understand it algal growth is a common problem with rockwool. It comes because the surface of the rockwool, which is full of the nutrients that you feed to your plants, is exposed to the light. The way to avoid it is, as you have done, to avoid light getting to the surface of the rockwool. In small doses this algae is not really a problem, but if it gets out of hand it can cause rot at the base of your stem.
You seem to have it quite bad, but I don't really have anything to compare it to so that is just conjecture. I would suggest removing as much as possible by scraping it off and then carry on using the opaque cover, making sure that no light is getting through to the rockwool. Next time you use rockwool with soil, make sure you bury it so that the surface of the rockwool is just below the surface of the soil, I'm sure this would help. -
True that, if that doesn't work google for hydrogen peroxide, fishtank owners use it to get rid of algae, grtzComment
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