Algae guide
Staghorn Algae: How to Identify and Remove the Branching Grey Tufts
Last updated: May 2026
Quick summary
- What it is: Filament clusters resembling moose antlers in battleship-grey once mature, fluorescing reddish under peroxide probing like BBA cousins.
- Severity: 3 / 4 — Moderate—coats slow botanicals shading lower tiers
- Primary cause: CO2 jitter plus chronic iron starvation on lean fertiliser philosophies.
- Primary fix: Photoperiod + carbon dosing alignment, pinpoint peroxide dosing, prune heavily shaded leaves.
Iron fertiliser interplay
Elevating stable chelated iron dosing without flooding manganese keeps tips green while algae filaments bleach under targeted oxidative bursts.
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