Ammonia is a problem in any aquarium – it’s toxic to livestock and algae also thrives on it. Thankfully plants can consume it as well, but algae will enjoy any small amount it can get and doesn’t need much to start overgrowing a tank.
Ammonia is required for an aquarium to cycle. Bacteria colonies grow and convert it to nitrite, which more bacteria then convert into safe and usable nitrate (which plants love!). If you have planted out your tank from the beginning, a lot of this excess will thankfully be used up.
While the ammonia is peaking during this time you are likely to see algae. It’s nothing to worry about and should resolve on its own.
But ammonia can spike for other reasons. Significantly disturbing the substrate in an established tank or one using soil/aquasoil can release ammonia that was trapped into your water column. This can be easily resolved by performing water changes to reduce the excess.
It is also possible for your beneficial bacteria to die off, causing your “cycle” to crash/restart. Usually this is a result of some shock – overcleaning your filter, or cleaning your filter with water that hasn’t been dechlorinated, or a rapid change in water parameters. Usually when this happens, your cycle should re-establish quite quickly, as a decent amount of bacteria will still be active in your aquarium. You will just need to maintain water quality through changes while your cycle re-establishes.
​From The LCA Team
Every Solution For Your Aquarium.

That’s right – water circulation is also a factor in the growth of unwanted algae!
The flow of water in your aquarium transports nutrients and CO2 throughout your plant mass, and if you have any “dead” spots where water is not flowing, nutrients can settle in those areas instead of being delivered to your plants, allowing algae to use it up instead.
Circulation is also important in moving waste through your tank to your filtration, to be converted into plant-usable compounds.
You can increase circulation either by upgrading to a more powerful filter or by adding a small circulation pump.
On the subject of water circulation, agitation of your water’s surface is also important. If the surface of you aquarium water is too still, a slimy protein film can form, blocking the exchange of oxygen/gas with your water. This gas exchange is required for livestock, bacteria and your plants to remain healthy! It’s simple enough to adjust this by pointing your filter outlet towards the surface of your aquarium. A slight ripple is all that is needed.

Excess organics
Organics build up in aquariums from uneaten food, fish excretions, decaying plant matter and from the remains of any dead livestock such as snails and fish.

The bacteria in your aquarium do a great job of converting organic waste into compounds plants can use, but they can’t process larger materials quickly enough before organics start releasing into the water column.

Manually removing waste by hand and siphon, performing weekly water changes and regular maintenance of your mechanical filtration goes a long way to keeping organics under control. You can also add livestock such as shrimp and snails to help break down decaying plants and uneaten food before they start to rot.

You should also ensure your filtration is adequate for the size of your tank and that water is circulating enough to move smaller waste into your filtration where the bacteria can do its job.

The last aspect to consider is the age of your aquarium. Newly set-up aquariums will still be “cycling” – that is, the process of your filter growing a bed of beneficial bacteria. At this early stage of your aquarium’s life, the filter doesn’t have sufficient bacteria to remove these organics.
This is often referred to as “new tank syndrome” and is simply a part of the process – once your aquarium has had time to cycle and establish its good bacteria, it should be much easier to achieve balance.
Keeping your aquarium densely planted from the start is also an excellent way to keep new tank syndrome under control as the plants work to consume ammonia and other compounds.

​Eriocaulon "setaceum'"varieties are found throughout the tropical regions of the world and several spp are described: Australia (E. setaceum), Asia (E. intermedium), Africa (E. bifistulosum) and S. America (E. melanocephalum). Currently these spp are lumped together as E. setaceum.
In Australia there are two varieties of Eriocaulon setaceum available. Eriocaulon setaceum "Aussie" is larger in crown width and stem thickness and bushier than the second variety Eriocaulon setaceum "type 1".
Eriocaulon setaceum "Aussie" is the more difficult of the two varieties to grow and propagate. This variety can be propagated via seed germination or by new plantlets developing from the flower head (viviparity).
Eriocaulon setaceum "type 1" is of unknown origin and most likely an exotic variety. This variety propagates vegetatively by splitting of the plant at the growing tip into two new plants.