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Here's my dilemma....

4K views 33 replies 9 participants last post by  bassbuster23 
#1 · (Edited)
My original plan when I started my 75 gallon was to have a beautiful, clear tank where my fish/shrimp would have their own little world to live in. Things started that way too.....in the beginning. Then, that dreaded algae started appearing. So, I came here for advice.....& received some great direction. I'm sorry to say that all has been for naught....as the algae continues to thrive & take over my tank. It started with that hair algae that grows in tufts....& now green spot algae has joined in.

Here's my setup and things I've tried and changes I've made:

1) Odyssea 48" 4x54 T5HO fixture. Started with about 10-12 hours of light daily, using 4 6500k bulbs, but have since reduced that down to 6 hours daily with 2 6500k & 2 5000k bulbs(running a 6500k/5000k bulb combo for 3 hours and then switching over to the other 6500k/5000k combo for 3 hours).

2) Added frogbit to help my wisteria/water sprite soak up excess nutrients.

3) Dose ferts with PPS-Pro method...pre-mixed bags. Finishing up the last of those & then will be mixing my ferts. Was advised to up the phosphate to 8 grams when I start mixing ferts myself.

4) Sunsun JUP-23 UV sterilizer....running on a 6 hour timer with my co2.

5) Pressurized co2/diy co2......been running this for about 8-10 weeks now. Still dialing in the bps on the pressurized, but sitting in the area of 2 bps.

6)Water changes 2x weekly.....approximately 35-40% each change.

7)Osmocote+ root tabs every 8 weeks into the substrate approx 2-3" apart in root feeding plants.

Since changing the bulbs, my lighting has more of a "subdued" look in my tank....not as sharp & crisp. I'm thinking it's the pinkish color from the 5000k bulbs. Since changing the bulbs, ALL of my plants are growing like crazy. Anubias are flowering, Amazon swords sending out runner stalks, pygmy chain sword is growing so fast I can almost see it growing, frogbit is reproducing nicely, wisteria is holding it's own, water sprite has exploded......but none of this is beating out the algae I described earlier. I manually remove as much of the hair algae as possible.....& it's back the next day. I scrape/scrub the gsa at each water change, & it starts reappearing in 2 days.

I'm not expecting a showcase tank......but I do get tired of looking in my tank and seeing algae everywhere. I do know that some algae is to be expected, but shouldn't it be at a minimum?

I'm at my wits end with this.....should I break the tank down & start over? Fold up shop & call it quits? Any advice or suggestions from you?

Thanks for any and all help.......
 
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#2 ·
Pics of tank would help to see how heavily planted it is / with what / how bad your problem is.

4xT5HO is a ton of light. I can judge with 90% confidence that this is your main issue. My guess is you are not even close to being able to handle that much light. Obviously algae is just going to come back. Only the most established, healthy, densely planted tanks will thrive without algae under that amount of light. Raise your fixture up quite a bit or ditch a few bulbs if you can. You need perfect balance to run that much power.

Your plants will still grow very well under less light. Medium light with good CO2 will yield quite good results. It is not worth the algae battle to see 100% max growth.

Stop dosing osmocote every 2 months. Too much osmocote is known to cause bad trace toxicity in many cases (I have run into this myself...). This is probably only hurting you as you are most likely seeing issues due to too MUCH ferts (coupled with too much light) rather than your plants needing a few more balls of osmocote to do well.

I went through about the same thing. Had 3xT5HO over a young 75g tank that grew very well but always had algae issues. After a year of trying all kinds of crap I gave up and tore it down. Completely re-did everything. Now I run 2x BML Dutch XB fixtures sitting on the rim that run at like 30% and 50% each. Light is somewhere in medium-high range and the tank is heavily planted and stable now.

Don't quit completely. If it's so bad that you can't fix it just tear it down and start over. If you can fix it just try your best to clean everything up (get new plants and stuff if you have to) and run a less intense setup until things get established. You are starting out in 6th gear which is extremely difficult to do (I did the same thing... it was not worth it)
 
#3 ·
@klibs......stop the osmocote tabs altogether? Will the plants draw enough nutrients through the water column instead of through the roots?

Here's some pics......can't see the gsa very well, but I can assure you it's there :)
 

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#6 ·
......stop the osmocote tabs altogether? Will the plants draw enough nutrients through the water column instead of through the roots?
yes they will be fine

your plant load is very light (this is what I assumed) so there is no need to dose a lot of ferts. osmocote is pretty unnecessary for that setup IMO and like I said may cause you more harm than its worth.

like I said before tone everything down - in order to run a ton of light / have a high powered setup you need to have the plant mass to support it and the tank must be balanced and very healthy
 
#4 ·
I agree with Klibs above. 4 T5ho bulbs over a 75 is a lot of light. That's the same amount I have over my 120 gallon. And my tank is 26" deep, with the lights mounted up into a canopy. A typical 75 is 21" deep, which puts the lights a lot closer. Even then, I limit my lights to 8 hours a day.

You might consider going to two bulbs. And if you don't keep up the co2, I've even consider removing one or both reflectors. Or even raising the lights so that they are further from the substrate.

You also have a pretty light plant load. I'd add a lot more plants, including some fast growers. And I also agree on the osmocote. Hard to control how much is released, and could give you a spike in ferts.

But once again, in my own personal experience, you need to get the intensity and duration of the lights under control first.
 
#5 ·
OP has already reduced lighting to 2 bulbs and has changed the bulbs. Result has been better growth.
I think the original bulbs did not have enough light in the red end of the spectrum. By mixing bulbs you have solved this problem.

Do you have test results for all the usual tests?

Fish food is high in N, P and most traces. You might alter your dosing, reducing N, P and traces, but keep potassium and iron.
PPS is a low level of ferts.
As suggested above Osmocote might be releasing the ferts too fast. Are the pellets well buried? Usually ammonia is the sign of Osmocote releasing too fast and getting into the water column.

Tank is very lightly planted. I would suggest keeping with the substrate ferts and reducing the water column ferts (from any source). But lets see some test results.
Plants are looking good.
 
#7 ·
I agree with the above posters. Follow their suggestions and you will experience improvements. Remember, it will take time and won't be overnight. As for adding new plants, I think adding Rotala rotundifolia and Ludwigia repens at the back of the tank would be lovely. They would add some pink/red to the design.
Try not to be too discouraged, I think you have a good start.
 
#8 ·
@Greggz, @Diana, @klibs, @touch of sky......thanks for the advice, help, and compliments! I'll test the water parameters this afternoon and post the results. I've been pushing the Osmocote tabs all the way to the bottom of the tank, but will discontinue this to see what happens. I use a homemade gel food so I'm not sure which traces are in that. As far as the lighting, I can drop down to the 6500k bulbs and run each individually for 3 hours, giving me a 6 hour lighting schedule.
 
#10 ·
I run a quad T5HO on my 90g which is 24" deep. I run 1X6500k and 1X5000k flora sun (the pinkish bulb) for 8 hrs, I run the second bank with the same 2 bulbs at midday for 2 hrs. I run PPS and metricide as well.
That's way too much light for a 72g IMO as well.
I don't see any mention of type of co2 diffusion either, how are you getting the co2 in the aquarium?
Do you have a drop checker? What is your PH drop?
I would try 1x6500k + 1x5000k at 8 hours.

 
#12 ·
@The Big Buddha....The light schedule is from 3 pm until 9 pm. I also run 1x6500k & 1x5000k flora sun for 3 hours on one bank & then the same setup for 3 hours on the other bank. Only 2 bulbs burning at once. CO2 is diffused through the outflow of one of my canister filters. Drop checker usually stays between green & blue green.....I have had it get into the yellow while trying to dial it in. pH was floating around 7.8 before I ever introduced pressurized co2.....so, around a .6 drop?

Hi bassbuster23
Just few changes and time will make your aquarium shine.

Lighting:
8 hours 2 x 54W T5

Root tabs:
Not good. They are not needed and they keep leaking.

Plant mass:
Look at the beautiful aquarium above. What’s the difference? It is fully planted. What I am saying is “If you can see substrate you don’t have enough plants”.

Everything else seems to be great.

Edward PPS
Thanks @Edward. I currently only run 2 of the 4 bulbs at once....& am seriously considering removing the 2 5000k bulbs and running only 1 6500k at a time for 3 hours....& then swapping over to the other 6500k for 3 hours.
 
#11 · (Edited)
Hi bassbuster23
Just few changes and time will make your aquarium shine.

Lighting:
8 hours 2 x 54W T5

Root tabs:
Not good. They are not needed and they keep leaking.

Plant mass:
Look at the beautiful aquarium above. What’s the difference? It is fully planted. What I am saying is “If you can see substrate you don’t have enough plants”.

Everything else seems to be great.

Edward PPS
 
#15 ·
I just dropped the lighting back to 6 hrs (this week).....I can bump it back to 8 hrs since I'm going to run less bulbs.

So an inline diffuser? Try and shoot for a drop of about 1. Be sure to take your baseline PH off a tank sample that has been de gassed over night, or in a jar with an airstone after 1 hour. I run a Cerges on mine and have no problem saturating the tank with co2 easily.
You want a nice lime green, not blue green. At the end of my light cycle mine is greenish-yellow, but fish are fine. My drop is usually between 0.9 and 1.1

It's also important your drop checker has dkh reading of 4, not tank water. A PH pen is very helpful for monitoring this. The drop checker reaction time is too slow, the pen is instant. Myself I wouldn't bother switching banks, just run one then swap them at a year.
Also 2 bps is nothing on a tank that size, I doubt you have a drop of .6.

I would recheck your actual drop, "PH was floating around 7.8 before...." That's no baseline. You need todays de gassed PH reading and then the reading of the PH during your cycle. It's kind of like saying "when my car was new I got 35mpg, so after 100,000 miles I'm still at 35mpg." There are so many variables that could have changed. Was the water degassed back then when it tested at 7.8?

Don't think about starting over, you're almost there. You just have to find the balance, and you will.

.
I will re-check the pH.....pulling a tank sample now (de-gassed) for baseline reading. My drop checker uses the dkh 4 solution also. I don't currently have a pH pen, but would consider getting one if it's that much of a help. I'll post the pH results after my cycle starts.

One other thing, if I decide to break the tank down and do a thorough cleaning.....how do I go about cleaning the algae off of the plants without damaging them?
 
#14 ·
So an inline diffuser? Try and shoot for a drop of about 1. Be sure to take your baseline PH off a tank sample that has been de gassed over night, or in a jar with an airstone after 1 hour. I run a Cerges on mine and have no problem saturating the tank with co2 easily.
You want a nice lime green, not blue green. At the end of my light cycle mine is greenish-yellow, but fish are fine. My drop is usually between 0.9 and 1.1

It's also important your drop checker has dkh reading of 4, not tank water. A PH pen is very helpful for monitoring this. The drop checker reaction time is too slow, the pen is instant. Myself I wouldn't bother switching banks, just run one then swap them at a year.
Also 2 bps is nothing on a tank that size, I doubt you have a drop of .6.

I would recheck your actual drop, "PH was floating around 7.8 before...." That's no baseline. You need todays de gassed PH reading and then the reading of the PH during your cycle. It's kind of like saying "when my car was new I got 35mpg, so after 100,000 miles I'm still at 35mpg." There are so many variables that could have changed. Was the water degassed back then when it tested at 7.8?

Don't think about starting over, you're almost there. You just have to find the balance, and you will.

.
 
#19 ·
I would recheck your actual drop, "PH was floating around 7.8 before...." That's no baseline. You need todays de gassed PH reading and then the reading of the PH during your cycle.
pH (degassed): 7.8

ph @ 6:45 pm (4 hrs & 45 mins of co2 injection): 7.2

Suggestions?


Now that I'm adjusting the lighting schedule even more, I have a question about the ferts. Since I have a light plant load, should I cut my PPS-Pro down to every other day instead of every day? Any suggestions on this?
 
#16 ·
How old is the tank? I've had tanks WAY worse than those pics and they've bounced back. If you don't find your balance and tear down the tank, you will be in the same situation in no time. Be patient, get a journal and record all changes. It can be very helpful.

Dial in the co2, monitor the levels for a few days. Run the lights 8 hours with 2 bulbs. Plants and tanks don't respond overnight give it a couple of weeks.

.
 
#17 ·
One other thing, if I decide to break the tank down and do a thorough cleaning.....how do I go about cleaning the algae off of the plants without damaging them?
That’s a bad idea. You have established rooted plants needing only small environmental adjustments. Why not continue. And the algae infected leaves can be removed when new leaves show up.

Edward PPS
 
#20 · (Edited)
I'm by far an expert, but I can give you advice that has worked for me. I would try to up the co2 to get more of a drop, keeping a close eye on things. I would continue daily PPS, but if you are having a doubt throw a 50% water change at it to reset. Keep an eye on nitrates. I dose none in my 90g. I have found whenever I use PPS pro my nitrates get very high, but I also stock my tanks heavy. Keep things as they are and increase co2, when you change a bunch of things at the same time it can either get worse or better, but it's hard to tell which change caused the effect. So start with that reduced lighting, and more co2 and give it a couple of weeks. Take a picture of the tank for comparison over the next 2 weeks. When you get your co2 dialled in I'm sure things will get much better.

.
 
#22 ·
I'm by far an expert, but I can give you advice that has worked for me. I would try to up the co2 to get more of a drop, keeping a close eye on things. I would continue daily PPS, but if you are having a doubt throw a 50% water change at it to reset. Keep an eye on nitrates. I dose none in my 90g. I have found whenever I use PPS pro my nitrates get very high, but I also stock my tanks heavy. Keep things as they are and increase co2, when you change a bunch of things at the same time it can either get worse or better, but it's hard to tell what which change caused the effect. So start with that reduced lighting, and more co2 and give it a couple of weeks. Take a picture of the tank for comparison over the next 2 weeks. When you get your co2 dialled in I'm sure things will get much better..
Hi
Few questions,
Do you dose macro and micro every day?
What is your water column PO4 when you find NO3 too high?
How high NO3?
Do you use prescribed chemicals?

I am asking because too high NO3 can be caused by either insufficient Solution dosing or very high fish load.

Edward PPS
 
#21 ·
Now that I'm adjusting the lighting schedule even more, I have a question about the ferts. Since I have a light plant load, should I cut my PPS-Pro down to every other day instead of every day? Any suggestions on this?
Hi
Not dosing daily lowers plant uptake, creates water column nutrient unbalance and grows weaker plants. Both, macro and micro should be dosed daily at the same time, preferably before lights go on. Because you are doing water changes you don’t have to worry about overdosing. Here https://sites.google.com/site/aquaticplantfertilizer/home/chemicals you can see what maximum nutrient levels can develop at 1 ml per 10 gallon dose.

Edward PPS
 
#25 ·
BPS is different on all setups, better methods of diffusion will require less BPS. So it's kind of hard to compare setups. Increase VERY slowly each day until you reach the goal. If your fish start gasping, back off. You will see them all at the surface long before the drop checker changes color. Have an airstone and air pump standing by in case you over do it, it will help degass and get more oxygen back in the water quickly. Also a large water change if you've saturated the tank with co2 in error. I have air stones in my tanks ready to go, I just need to plug them in in case of an emergency. They can be dead before the drop checker has adjusted. So go slow and aim for a .9 to 1 drop in PH.

I don't advise trying to adjust this while at work and out of the house either. You need to keep an eye on things. Weekends or days off are the best time to do this. Start co2 1 hour before lights come on, have it turn off 1 hour before lights go off.

.
 
#26 ·
I never was able to achieve good plant growth by relying on heavy fish load to provide KNO3. I believe you need to dose some KNO3 regardless of what your nitrate test shows. Even with calibration the nitrate test kits are famously inaccurate.Mine said 80 PPM in a sample known to be 20 PPM and many others have had the same experience. If you are doing the water changes then there should be no problem dosing a half dose.

A PH pen is so much easier and far more accurate. I also do not think you have enough co2 and a PH pen could help determine it. You want at least a full 1.0 drop, mine is 1.2 and fish are fine.
 
#28 ·
Not trying to jack bass busters thread.....

Edward :

I dose metricide in all my tanks because I find when I do have a little BBA it seems to thrive more in tanks without metricide, just my experience.
Hell no to the 50% weekly water changes ! Lol, too much work, not going to happen.
I do 30% once a month. If was doing 50% weekly WC's I would just do EI.
I have an original recipe of PPS pro with kno3 on standby, if I start to see N deficiency I will dose some of that, but as of now I go without. I would like to find a recipe with a little kno3 and experiment with that.

keymastr : I am not suggesting bass buster follows my dosing, I was just giving the details to Edward. I think bass buster will see a big difference with just getting his co2 dialed. I agree with you on the nitrate tests, I have yet to get an API kit that is accurate. Keymastr, have you noticed at what drop your fish do gasp for air?

.
 
#29 ·
Not trying to jack bass busters thread.....

Edward :

I dose metricide in all my tanks because I find when I do have a little BBA it seems to thrive more in tanks without metricide, just my experience.
Hell no to the 50% weekly water changes ! Lol, too much work, not going to happen.
I do 30% once a month. If was doing 50% weekly WC's I would just do EI.
I have an original recipe of PPS pro with kno3 on standby, if I start to see N deficiency I will dose some of that, but as of now I go without. I would like to find a recipe with a little kno3 and experiment with that.
Hi
Is this what you were looking for? Same as PPS-Pro Solution #1 but no NO3 and only half the concentration so it should be dosed twice as much.

NO3 free PPS-Pro Solution #1
1000 ml
Half strength solution, need to dose double.
K2SO4.....58g
KNO3 .......0g
KH2PO4....3g
MgSO4....20g

Please let us know how it works.

Edward PPS
 
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