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Hi All, I'm new and Have Some Questions About Lighting

1K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  cecile1 
#1 ·
I jumped to this forum as I saw someone from a more fishy focused forum talk about this foru, and since Ive really gotten into the planted tank. Ive currently got an 2.5gal rectangular generic tank with a heater and filter, which has been running since Fall 2011:

1Betta
2 amazon sword
1 anubis
1sprig of Jenny wort

I am currently having issues with a mix of black beard algae and a bit of brown and green algae.

I currently have 1 14 watt bulb over the tank, and am wondering if I lower the watts on the light, will my algae decrease or should I also decrease the liquid and tab ferts? I have the light on too long some days which is most likely the cause of my troubles.

So I guess my question is for a 2.5 gal with the above listed plants, how long should the light be on to sustain the tank, but limmit the algae. Is it an trial and error?

Thanks for reading my ramble!
 
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#2 ·
If you don't mind me asking why is the light on too long some days? If its because of work or something. You could get a timer and that would take care of that problem.

As far as the light goes how far away is the light fixture from the substrate? Maybe you could raise the light for all my tanks. For the light I could some suggestions that I got from here and alittle experimenting and now I my tanks are doing good. Right how have my light raised and the lights on all my tanks get 6 hours.
 
#3 ·
Thanks for the reply. Yes, with work I am somtimes unable to turn it off, but the timer is a good solution! I do also have the light quite close to the tank top, so I will try to do the changes and let you know how it goes.

Should I remove the current algae from the plants?

Thanks again!
 
#5 ·
I've got an cheap, abet easy to deal with riverbed look, small pebble substrate, so I can pull them out.

How much bleach? A drop? Should I do this once then never again, or just when it reappears?

Sorry for all the questions, just wanting to do it right! Thanks alot!
 
#8 ·
Yes, they do get huge!

I've got them growing up in my 2.5 at the moment and they are small, I had a bout of black hair algae and I had to remove quite a lot of leaves, but now that I have the lighting under control, I hope it will out grow my tank- an excuse to get a bigger one!
 
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