What am I doing WRONG!!???

[aquatickid]

I recently set up this 75G and am having some algae issues and even plant issues. I'm somewhat new to the hobby so i'm super frustrated. I had green algae that went away after i raised the light fixture for a couple of days and added a hugry pleco. Now i have this brownish stuff growing on the glass especially near the substrate and on my cichlid stones. How do i get rid of this. I dose leaf zone once a week per bottle instructions and i dose Liquid co2 daily. I'm not sure if i'm using too much or too little light? At the moment i'm running two 39w geismann while i wait for two more in the mail. I bought the light off craigslist and it came with blue bulbs for corals. I run the two lighter ones once in a while. I posted a pic of the height between the tank and fixture, is it too low? I have the light on a timer from 11:00am to 10:30pm. too much? Is ten the limit? Any pointers would be awesome! Oh, and what the hell is wrong with my wisteria?

[aquatickid]

My anubius has stated to yellow too, it was nice and green before in my 10G it's been in here for about two 1/2 weeks.

[starrlamia]

Do you know the k rating on your bulbs? I don't know offhand what rating reef bulbs have.

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[aquatickid]

unsure, it came witht the fixture. wanna say it's between 6500k-10000K but i doubt its the latter. they say 39w aquablue+ giesemann.

[sp33drhno]

the brown stuff looks to be diatoms, and is perfectly normal on a new tank. it should go away on its own eventually. the giesemann aqua blue+ won't do much for the plants.

[aquatickid]

Originally Posted by sp33drhno

the brown stuff looks to be diatoms, and is perfectly normal on a new tank. it should go away on its own eventually. the giesemann aqua blue+ won't do much for the plants.

That has to be the problem because all my other tanks have the same treatments and i've never had an issue. I have some 6700k's on the way so i hope that solves it! Also, have any of you guys used or know about colormax bulbs? Are they good for plants as far as spectrum?

[aquatickid]

Originally Posted by sp33drhno

the brown stuff looks to be diatoms, and is perfectly normal on a new tank. it should go away on its own eventually. the giesemann aqua blue+ won't do much for the plants.

It all makes sense to me now! On sat i did a 25% water change and did my weekly dose of leaf zone. Since the light isnt the right spectrum the plants are not photosynthesizing properly hence the exposion of diatoms! I think that when i get the light up tomorrow it will be on the right tract. I is a fairly new tank but i've never had this much diatoms, i feel this is the reason. Thanks for the input.

[LB79]

For the algae, large water changes and perhaps a BN pleco would solve the problem, as well as getting the right lights for the plants, of course. Once the plants are growing strong, the algae will have little change to grow on them like it is now.

[HD Blazingwolf]

the lights are fine. not perfect but plants will grow with them

what are u doisng?
diatoms are photosynthetic.. they need the same lights plants do

[Aquatic Delight]

Originally Posted by aquatickid

have any of you guys used or know about colormax bulbs? Are they good for plants as far as spectrum?

the colormax bulbs are really intented for making fish look good. you can grow plants under them, i use them next to 6500k bulbs. the tank in journal had the colormax and 6500k until i got a LED set up.

[NWA-Planted]

I just switched out my 10k bulbs for aquaflora

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[HD Blazingwolf]

i took a very dim shot of my bulbs for color reference
from left to right
ge starcoat 6500
geiseman aquaflora
wavepoint red (is purple, lots of blue)
geiseman midday


plants grow phenominal, and fish color is not sacrificed the plants use morel ight frm the wavepoint than the aquaflora its mostly red and blue. gives the tank a natural look as well when mixed with a midday or 6500 k bulb. fish look awesome under it as well
also as u can see the geise midday is very green. looks very bright. its no brighter than the ge starcoat and plant growth appears to be the same under either bulb

so we can see that different bulbs can get the job done.. i used to fret over bulbs a while back as well. now i just pick ones that look good and have a decent spectrum


have u tested ur nitrate or phosphate levels? plants basically looked starved for nutrients. this could also be carbon shortage as well. liquid co2 is a poor supplement in my opinion. lower ur light levels a little, drop to one bulb for 10 hours a day until things get healthy, or ur gonna continually fight algae and poor looking plants

[aquatickid]

Well, i just got two Geis...aqua flora and two colormax in. I ordered two more aqua flora also so i think that willdo. I've had the aquaflora in for two days and i can already see the difference. I'm grateful for all the input! Also on a side note my convicts just breeded for the first time. Not too bad but i got about 20 fry. It's the first batch so im sure next one will be more. At least they aint eating them! Well, when it's all said and done i'll have 4 aquaflora and two colormax. This should be enough! Today i also noticed that the diatons are not as intense in color, i hope it's fading.

[aquatickid]

Originally Posted by HD Blazingwolf

i took a very dim shot of my bulbs for color reference
from left to right
ge starcoat 6500
geiseman aquaflora
wavepoint red (is purple, lots of blue)
geiseman midday


plants grow phenominal, and fish color is not sacrificed the plants use morel ight frm the wavepoint than the aquaflora its mostly red and blue. gives the tank a natural look as well when mixed with a midday or 6500 k bulb. fish look awesome under it as well
also as u can see the geise midday is very green. looks very bright. its no brighter than the ge starcoat and plant growth appears to be the same under either bulb

so we can see that different bulbs can get the job done.. i used to fret over bulbs a while back as well. now i just pick ones that look good and have a decent spectrum


have u tested ur nitrate or phosphate levels? plants basically looked starved for nutrients. this could also be carbon shortage as well. liquid co2 is a poor supplement in my opinion. lower ur light levels a little, drop to one bulb for 10 hours a day until things get healthy, or ur gonna continually fight algae and poor looking plants

I dont have a test kit for phosphates but i have a freshwater master test kit. All my amonia and nitrate nitrite are non existing. Weekly water changes and i dont over feed. I just cant afford co2 injection at the moment so i figure liquid is better than nothing. The only algae problem i have is diatoms and i think its because it's kind of a new tank, less than 2months. Since i changes the bulbs to aquaflora and colormax the plants have showed immediate improvement.

[HD Blazingwolf]

Wonderful. However nitrate at zero is a problem. Plants need it. Api leaf zone is basically iron. So u might invest in dosing some more ferts.

Nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium at a bare minimum. The other micros wont hurt but u can survive without them on a low tech tank.. but zero readings are gonna give u the yellowing plants u see in the pictures. Nitrogen is needed for chlorophyll production!! And that is the basis for how the plant generates its food!