[eranio]

Hi all,
Greetings from Holland!

I tried to figure out by reading a big part of the topics here and maybe to identify what is my tank problem but still, I can't understand what I'm doing wrong...

I have 142 gallon, 150x60x60cm.
2 external filters.
Photoperiod- 17:00-02:00
Co2- 16:00-23:00. I'm not using bubble counter but my co2 indicator is always light green-yellow.
PH- 6.5-7.0.
Lights- 300w (6500k) metal halide and 6x39w T5.
About 3 inches from the water level.
I have 10 sub adults altum rio inirida and some groups of small fish.
I'm following E.I. Fertilizing, using seachem flourish, and easy life NPK and FE.
I'm doing once a week 50% water change.
The tank is 1.5y old. Nothing new in the system.
I'm dealing with BBA and plants that melted, especially the crypto's. New leafs covering very fast with algae...
There are no "difficult" plants.
I've regroup all the plants in the center because my plafonnier are 120cm and the aquarium is 150cm length.

And some pic's of my altum...

Thank you all in advance for your help!

 

[Amphiprion1]

Wow, that's a lot of light. I would shut off either the t5s or the halides for the time being, but running both is overkill. I would keep the other factors constant for now and observe. Do you have any plants that would justify lots of light?


Layout looks great, btw.

 

[Burito]

I'd say way too much light for rather low plant mass of slow growing plants.

 

[eranio]

Thank you!
I have an option in the T5 to shut off 2 or 4 lamps.
What do you think? Keep on 2 lamps and off the other 4?
Or to shut off the T5 completely?
I don't have plants that needs much light but I will like to have some red color plants in the near future after I'll deal with the algae problem.

 

[Amphiprion1]

I would shut one or the other off for certain. What halide lamps are you using? I can't see you having any issues with red plants, even with halving the light you have now, honestly.

 

[eranio]

I would shut one or the other off for certain. What halide lamps are you using? I can't see you having any issues with red plants, even with halving the light you have now, honestly.

I've shut off the T5 one...
Now I'm using only the MH. Lamps are 6500k. Bought from Amazon US.
So 300w for 540lt isn't too low? Would be ok for simple red plants as well? Alternathera etc....not something difficult...

 

[Amphiprion1]

I've shut off the T5 one...
Now I'm using only the MH. Lamps are 6500k. Bought from Amazon US.
So 300w for 540lt isn't too low? Would be ok for simple red plants as well? Alternathera etc....not something difficult...

Look at it this way. Right now, focus on the health of current plants and introduce some fast growers, more plant mass, etc. Then, once things have been fine tuned, you can always increase the light if you find it to be insufficient. It is one of the easiest things to increase and you already have the means to do it, so what's the harm in playing it safe while you balance things and get an idea of the plants' needs vs. the amount of light, ferts, and CO2 you add. Should be relatively easy to scale up incrementally if you find the need.

All this being said, a lot of red plants don't actually require absurd amounts of light. Test out species once things balance and see which ones retain color and have reasonable growth. Again, if everything is doing well, increasing light a bit is easy later on. Right now, plant mass is in one small spot and halides have a narrower area of illumination, so should be appropriate, even for a tank this size.

 

[eranio]

Look at it this way. Right now, focus on the health of current plants and introduce some fast growers, more plant mass, etc. Then, once things have been fine tuned, you can always increase the light if you find it to be insufficient. It is one of the easiest things to increase and you already have the means to do it, so what's the harm in playing it safe while you balance things and get an idea of the plants' needs vs. the amount of light, ferts, and CO2 you add. Should be relatively easy to scale up incrementally if you find the need.



All this being said, a lot of red plants don't actually require absurd amounts of light. Test out species once things balance and see which ones retain color and have reasonable growth. Again, if everything is doing well, increasing light a bit is easy later on. Right now, plant mass is in one small spot and halides have a narrower area of illumination, so should be appropriate, even for a tank this size.

Clear!
Thank you very much!

 

[eranio]

Passed only one day after I took off the T5 unit and I see clearly increasing of this algae-

 

[houseofcards]

1-day isn't a reliable indicator of anything.

Th setup is 1.5 years old. What's changed from the time you set it up and now. Did you always have the same light setup? What is the lighitng period now and what was it when you setup the tank?

 

[eranio]

1-day isn't a reliable indicator of anything.



Th setup is 1.5 years old. What's changed from the time you set it up and now. Did you always have the same light setup? What is the lighitng period now and what was it when you setup the tank?

I had only the T5 unit and for a couple of weeks I add the MH.
But I'm dealing with BBA and some others algae almost from day 1.
Lightning period and fertilizing was and still the same like today.
Co2 also the same.
I saw in some topic here maybe the trace elements (in my case seachem flourish) can give rise to algae blooms in some cases....
So better to ask before continue with my E.I.,
Maybe the amount I'm dosing is too much the the quantity of the plants I have...?

 

[houseofcards]

What is the lighting duration 7 hours? Start and Now.

 

[eranio]

Was always 9H.
17:00-02:00.

 

[houseofcards]

Was always 9H.
17:00-02:00.

For me that's most of the problem. Even with just the T5 you really can't start a tank like that with good light, 9hr lighting and not expect algae. You also have mostly slow growers, plus you have large waste producing fish that with the strong light, which is much stronger now with the MH gives algae both food and energy, the perfect storm if you will.

The tank should have been started with maybe 4 hrs of light, a seeded filter (to jump start the biological filter), carbon/purigen. Looks like you were doing the water changes, etc.

Also the MH is right on top of the tank, yikes. I would raise the entire lighting assembly if you can. You can run both lights, but use maybe 4 of the T5 for viewing and use the MH maybe 2 hours mid-day if you want that extra growth push for the plants. I would stop dosing the extra FE, you really don’t need it. There is some FE in the Flourish.

Trim off any leaves that you can to push new growth. Those are beautiful fish they need a beautiful scape.

 

[Edward]

Super beautiful Altums!
Where did you get them from?

 

[eranio]

For me that's most of the problem. Even with just the T5 you really can't start a tank like that with good light, 9hr lighting and not expect algae. You also have mostly slow growers, plus you have large waste producing fish that with the strong light, which is much stronger now with the MH gives algae both food and energy, the perfect storm if you will.



The tank should have been started with maybe 4 hrs of light, a seeded filter (to jump start the biological filter), carbon/purigen. Looks like you were doing the water changes, etc.



Also the MH is right on top of the tank, yikes. I would raise the entire lighting assembly if you can. You can run both lights, but use maybe 4 of the T5 for viewing and use the MH maybe 2 hours mid-day if you want that extra growth push for the plants. I would stop dosing the extra FE, you really don’t need it. There is some FE in the Flourish.



Trim off any leaves that you can to push new growth. Those are beautiful fish they need a beautiful scape.

Thank you very much for this detailed answer!
I think I will add some fast growing plants.
I had a lot in the beginning but I took them off and stayed only with the slow growers.
If ill decide to stay with the MH only, how much hours of photoperiod I can do?

Super beautiful Altums!

Where did you get them from?

Thank you!
Origin Simon Forkel, Germany.