[jweisman54]

This is only my second planted tank and it's been a few years. Set up almost 3 months. Used bb from my 5 other tanks to cycle.
This is a 9 gallon rimless and I think there's hair algae on my plants and lots of black spots. I'm using fluorite as the substrate, parameters are good, I have a video showing the algae but do not know how to add it.
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate <10
pH 7.0
KH 80
GH between 0 and 30

1 Nerite snail
several tiny cory cats
3 algae eaters
celestial/galaxy rasbora
ember tetra
Dosing with Thrive C micro/macro ferts once a week along with thrive root caps
Light: NiCrew Aqua Light Plants 14 watt

 

[minorhero]

This is only my second planted tank and it's been a few years. Set up almost 3 months. Used bb from my 5 other tanks to cycle.
This is a 9 gallon rimless and I think there's hair algae on my plants and lots of black spots. I'm using fluorite as the substrate, parameters are good, I have a video showing the algae but do not know how to add it.
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate <10
pH 7.0
KH 80
GH between 0 and 30

1 Nerite snail
several tiny cory cats
3 algae eaters
celestial/galaxy rasbora
ember tetra
Dosing with Thrive C micro/macro ferts once a week along with thrive root caps
Light: NiCrew Aqua Light Plants 14 watt

What is your photoperiod like?

For dosing with thrive having nitrate less then 10 is a concern. You probably have a nutrient issues. Also a full tank shot would be helpful.

 

[jweisman54]

What is your photoperiod like?

For dosing with thrive having nitrate less then 10 is a concern. You probably have a nutrient issues. Also a full tank shot would be helpful.

light is on about 8 hours.

 

[jweisman54]

 

[minorhero]

View attachment 1029291

Thanks for the pic. It looks like your crypt parva is suffering the worst. That is a slow growing plant and the lack of nitrate even though you are dosing thrive is somewhat telling.

I looked up the "NiCrew Aqua Light" but couldn't find anything.

Most of the nicrew lights are classicled or the much more powerful classicled plus. Neither are 14 watt. But the classicled plus is 15 watt..

I'm going to guess your light is actually a classicled plus (you will be able to tell by looking under it and seeing if it has red, blue, green, and white leds as opposed to the classicled which only has white and blue), it looks a lot like this: https://www.amazon.com/NICREW-Class...ater/dp/B07F7391M2?ref_=ast_sto_dp&th=1&psc=1

If this is the case then you are blasting way way way too much light for a low tech tank. I'd either buy a dimmer for it (they sell inline dimmers for the nicrew lights), or raise it up a foot, or I'd buy a new light that was not as bright.

 

[jweisman54]

It has white, blue and red lights. Has dimmer and timer.

 

[minorhero]

It has white, blue and red lights. Has dimmer and timer. View attachment 1029292

Gotcha, it's this guy:

Amazon.com: NICREW Full Spectrum Planted LED Aquarium Light, with Timer, for Freshwater Fish Tank, 18-24 Inch, 14 Watts : Pet Supplies

Amazon.com: NICREW Full Spectrum Planted LED Aquarium Light, with Timer, for Freshwater Fish Tank, 18-24 Inch, 14 Watts : Pet Supplies

www.amazon.com

One of the pictures there shows how much par you can expect at 12" from the light. They say 65 par. That is about double what you want. I'd use the built in dimmer and drop it to half its max level. This should help with the algae. BUT its going to take weeks/months to get things back on track. In the meantime manual removal of algae where possible during water change, continued dosing of ferts to package directions (your thrive uptake should drop with the lower light level), and if it were me, I'd start dosing Seachem Excel to package directions as well. Keep in mind though that Excel is dangerous stuff so if you decide to use it, make sure you are safe about it.

 

[jweisman54]

The light is new so I figured that’s what it was from. Excel is coming tomorrow and I’ll probably just return this light to Amazon. When you say that it’s dangerous, how so? What light would you use in this tank. It’s only 11 deep and 17 long.

 

[minorhero]

The light is new so I figured that’s what it was from. Excel is coming tomorrow and I’ll probably just return this light to Amazon. When you say that it’s dangerous, how so? What light would you use in this tank. It’s only 11 deep and 17 long.

I wouldn't return the light, I would buy this critter:

https://www.amazon.com/NICREW-Aquarium-ClassicLED-BrightLED-Connectors/dp/B07KYLX2P6/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=nicrew+dimmer&qid=1620525345&sr=8-1

And to be clear its not the light thats dangerous but Excel. All the glut based so called 'liquid co2' products are dangerous to humans. As in don't get it on your skin, don't inhale vapors, definitely do not get it in your eye or ingest it. You can look up some of the science behind it but basically it does its thing by invading cell walls and bringing molecules with it. This has the effect of killing algae and is supposed to provide an alternate source carbon to plants. But it will also do this to humans.

 

[jweisman54]

Would I be better off to either use a DIY co2 yeast bottle or a co2 system

 

[Stan510]

Use Seachem Iron. That will green up the plants in a few days. 14 watts does not seem too much. But that watts per gallon is high if you leave the photoperiod on too long. They would do fine on 7 hours or less. More is just growing algae better.
Also,temps near 80f grow algae much better than temps near 70f. I know BGA slows ways down on low 70's. Just one tip on dealing with that.