[n0imj]

The Situation:

20 gallon tank that has been operating for a few years.

Seems I always have some sort of algae growth going on.

This time it is the green spot algae and this wispy stuff growing on my plants.

33% water change once / week. Add 5 ml API Leaf Zone once / week. Add 1 ml API CO2 Booster daily Monday - Friday. 10 Root Tabs are placed in the substrate every 3 months.

Here is a current pict just taken:

I've tried the online reading / YouTube watching. Not sure what to make of it all.

This is a classroom unit so I don't invest in all the fancy CO2 equipment and test gear.

If you have suggestions / recommendations, please share.

Thanks!

Jerry

 

[ChrisX]

To much waste in tank. Try feeding less? Do the kids feed?

Too much light/sunlight. Any way to give it less light?

H2O2 hydrogen peroxide treatment. Take out the fish, add a fairly high concentration of H2O2. It will kill the algae. Another big WC and put fish back in.

Basically, you want to physically remove all the algae you can. Take out the fish, turn off filters, do a hydrogen peroxide treatment. Do a really large water change. Put fish back in. In the future, do larger weekly water changes, feed the fish less, and make sure the tank gets less light.

 

[n0imj]

Sorry, should have included this information:

Fish are fed lightly Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
(The kids do not touch the tank - I take care of it and the feeding.)

Lighting Schedule (Fluval Plant):
Sunrise - 7:30 to 8:00 AM
Daylight - Pink 84%, Blue 20%, Cold White 73%, Pure White 100%, Warm White 80%
Sunset - 5:30 to 6:00 PM
Night - Blue 5%
Sleep - 9:00 PM
(No sunlight reaches the tank.)

Filtration:

The "Hang on Back" unit that came with the tank.
External canister (SunSun HW-603B)

 

[ChrisX]

Thats probably too much light. Same treatment as above, try to shorten they light cycle or lower intensity.

 

[n0imj]

OK - I just shortened the light duration to 7 hrs and set the pink and all the white light percentages to 75%.

I'll try this for a few weeks and see what happens.

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[Gorillastomp]

Hey N0imj,

What i would do is lower light intensity to half around 50% and light duration to 6 hrs for a bit.

Since you are not injecting CO2 you need to go on the lower intensity level. Pictures sometime are misleading but it seems very bright for a non CO2 planted tanks.

The Bubbler/aeration is useless when the light are on since your plant photosynthesis and add O2 into the water. Plus from the pictures you seems not to be overcrowded in fish. I would just remove it or use it only once lights are off.

Plants will take about 2-3 weeks to adapt to the new light settings.

API leaf Zone seems to only have potassium and iron in it, so if your are not feeding a lot and having low fish population, your water column might be low on the Nitrate and Phosphate. i would suggest to use an all-in-one fertilizer instead. This would help the overall health of your plants.

Doing an overall cleaning (cleaning the glasse, rocks/decor , removing the affected plants leaves.) after the changes will help monitoring the algae (it it growth back quick etc)

 

[Titostanks]

I'd say like the others, it's definitely too much light. I have the same light and only let it get to about 75 to 80 percent power at the most and have a very heavily planted tank. I would just lower the pink, pure white and warm white to about 70 percent and gradually raise it if needed after most of the algae is gone but I would never go past 80 percent unless it's a high tech tank with CO2 and more difficult plants that require high lighting

 

[Stan510]

Lights are on too long. If they must be on that long--block some of it with black tape. Skip the root tabs,liquid Co2, for awhile.