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I bought a new light for my 55 gallon South American Cichlid tank a few months back... its a 135 watt compact florescent, which puts my just under 3 watts per gallon. I think part of my problem is that the lighting is a 6000k and an actinic combo. I know that my lighting is the big contributor of my algea problem... but i would really like my plants to grow healthy! The algea starts off as a mossy green algea then later gets covered with a slimy green blanket, which kinda kills off the mossy algea but really makes the tank look like crap not to mention that the crap spreads like wild fire. But afer i rub off the slimy blanket sometimes it reviels a red mossy algea. I have checked nitrates, phosphates, calcium, and everthing else under the sun... even my LPS can't think of a solution for my algea problem. I have always heard the salt was bad for plants so i tried a few softener salt nuggets... which took my KH to 3 degrees and my fish run between 9 and 12 degrees and my plants need to be around 8... but i noticed that the algea got worse... does algea favor soft water rather than hard water?

Can anyone identify the types of algea i have?

Or are there any other suggestions as to what i can do about my algea?

http://faq.thekrib.com/algae.html
I dont know if this will help you any, its worth a look at.

Actinic is completely uneccessary for growing plants. It is, however, great for algae. That's why it's used for marine tanks - all the photosynthetic things in a saltwater setup are some sort of algae (macroalgae, coralline algae, zooxanthids). In freshwater, pretty much all algae is unwanted. It sounds like you have a couple different kinds of cyanobacteria. The red is probably dead, and what happens to the mossy green algae when it gets shaded out by the slimy stuff. HTH.

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Hi,
First, you are correct when thinking that your light is
not helping. Actinic Blue lights were designed to provide
a VERY high Kelvin rating "K" temperature light.
They are used on Reef tanks for the very intense light
that they produce.
They are generally used in combination with white
lights to wash out or balance the blue light that
they emit.
I'd change the bulbs to something in the
6700 - 8800K range and keep the photo period down to
10 hours.

In general plants do not do well with salt. There are
some exceptions:

http://www.azgardens.com/habitats_brackish.php

If you have these plants in your tank then they should do
fine with the addition of salt. If you have other plants,
some are absolutely not tolerant of any salt.

Using water softener salt pellets is not a good idea.
It does add salt to the water. The way to raise the
Carbonate Hardness (KH) of the water is to use regular
Arm & Hammer (no additives) Baking soda. Try a Tablespoon
or two, and allow it to mix, then test. Continue to add
until it reaches your desired reading. Baking Soda will
raise ONLY the KH and not affect the GH.

The "slimy" algae is actually not an algae but a bacteria.
Its called Cynobacteria and "we" call it BGA (Blue Green
Algae). You are correct, once the hair algae is covered
by the BGA it is smothered and turns red as it dies.
By the way, dying algae can release toxins into the water
and affect the oxygen carrying ability of the water so
get rid of the stuff as fast as you can.

cyano.shtml" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/algae/cyano.shtml

Here is a site that describes, with pictures, the various
types of algae, what causes it and how to eliminate it:

http://www.otocinclus.com/articles/algae.html

Frank



-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

thank you all very much!

should i get a 6700k/6700k light or a 6700k/10000k combo?

Hi,
I'd stick with the 2x6700K bulbs. 10,000K bulbs are what
I consider the top end for bulbs, in a freshwater planted
tank. I'd use them only if I were restricted by the
ballasts in the light fixture to lower wattage bulbs, and
had high light demand plants in the tank.

Right now you are running around 2.5 watts per gallon (wpg)
and that should allow you to grow nearly any plant in the
low and medium light demand groups, as well as some in the
high light group. If you find that you need more light
at the substrate, you could try the 10,000K bulb and plant
the high demand plants under it, rather than under the
6700K bulb.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

one thing i don't understand... BGA grows in poor water... i change my water 50% weekly... nitrates are almost nil... and i am runing 2 bubblers ( 1 on each side of the tank ) as well as 2 emperor 400s... so i know my oxygen is not low... how can this be?

i will be posting a picture of my tank asap

a few tank pics

http://photo.ringo.com/239/239210925RL712067130.jpg

http://photo.ringo.com/239/239210949RL362953227.jpg

http://photo.ringo.com/239/239210952RL547604968.jpg

http://photo.ringo.com/239/239210954RL799898655.jpg