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I have a 120 gallon planted tank. It has been running for 3 years. It is moderately planted and the plants are growing well. The tank is over stocked with fish and I feed to much. The main problem I am having is black, dirty algae on plants and rocks plus green algae on the glass. I have been running an automatic CO2 system for three months but I had this problem prior to the CO2. I had hoped the Co2 would correct it.

Here are the tank readings and info.
Lighting - 130 watts 6700K lighting from 9am to 12 noon, 260 watts from 12noon to 7pm, 130 watts from 7pm to 9pm
pH 6.6
Temp 76.1
KH 2
GH 4
Conductivity 315
Ammonio 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 20
Phosphates .4

Note: I use baking soda to bring up my KH. After testing I added 1/2 tsp and the pH went up to 6.75. I usually need to add 1 1/2 tsp with each water change to bring the KH to 3

The tank is filtered with an Eheim 2128 and a Magnum 350 with the bio wheels. I run the CO2 system through the Magnum and I have a valve on the bio wheel hose the slow the water flow to the wheel to the bare minimum.

I used to feed the plants but I stopped cause I thought I may have been overdoing it. The plants have not had suppliments in a month. This is what I gave the plants prior:
Feeding the plants, I use Plantabbs. One per 5 gallon, as directed. Suppose to add every 10 days but I always forget so it's more like once every three weeks, just being honest.
The plantabbs are:
11% total Nitrogen (N)
4.9% Ammoniacal Nitrogen
6.1% Nitrate Nitrogen
15% Available Phosphoric Acis (P2O5)
10% Soluable Potash (K2O)

I will add the stocking of this tank, don't yell at me, it has always been heavily stocked and the majority of these fish have been in here since the start of the tank
5 Clown Loaches
3 Weather Loaches (soon to be moved to my 180 gallon tank - too big and they up-root all the plants)
9 Dwarf Neon Rainbows
4 Celebrese Rainbows
pair of Pearl Guaramis
8" female Snakeskin Guarami
male Thick Lipped Guarami
Bristlenose
7 SAE'a
6 Ottos
2 pair Bolivian Rams
5 Cherry Barbs
19 small Tetras (skirts, phantoms and the sort)

I'm about ready to remove all the plants and start from scratch. I wish I knew the names of all the plants but I do have a Sword that takes up half the tank plus a bunch of stem plants that I need to trim every week. I have two anibus plants and much more. Also of note, some of the largest leaves on the Sword has gotten holes in them. I'm going to remove them. The inside, newer leaves look good.

Hope someone can advise, I have pics but unfortanately I can't post them hear.

Last edited by spyder at 02-Jul-2005 07:56

Spyder

First off, I'm not going to yell at you about stocking - but only because your nitrates seem to be under control.

Lets see - algae forms when there is an imbalance between lights, CO2, and nutrients. Let's start with light: you have about 1wpg for half your lighting period and about 2wpg during the other half. Staggering your light can be good to simulate the natural "noon high", but you are sacrificing half of your light to do this, when your plants will use more light to grow faster due to the CO2. I'd leave all your lights on for about 11 hours a day. If your plants aren't allowed to grow, algae can get a foothold.

Now the CO2: from your measurements of 3 KH and pH of 6.75(Baking soda has no effect on the ammount of CO2 in the water) I take your CO2 levels to be about 16ppm. IME plants do the best (and algae does the worst) at about 25 ppm of CO2, and I would try to lower your pH to 6.6 by increasing the amount of CO2 delivered into your tank, if it's at all possible.

And the nutrients: Your macronutrients look good (nitrate and Po4). In a medium light tank with CO2, even with a large fishload, it's probable that your plants will use up the micronutrients in your tap. So dosing micronutrients may become necessary. Those planttabbs don't seem to provide any micronutrients for your plants, just more nitrogen and phosphorus - you need a product like Kent freshwater, Tropica master grow, or seachem's flourish line. You can also use root tabs, but make sure they contain micro nutrients like Iron, copper, potassium and so on. If you think you might have overdone it last time, you can start small and work your way up to see what your plants will use. Just check for signs of yellowing leaves, tiny pinprick holes and the like for too little, and things like algae growth for too much.

That being said, I've done a whole tank redo and you can see how it's turned out [link=here]http:// www.fishprofiles.com/files/forums/Planted%20Aquaria/52902.html" style="COLOR: #FFFF00[/link]. Just make sure that when you replant your tank that you go all out and buy all your plants at once, with lots of fast growers, or you'll end up with algae again.

[link=Tropica]http://www.tropica.com" style="COLOR: #FFFF00[/link] is a great place to do some research on your plants. If you decide not to start over, I'd increase your plant stock with some fast growing stem plants if it's at all possible.

Hope this helps,
Matt

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

The ammonical nitrogen=> NH4
That will induce algae real good.
That's what we use to starter algae cultures.
Vacuum those out of there.

CO2, the poster already suggested an issue with that, BBA is always a CO2 issue, you do not have enough.
Shoot for at least 30ppm.

Trim off the BBA in the tank after you correct this. Do this in stages, trim off a few leaves at a time, don;t hack them all off at once, do this each eeek till 3-6 weeks, you are BBA free.

The BBA will not grow once you add enough CO2.
From there you have it licked.

Lighting is fine, adding more without addressing the CO2 will make the BBA even worse.

Regards,
Tom Barr

www.BarrReport.com