BBA problem

[Tropical Tony]

On the light, the white alone is ideal. I would turn the RBG unit off if you can, and keep the white. I would increase the duration to 7 hours, and use the fertilizer so things are more likely balanced. The better light and some nutrients may do the job here.

As for the fertilizer, do not use the Tropica. From the ingredients it will encourage problem algae, and interestingly they even say that in the description on their web site. Nitrogen and phosphorus are the real culprits here, as they obviously know. Do not use it.

As for the "aquadip plant food" I cannot find this on line so no idea what it is. I would be very wary to use it though. A small bottle of the TNC Lite will I can all but guarantee make a difference here.

So do you think I should get rid of the plant light? If so what is the actual point in the plant light? If I did that could I get a second white light?

 

[kiko]

do you have a flow/wave maker? and as you're using co2...do you have an actual ph controller?
do you have root tabs in the substrate?

 

[Byron]

So do you think I should get rid of the plant light? If so what is the actual point in the plant light? If I did that could I get a second white light?

I assume you can turn it off (or take it off), and I woould go with just the white, at 7 hour4s, maybe 8. You are trying to reestablish the light/nutrient balance to improve the plants and thwart this algae. As for the second white, I don't know because we don't know the outcome of these changes yet.

The RGB light is theoretically plant light, but it depends upon the light. The white light at 6500K is good plant light because it is high in the red, blue and green. Of course not all "white" light is the same. I am suggesting you go with this light for a time, and see the results. I should also say that the aim in all this is to stop the BBA from increasing, not make what is already there disappear. If it does not increase over a period of weeks, then months, you will know the balance is pretty good. I have no idea as to the intensity of the white, but from everything in this thread I am thinking it may be OK.

 

[Tropical Tony]

do you have a flow/wave maker? and as you're using co2...do you have an actual ph controller?
do you have root tabs in the substrate?

Hey. No I don’t have a wave maker in there just an external filter. I think the flow rate is 1400lph. No no PH controller. The substrate is tropica soil.

 

[Alice B]

What do you do if you cant ONLY have the white lights on? Like mine has white but it also has blue and red that is on with the white...

Do you have a Blue Green Algae problem?

 

[seangee]

IMO planted tanks are completely different to fish tanks with plants. Once you start getting into co2, high intensity lighting, ferts etc. it becomes hard work with constant testing and adjusting. That is why I have stuck with low tech, low light and easy plants. The system tends to be much more resilient that way.

 

[Rocky998]

Do you have a Blue Green Algae problem?

Yes

 

[Byron]

Just to clear up any possible confusion, the issue with the OP is black brush algae, BBA. The blue green algae (BGA) is cyanobacteria. My posts have been trying to help with the BBA. Two different issues.

 

[Alice B]

I wondered why it was BBA and not BGA. Just to clear up my "helpful" post, I had BGA

 

[Stan510]

You might add iron and that might make the plants more resistant to the algae. Seachem for most people is best since you don't need very much for the average aquarium with a light load of fish.
That aquarium looks nice,I wouldn't get too drastic on it. Tweaks.

 

[kiko]

oks...from what I can see you have a few different problems and have to address each of them to fix your tank as a whole...
1. flow...you have a 1500Lph on a 150L tank which is 9.3x turnover per hour...as I've mentioned before in algae threads...flow = algae....more flow = more algae
some people will recommend 5x turnover..I recommend 2x...even 1x during problems such as these...
flow it's nice and cool to have so it can add some movement to the water...you can achieve the same movement with a 1x turnover and nozzles
something like this

and then your nozzles attached to it and point them at wherever you want to see movement...
filtration doesn't need a 9x turnover in a 39gal tank, use things like filter floss for better water not increased flow

2. co2...I'm assuming you have harder water being from england and using co2 to lower ph...which is a no no...and you also don't have a controller which will make the ph swing up/down all the time...and adjusting it with a bubble counter and checking ph daily doesn't account for lights off. I would not advise anyone to use co2 to correct a swing higher than .5 because it'll just be a waste of co2 and you can't account for lost pressure and you'll have to keep adjusting the bubble counter...trust me on this...get a co2 controller...they go for around 100$ on aliexpress with dual tds/ph controllers and will make your life 10x easier
these swings alone will make your water parameters unpredictable and again...algae likes imbalance
test your water...ph/gh/kh they're interlaced with each other...harder water = higher ph I'm sure you have a way to test ph on the go as you're using co2...
grab a glass of water when you get home from work leave it overnight and check the ph the next day...if it's over .5 of what you're trying to aim for...
then you should definitely think about using a premix with RO/distilled+tap water when doing water changes to lower the hardness/ph to within that .5 range
I do use co2 with a tds/ph controller my water changes are done at 400ppm tds with top-offs in between and the filter floss switched and sponges washed on the sink once it reaches the 400ppm mark
sometimes it's a week...sometimes 2 weeks..sometimes a month...but only when it reaches 400 is when I actually do a water change my water changes are about 15-20%
my last water change was 3 weeks ago and my controller reads 352 right now and needs another top-off which will more than likely drag this water change to more than a month
which makes me very happy as it's less work for me xD

3. liquid ferts...I haven't met one person yet that doesn't overdose ferts in their tanks because x/y/z plant didn't look so good so let's add a little more
guess what? you're feeding the monster! excess nutrients/minerals contributes to algae growth and it's one of the most common reasons alone for algae blooms

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now looking at this as an outsider....you have excess flow which increases flow/oxygen like crazy...co2 to bring ph down from the excess oxygen and more than likely having hard-water
these 2 alone are fighting each-other...then ferts ferts ferts...
my advice? stop focusing on the lights...cheap lights...expensive lights..pink/blue/yellow..who cares...you can go to the dollar store and grab a washroom bulb and it'll do just fine
reduce the flow to a 2x turnover MAX
get a co2 controller to have stable parameters or get rid of the co2...want to adjust water parameters? co2 controller or RO/distilled premixed in a bucket
forget adjusting by eye with bubble counters and daily testing...it just doesn't work no matter how hard you try
----------> stop using liquid ferts <----------------
get root tabs and as you have a heavily planted tank use 1.5tabs for each 10gallons your tank is close to 40gal so start with 6 tabs...if you plants melt a bit add 1 more (once every 2 weeks)
until your plants are doing ok...keep track of how many you've used in total...and in 6 months from the last one you added...use the same amount of tabs
your ferts are now done once every 6 months instead of daily/every other day
now for cleanup crew...and many people will say don't add fish to fix a problem...honestly...I say DO IT because it just simply works
1 amano shrimp for each 10gals which makes 4 total for you...
1 hillstream loach for each 20gal which makes 2 total
and 2 dwarf bristlenose plecos like the the L144
don't expect to add these fish and they'll clean up your tank..they will help for certain but if you don't fix your other problems..don't expect miracles

 

[Essjay]

I'm assuming you have harder water being from england.......

The OP lives in Liverpool so he has soft water. Not everywhere in England has hard water, only certain regions do; the rest of us have soft water.

....and using co2 to lower ph.

He is using CO2 as he has a planted tank and the CO2 is for the plants.

 

[Alice B]

Very interesting. especially on the fertilizers. Well I don't do weekly water changes on my bigger tanks either. I do when it looks like it needs a water change, ph drops or monthly. I'm not using CO2, if pH drops it's due to those fishes breathing and excreting. And I fertilize after my water change, using the root tabs for crypts and a mineral mix I got from StevenF. I do more frequent water changes on my 10s - about weekly, but I don't fertilize them. I think each one has a small anubias if anything below the surface, and a few frogbit. Frogbit choke out lower plants anyway by stealing all the nutrients, so why bother. I am a fishkeeper not a plant keeper, but I don't have BBA. I have in the past, and there may be some in the hex from a past time but it's like on the pump and not growing

 

[Tropical Tony]

Thanks for the replies guys. I think I’m going to turn the rgb light off for 2 weeks and increase the white light for a couple of hours and see if I notice any change. Plant tabs sound like a good idea will these feed the water column?

The flow comment is quite interesting I was always under the impression you needed 7-10x flow rate. I can turn the flow down a bit but even with the flow rate being as high as it isI do get some stagnant patches of water the surface. Will this be more of a problem if I reduce the flow rate?

Thanks

 

[Byron]

Plant tabs sound like a good idea will these feed the water column?

If they are Seachem's Flourish Tabs, no they will not get into the upper water column. They only feed substrate-rooted plants. I do not know how Seachem did this, but from everything I have read, and my own experience over 12 years using them, this at least is an accurate claim. There may be other similar brands, I only know these do work.