Lights?

[bally]

Hi everyone

I have a juwel 180, and have been experiancing problems with BBA. Looking over the possible causes i see that light can be an issue. My tank is not directly in sun light, the artifical lamps come on for about 5 hours a day. Would this be considered a high lighted tanked tank or low?

Also i really like the Blue moonlight tubes you can buy, if i was to replace one of my tubes how would it effect the plants and fishes. ( think theses are mainly for marine tanks)

I think the tank currently is supplied with 2 45 watt high lite day tubes

thank you

 

[Tonyb111111]

Hi, is your tank planted, and if so how densely. You are currently running about 2wpg on the lighting with t5's if the tank is newish, so this is not a low light tank and you should be using ferts. I have had the same issue in the past and what cured it for me was fertilising the plants to encourage better growth and therefore taking away the nutrients from the algae. I also had a very high phosphate level, about 5 ppm, which I reduced to 0.5 ppm, enough for the plants but no more. I don't believe a 5 hr photoperiod alone will be causing the algae. Try Not to go down the algae control meds route, as you need to sort out the root cause and rectify. It may take time to get the balance right.

Regarding the lighting, I think these days the lighting set up in a decent tank, which Juwel is, are generally set up right for the tank, so best to leave alone. If you want night time lights there are a lot of cheap options to chose from, to add as additional lighting

Tony

 

[bally]

thank you tony

its not really dense,i have some plants i am trying to grow and make the tank more dense. I currently use flouish excel to remove the BBA which worked well last time. I have started dosing with a fert called AQUARIUM PLANTS FERT MIX POWDER, which i bought from ebay called greenlow


http/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/280651041812?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649


i had hope that would encourage plant growth but it doesnt seem to do much, can you recommened anything

 

[KkAaNnEe]

In all honesty, if you are not committed to a high tech tank its gonna be trouble. I had the exact same problem

I eventually upgraded to a rio 300 which came with t8s and i havent looked back, i can run my lights for 8hrs, dont get the ridiculous amount of bba and diatoms I used to, everything is easier to maintain

You could sell your t5 fixture as they are in demand and purchase the t8 version if you find no other solution

 

[bally]

In all honesty, if you are not committed to a high tech tank its gonna be trouble. I had the exact same problem

I eventually upgraded to a rio 300 which came with t8s and i havent looked back, i can run my lights for 8hrs, dont get the ridiculous amount of bba and diatoms I used to, everything is easier to maintain

You could sell your t5 fixture as they are in demand and purchase the t8 version if you find no other solution

What do you class as a hi tech tanK?

 

[KkAaNnEe]

A high tech tank would be high lighting (as you have) + added fertilisation and co2

 

[bally]

A high tech tank would be high lighting (as you have) + added fertilisation and co2

ahh right thanks

 

[Tonyb111111]

thank you tony

its not really dense,i have some plants i am trying to grow and make the tank more dense. I currently use flouish excel to remove the BBA which worked well last time. I have started dosing with a fert called AQUARIUM PLANTS FERT MIX POWDER, which i bought from ebay called greenlow


http/www.ebay.co.u...984.m1423.l2649


i had hope that would encourage plant growth but it doesnt seem to do much, can you recommened anything

I have just read about this product, it is a micro and macro Nutrient powder which I don't think you need in your set up, because you are not using compressed CO2 and are not that heavily planted. It may be possible that you have too much fert in there causing the algae and not enough light. Having said that, if you start increasing your photoperiod you are well on the way to a high tech tank and will probably need to start compressed CO2 to balance it all out. I would initially change ferts to micro nutrients only eg TPN (not +) pr Profito, and see how this goes. What is your stocking level and water parameters as adding the macro nutrients will increase your nitrates