Too Much Light?

[372xp]

I have recently upgraded the lighting on my marine tank, so I had a spare TMC led 500 tile kicking about. I have put this on my fresh water planted tank. It is a small 35ltr tank that houses a male Betta. It is planted with saggitarius anubias vallis and ferns. Problem is it is now getting all covered in black hair algae.
Is this to do with the light (I no it is a marine tile) or the low flow rate (male Betta) or the fact that I am just frrtilizing but not adding CO2( I will be getting flourish excell today)?

 

[Lunar Jetman]

How long are you leaving the lights on for? 
 
If you add more light you'll also need to increase everything else.

 

[DrRob]

The simple answer is yes, it's too much light. As Lunar says, there's scope for going higher tech, but that's a hell of a lot of light for a 30 litre tank. Options would be to raise it higher, use a controller to dim it or to go back to a lower power light. Personally I think you'll struggle with a 500 over a 35 litre unless you're well into the high end of high tech with good flow and CO2 levels that the betta won't appreciate.

 

[372xp]

Thanks Rob, the lights on a controler for 8 hours. The LED isnt dimmable so I guess I am in the market for something else. Any Ideas of a decent LED set up for such a small tank?

 

[DrRob]

Which tank is it? There's a fair range of dimensions to the 35 litre ones, from cubes to rectangles, which limits lighting choices.

 

[dave840f1]

Use a diffuser to spread the light, this should work.

 

[372xp]

Its a clearseal pentagon tank. So it would have to be something that clips on the side. I dont have a lid on it as i prefer the clean lines of an all glass tank. I want something that will be good for plant growth and to display my bettas colours nicely.

 

[Ninjouzata]

Its a clearseal pentagon tank. So it would have to be something that clips on the side. I dont have a lid on it as i prefer the clean lines of an all glass tank. I want something that will be good for plant growth and to display my bettas colours nicely.

I'm sorry I can't help with lighting or anything but I just wanted to warn you that not having a lid with your betta is not a good idea. They are well known jumpers.

 

[372xp]

Its a clearseal pentagon tank. So it would have to be something that clips on the side. I dont have a lid on it as i prefer the clean lines of an all glass tank. I want something that will be good for plant growth and to display my bettas colours nicely.

I'm sorry I can't help with lighting or anything but I just wanted to warn you that not having a lid with your betta is not a good idea. They are well known jumpers.

When I say no lid this is what I mean.
It has the condensation cover on which will prevent any jumping. That being said I have never had a male jump, females on the other hand. I had one who used to wait till feeding time or a water change and would regularly take a leap of faith.

 

[Byron]

Another issue with no cover (not here, as you do have one in fact) with anabantids is they breathe air, and it is important to keep the air above the water warm and moist.  An open-top aquarium has issues no matter what, but with Betta and other anabantids this should never be done.  Cooler and dry air can cause problems for these fish.
 
I also noted you mentioned getting Excel.  I wouldn't.  You have Vallisneria, and Excel usually kills this plant outright.  It is, in my view which I admit not everyone shares, a dangerous toxin to be adding to an aquarium with living organisms, but I won't go into all that yet again.

 
And I agree with others that the algae issue is the light.  Increasing the intensity, or it may also have been partially a case of the spectrum, threw the balance between light and nutrients off, and in a planted tank this balance must be sufficient for the plants or algae will take advantage.  CO2 has less to do with it, though obviously that is a nutrient so it is a factor in the balance.  But I have had brush algae increase from lighting and fertilization, and I have had it disappear completely by adjusting the light and/or nutrients.
 
Byron.

 

[Lunar Jetman]

As Byron points out, Vallis doesn't really like any CO2 supplements so I'd avoid anything of that kind. What ferts are you adding? 
 
I think though, as has already been suggested, the problem you have is with lighting levels so it would be a good idea if you tried reducing the lighting to 5 hours for starters which may help but you probably need something a bit less powerful. 
 
Do you have any close up pictures of the algae? If it really is black it could be Staghorn algae which can also be caused by low flow rates.

 

[SO19Firearms]

And I agree with others that the algae issue is the light.  Increasing the intensity, or it may also have been partially a case of the spectrum, threw the balance between light and nutrients off, and in a planted tank this balance must be sufficient for the plants or algae will take advantage.  CO2 has less to do with it, though obviously that is a nutrient so it is a factor in the balance.  But I have had brush algae increase from lighting and fertilization, and I have had it disappear completely by adjusting the light and/or nutrients.

Everything to do with light and therefore CO2, very little to do with ferts and nowt to do with spectrums, amstrads or nintendo 64s.....

HTH

 

[Byron]

Everything to do with light and therefore CO2, very little to do with ferts and nowt to do with spectrums
 

 
This is somewhat of a contradictory statement within itself, as light includes spectrum and ferts includes CO2.
 
Aquatic plants require light and nutrients and these must be balanced--which involves both the balance between light and nutrients, and the balance among the nutrients themselves--or algae will have an advantage.  Light intensity, light spectrum, light duration, and 17 nutrients of which CO2 is but one all factor into this balance.  Aquatic plants will only photosynthesize if light is sufficient in intensity, and all 17 nutrients are present in sufficient quantity.  Provided this is met, photosynthesis will occur pretty much at maximum level, and algae will be disadvantaged, until the balance is no longer there.  As soon as one of these factors is insufficient, algae has the advantage.
 
I have had brush algae appear solely due to the increase in liquid fertilizer, and when this was decreased the algae stopped increasing.  Light and CO2 remained the same.  I agree that light is usually the cause for trouble algae, but that involves the balance with all nutrients not just CO2.
 
Byron.

 

[SO19Firearms]

Everything to do with light and therefore CO2, very little to do with ferts and nowt to do with spectrums

 
This is somewhat of a contradictory statement within itself, as light includes spectrum and ferts includes CO2.

Sry, I tend to simplify things too much.
Everything to do with light intensity and therefore CO2 uptake and very little to do with ferts of which CO2 I don't count - in much the same way as I don't count air as a food group (unless you're a super model and then it's a major one ranking above carbs)

BBA tends to be low or fluctuating CO2 - this can come in the forms of weird lighting routines / new lighting / Lighting too strong for the given CO2 levels / poor flow (including too strong) / power heads with timers / poor filter maintenance / increase in ferts leading to an increase in CO2 demand meaning overall CO2 reduction etc etc etc

Basically any way you can imagine a low or fluctuating CO2 situation to have occurred.

IMO.

 

[Byron]

I think we're largely saying much the same thing with different words.  But the stand-alone CO2 issue does still bother me somewhat.  I have an example from my own experience which I will share.
 
I have seven planted tanks that have identical light, plant fertiler additions, plant species and fish loads/feeding.  All receive a 50%+ water change once a week.  No CO2 addition either diffusion or chemical, so CO2 is solely natural from the biology and the dissolved CO2 in the water at water changes.
 
I have dealt with brush algae several times, and always managed to resolve the increase by either lessening the light, or the nutrient fertilization.  My 90g is ideally apropos.  I was dosing Flourish Comprehensive twice weekly in all tanks.  Only in the 90g did brush algae increase to the point that it was half covering all the sword plant leaves.  I decided to attack this via nutrients this time (previously, light duration had been adjusted in other tanks along with this one).  I reduced the fertilizer from twice to once weekly, and changed nothing else.  Within 2-3 weeks, I saw that the new leaves on the swords were not being attacked by the algae, so I continued, gradually removing the older algae-encrusted leaves until none were left.  After a couple months, I decided to up the nutrients to twice weekly doses, just to see if that had been the issue; within 2-3 weeks, back came the algae on every leaf.  I got rid of it once again by reducing the nutrients.
 
Obviously, nothing involving light or CO2 occurred here, it was solely the amount of nutrients being added to the tank.  The balance between light and all 17 nutrients was restored, and I have not had algae in this tank since, and we are now some 15 months later.
 
CO2 is just another plant nutrient, however one looks at it.  Aquatic plants need 17 nutrients, and carbon is a macro nutrient.  Most plants take this up as CO2 (a few like the mosses only use CO2), but there are some like Vallisneria that can use bicarbonates and this is likely part of the reason they occur and do so well in moderately hard to hard water.  But the carbon as CO2 must be considered in the balance of light and nutrients equally with everything else.
 
Byron.