Too Much Lighting?

[tunerhead24]

Im starting to wonder if the lighting setup i have is too much for my plants and causing algae growth. The lighting fixture i have is 2 x 65W bulbs SmartPaq 10,000K/460nm half white and half acentic. The plants i have are dwarf sags, crypt balansae, java moss , java fern, banana plant, amazon swords and Ludwigia repens. I start injecting co2 at 5 in the morning 3 hours before light come on at 8 in the morning. My light on time is 8-1 off for 2 hours and back on from 3-8. Is this setup ok? any suggestions?

 

[SuperColey1]

The short answer (you haven't given your tank size) is that no lighting causes algae growth. Failure to meet the CO2 and nutrient demands that the plants are wanting to grow at due to the lighting causes algae.

Therefore less light drives the plants slower and then nutrient and CO2 demand is lower and easier to achieve!!!

Need your tank size to really gauge your situation and give any recommendations

plus what your plantmass is like (% of substrate planted), fert regime used etc.

I would stop doing the siesta and just run the lights for 8 hours straight through. I have mine come on at 3pm so that when I come home from work (I am out of work at the mo) then I can watch the tank all through the evening/night.

AC

 

[tunerhead24]

oh sorry about that, my tank size is 55 gal with 2 inches of eco- complete substrate, i ordered a 500ml bottle of tropica plant nutrition it still hasnt arrived. The plants and co2 have only been set up for about a week.

 

[Paavn]

do 30% water changes and don't add and fertz or co2 for a week and cut back on the lighting, your plants will settle in better. then after the week is done you can go back to your normal cycle and your plants should out compete the algae for nutrients

hope this works for you. its what i do every time i set up a new tank and has always worked for me

 

[tunerhead24]

do 30% water changes and don't add and fertz or co2 for a week and cut back on the lighting, your plants will settle in better. then after the week is done you can go back to your normal cycle and your plants should out compete the algae for nutrients

hope this works for you. its what i do every time i set up a new tank and has always worked for me

do the 30% water change daily for a week? I bought some cherry red shrimp to help out.....

 

[Truck]

you should dose high CO2 and ferts to settle the plants in or youll get algae.

 

[tunerhead24]

I'm a little confused now, you guys are contradicting each other.........

 

[Truck]

1.if you start with high light and dont dose nutrients, the plants cant grow due to the high light and lack of nutrients so cannot settle, in
2.there is no need to do water changes all the time unless fish in cycling, i havent and the only algae i get is brown algae, and that is common in a new tank because of slilicates leaking into the water from the silicon.
3.if you dose high CO2 and ferts from the start the plants will have a better settling in period.


oh yeh an worldwide myth-excess nutrients DO NOT cause algae lol.

 

[tunerhead24]

i guess my error was not dosing ferts right away, i ordered the tropica nutrition 500 ml bottle, is that enough or do i need more??

 

[Truck]

thats enough, are you adding CO2 in the form of easy carbo/excel? or pressurized/DIY?

and is it plant nutrition +?

 

[SuperColey1]

Now now Jack - getting carried away a little.

Its not an American myth, it is a worldwide myth that many bought into. Just you see it from more Americans because the hobby is so popular in America and therefore there are more Americans in the hobby that will think it is true. Same percentage as most other countries

Water changes are a good thing in the initial setup of a tank because they remove ammonia and algae spores and therefore help in the initial fight against algae. I don't do them because I am lazy and not bothered about getting a bit of algae to begin with but then I am pretty experienced at getting rid of it just as quickly

When you start the tank you should try and use less light and increase it gradually, either by using less tubes or in your case using less hours. Therefore start at 6 hours and gradually increase it weekly by half an hour until you get to 8 hours. If you choose to go up to 9/10 is up to you.

This will let the plants settle into a rythmn and grow to the light available whilst not giving to much light for algae

Inject CO2 and add ferts from the start but keep an eye on the DC and fish. The plants will gradually use more and more CO2.

AC

 

[Truck]

Lol edited

 

[tunerhead24]

thats enough, are you adding CO2 in the form of easy carbo/excel? or pressurized/DIY?

and is it plant nutrition +?

I have a pressurized co2 and the fertz is tropica plant nutrition +. Thing is that it hasn't arrived yet, I ordered it like a week ago! I noticed another error I made, leaving the lights on for too long. I'm going to do what AC suggested start with 6 hours and work my way up. I'll keep you guys posted.