lights off to reduce algie...do u do this?

[grantbudd74]

HI there all

Having read a few posts that people say I give my fisha break or my co2 a break etc by turning off the lights for an hour during the light period to also help reduce algie..

Does anyone here have a bit of dark time during your 8hr ++ lighting period and if so why? Any better results with fish or plants? Do tell.

THanks

[yikesjason]

I use the siesta method. Mostly I do it because I want to see my tank when I am at home in the morning and the evening. If I left the lights on the whole time in between, I would really run into trouble.

[rich815]

Actually in my experience this has increased algae in my aquairums, particularly BBA, which loves inconsistent CO2 levels....

The best way to reduce algae (other than to have your plants thrive the most!) is to keep levels more moderate (2-3 wpg vs. 4+) and the entire photoperiod lower (like 8-9 hours vs. 12 hours)

[Consigliere]

What type of algae are you seeing? The type will depend on how you approach it.

The use of split photo period is debated in sucess. For some it works and for others it doesn't.

The real thing you should be doing is determining the root cause of the algae. Is your CO2 level high enough? Is it consistent throughout the lights on time? Are you fertilizing too much/little? Is one nutrient out of balance? These are the questions to be asking and finding out the answers. Post more details and you may be able to get it sorted out.

[grantbudd74]

ok good info so far: Ok my tank is a 6x2x2 and I have 2 x 4ft units HO T5 which is nearly 100w each and a HO T5 3 ft unit. All are power glo units I think the 3 footer runs about 70w in total. So plus minus 270w total. Photo period is 8 hrs ish. Lights come on in 10 min stages to relax the fish a little bit. Co2 is on for entire photo period then an air stone kicks in. Plant load is swords mainly and not too heavy ill post a pic. Water temp is 29C fish load is low with 8 babies, 18 tetras, 2 Bn and 2 c loaches. and I run a ehiem pro 3 with a UV for 4 hrs or so...

Dosing ferts is the problem...I have the flourish range in potassium, nitrogen, excel, flourish, micro fert and thats about it Oh and iron.

I only dose according to the instructions but it says at signs of yellowing add this or that. Well all plants start off yellow when not happy so its hard to try and find out what is lacking without test kits. I never seam to be able to keep my iron up unless I dump the whole bottle in which I am not about to do. I just add a bit with each water change.. Only doing 20l a day at the moment, but will do 10% one day when I have my sump ready and my adult discus out of my 200l. I think they are a pair yet they fight so much! female is obvious and the male did a dnace a few weeks ago but now they fight! Oh well.

More advice is welcomed thanks guys n gals.

[calihawker]

If you ask the hardcore planted tank guys they will tell you algae is a c02 issue almost always. It's very hard to measure and most people tend to be too conservative. Check out the Barr Report.

http://www.barrreport.com/

Here's a chart that shows symptoms of nutrient defficiency. There's also a calculator for dosing specific ferts.

http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_nutrient.htm

Yellowing is a potassium deficiency, probably the most common, but again it's not gonna help to have enough of one thing and too little of another and IMHO it's always c02.


HTH!

[grantbudd74]

thanks for all the info. I have noticed that I now have BBA the BLack stuff growing on my driftwood in big patches, Its not really reached the plants yet. This is new and I think its due to the fact that every hour I would have a power head come on for 10 mins to kick things up and increase water flow. Well I had a few issues with the timer and stopped doing this and I think this is why as the tank water flow is quite low given its 6 ft long.

Chukks page sure helps thanks for that. On a more positive note I have baby corries and Bristlenose cats swimming about so conditions mush be good... :-)
The Discus pair that may be a pair don't stop fighting! I guess that's fish for ya?

Thanks guys

grant

[Disgirl]

Hi Grant, I have just made a BBA discovery and want to share it. For years I have had BBA in my angelfish tank on some plants but mostly on the wood and rocks. I did infrequent wc's, maybe once every 6 wks or so and the fish and plants grew well. But recently I have upped my wc's since I do 50% everyday on my discus tank. And I checked the nitrate on the angel tank and it was over 60. But after bringing it down to about 20 or less with the more frequent wc's I do now the BBA is dying off and no new BBA is starting! I think it grows in tanks with high nitrate! I use no CO2 or anything, not even fertilizer. Just fish and plants and gravel and rocks/wood. Just my observation here...
Barb:)

[Consigliere]

For CO2 even if you achieving a good concentration timing it exactly with the photoperiod is not ideal, especially if you are using an airstone which will agitate the surface a bit and off gas CO2. You should start your CO2 an hour or so prior to lights on so the plants can hit the ground running.

Saying the tank is low flow is also a major problem I would look at putting a powerhead in there to get good water flow to the plants. This is the only way to make sure they have all the nutrients on hand for them.

It does sound like you are not doing enough fertilizing as well. Google for Seachem product dosing schedule or calculator and you should come up with a good dosing plan for your tank.

My suggestion would be to add some root tabs to the substrate and go to 1/2 of the above dosing schedule for 2 weeks. Reduce your photoperiod to 6hrs for those 2 weeks and change CO2 timing as suggested and keep an eye on the algae situation. This should provide a good beat back of the algae and let you start the battle over again at a longer photoperiod. This strategy poses little risk to your fish and will help you get used to dosing the right amounts. You may find that CO2 is now a limitation to plant growth and you will have to up this to get rid of the algae. Some tanks you will constantly battle this balance, others not that much depending on many variables.