Preventing double mistakes?

[Scott1980]

Hey folks,

I just spent a couple of hours scrubbing my tank to death, because of an out of control algae. Hair, slimy, on glass, you name it I had it. There was even algae rooting itself into the gravel. It's a 20 Gallon High with a AH supply 55 Watts on top. That puts me right at 2.75 [acronym:a14974a7e2="Watts Per Gallon"]wpg[/acronym:a14974a7e2]. I'm running all low light plants. I'm not using ferts. I run a [acronym:a14974a7e2="Do it yourself"]DIY[/acronym:a14974a7e2] [acronym:a14974a7e2="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:a14974a7e2] out of a 1.8 Liter bottle. Anyway I just scrubbed my tank to death, just so it looked reasonalbe again. What can I do to keep this problem from occuring again? I don't have a testing kit of nitrates/ phosphates etc. If it's recommended, I'll cough up the money for it right now. Anyhow, the other questions is, How long should I leave my light on per day? What kind of algae eaters will fit into a 20 gallon that won't screw up the bio load. Thanks, hoping to learn something from this. I really really don't want to use chemicals.

[czcz]

Do you have kH and pH tests to know [acronym:0e2e0c5077="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:0e2e0c5077] [acronym:0e2e0c5077="Parts per Million"]ppm[/acronym:0e2e0c5077]? What are the measurements? At high light planted [acronym:0e2e0c5077="Nitrate"]NO3[/acronym:0e2e0c5077] and [acronym:0e2e0c5077="Phosphate"]PO4[/acronym:0e2e0c5077] tests will only help, especially since you have lots of different types of algae causing issues. Chuck Gadd has good reference: http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_algae.htm -- from hair (is it BBA?) and slimy (BGA?) it appears you have a certain [acronym:0e2e0c5077="Nitrate"]NO3[/acronym:0e2e0c5077] related problem, so you'll probably need to start dosing macros (Chuck Gadd's site has lots of indicator references, if you haven't read through it already) so plants outcompete algae. Dosing [acronym:0e2e0c5077="Kelvin or Potassium, depending on context"]K[/acronym:0e2e0c5077], [acronym:0e2e0c5077="Nitrate"]NO3[/acronym:0e2e0c5077], etc isn't really using chemicals [acronym:0e2e0c5077="in my opinion"]imo[/acronym:0e2e0c5077], but adding nutrients plants need.

Consider otocinclus, algae eating shrimp, nerite snails for crew. There is a hair algae thread below this one that should help, too.

(No experience with nerite, but want one. [acronym:0e2e0c5077="In My Experience"]ime[/acronym:0e2e0c5077] otos plus cherry and amano shrimp are a great crew for all but hair algae, which I try to keep in check with malkore/travis's recommended 10-15:1 [acronym:0e2e0c5077="Nitrate"]NO3[/acronym:0e2e0c5077] : [acronym:0e2e0c5077="Phosphate"]PO4[/acronym:0e2e0c5077] ratio.)

[Scott1980]

I read that article you posted, very interesting. I actaully re read it about 4 times. I took a few measurements. I tested my Nitrate/Nitrites with the Juncle Test Strips which were really hard to read since for Nitrate the options were 0 [acronym:9f7b8a9c84="Parts per Million"]ppm[/acronym:9f7b8a9c84] or 20 [acronym:9f7b8a9c84="Parts per Million"]ppm[/acronym:9f7b8a9c84]. I guessed it to be 5 [acronym:9f7b8a9c84="Parts per Million"]ppm[/acronym:9f7b8a9c84] - 10 [acronym:9f7b8a9c84="Parts per Million"]ppm[/acronym:9f7b8a9c84], but it was really hard to read. My [acronym:9f7b8a9c84="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]PH[/acronym:9f7b8a9c84] which was done with some brand I can't remember came out as 6.6. I'm going to try and take the water to a [acronym:9f7b8a9c84="Local Fish Store"]lfs[/acronym:9f7b8a9c84] this weekend and see if they'll give it a more extensive reading. Can you re clarify how I measure my [acronym:9f7b8a9c84="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:9f7b8a9c84]?

[SteveM]

Originally Posted by Scott1980

Can you re clarify how I measure my [acronym:60be66d7c5="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:60be66d7c5]?

http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_co2chart.htm

[BASSNMAN]

Phosphates are often the culprit. Get a test kit.