knew this was going to happen

[Dominick]

well iv had my 80 gal going for a few months now fully fishless cycle
its somewhat stocked with plants there all small plants but i know the
light that came with the tank wasent going to be enough so i built
myself a 4x 96 watt PC light and OMG almost blinded myself the first time i turned it on very happy with it

anyways recently it has begun to grow algae on the glass i have MTS and some other common snail "was a hitchhiker" and now i have allot of snails
there going to town on this stuff but cant clean it up fastenough
would like 2 mystery snails and a pleco do the job?

id rather get something that could eat this rather than scraping it off and letting that nice food go to waist lol besides i only have 6 neons in there right now they seem very happy tho i know they will be happier when i put there heater in

speaking of heater neons, guppies some ghost shrimp, maybe male and female GBRs will all these fish tolerate a temp of about 82 deg?
because i live here in AZ and thats about where the tank hovers during lights on but really drops at night so i figure id put a heater in at about 80 - 82

thanks in advance

 

[Wood_Dog]

You just jumped into the deep end I think LOL. Those lights put you at nearly 5 WPG...which is very high light. At that high light you will need lots of fast growing plants,CO2 and a dosing schedule or you will always battle with algae. I dont think snails, plecos or anything else will solve the problem...they may help short term, but the algae will grow quicker than they can eat it.

 

[ringfinger]

You might consider just running half your lights for a few months until you can get things balanced and under control. Then after the tank matures you can bump the light up. Even with just half your lights being used you should really look into adding Co2.

A fan circulating air behind the tank or between the light and top should help you drop a couple degrees during daylight hours.

 

[sherry]

for algae on the glass I use olive nerites. they never let me down. Also it sounds like you need ot balance your ferts too. lots of algae can mean too little or too much of something..

 

[Dominick]

must be to little because i have owned other tanks but never one
with this many real plants and never one with this bright of light
but the plants are very beautiful green and now that i am using this light
there kinda growing really really fast.

so anyways i planned on getting co2 might have to go with a DIY for the
time being i know that dose not give me very much co2
plus iv never dosed lol what should i be dosing and how often?

 

[Purrbox]

I recommend that you read the stickies at the top of the forum on CO2 and fertilization. These will give you a good start on the information you're looking for. Post back if you still have questions.

 

[Dominick]

Ok thanks reading up on all of that now.
But my other question hasent been answered as far as the fish

speaking of heater neons, guppies some ghost shrimp, maybe male and female GBRs will all these fish tolerate a temp of about 82 deg?
because i live here in AZ and thats about where the tank hovers during lights on but really drops at night so i figure id put a heater in at about 80 - 82

*Edit*
well i read the sticky tho not sure what exacticly i need
right at the moment i do have something called flourish "iron" by seachem
i looked at that site in the sticky seen a few things to chose from
do i need them all?

thanks

 

[Dominick]

anyone?

 

[JRagg]

I’m guessing you’re talking about ferts. You’ll need a few different ones from GregWatson (once again, assuming talking about ferts).

K2SO4 – for dosing Potassium
KNO3 – for dosing Nitrates (since you probably won’t have enough bioload with that high of light to keep nitrates from bottoming out)
KPO2 – for dosing Phosphates
CSM-B – for micronutrients

Getting 1lb of each of those will cost you less than $20 with shipping and will last you until the day after forever. Dry ferts really are the way to go.

I’d also think about getting the dosing bottles available on his site as well. I wish I had bought them, but I don’t want to pay shipping just for those.

 

[Purrbox]

A good Trace/Micro Fert contains plenty of Iron, there's really no reason to dose Iron separately.

Here's a few more articles that cover fertilization which will hopefully help clear things up some.

So You Want a Planted Aquarium - Purrbox The third page covers fertilizers
When and How to add nutrients/fertilizers to your tank - Steve Hampton

In a high light tank you are going to need the three macro nutrients Nitrate, Phosphate, Potassium, and a good Trace/Micro mix. For your size tank dry ferts from Greg Watson are definately the way to go. Anything else is going to be extremely expensive fast. JRagg is right on as far as which ferts to order from him.

 

[Wood_Dog]

A good Trace/Micro Fert contains plenty of Iron, there's really no reason to dose Iron separately.

So Purrbox, I've started using Seachems Flourish Iron. Are you saying this product shouldnt be used or am I misunderstanding your post?

 

[Dominick]

ok ty verry much for clearing that up
now the dosing bottles 4 ounce bottle or 8 ounce bottle?

 

[Purrbox]

A good Trace/Micro Fert contains plenty of Iron, there's really no reason to dose Iron separately.

So Purrbox, I've started using Seachems Flourish Iron. Are you saying this product shouldnt be used or am I misunderstanding your post?

It's not that it shouldn't be used, but rather in most cases it isn't necessary. About the only time that you would want a separate fert with just fe, would be when you get to the more advanced levels and are experimenting with things like Nitrate limitation to bring out the reds in plants. I have yet to figure out why the LFS only seem carry trace mixes and fe.

 

[rich311k]

Dominick, the fish you mention will be fine with those temperatures. The rams like it warmer anyway.

With the size tank you have you will probably want to mix up as large a bottle as you can easily handle.

DIY CO2 supplemented with some excel may do wonders for your growth. But plan on a pressurized system as soon as you can.

 

[Dominick]

yeah i knew i was going to need a pressurized system just dont know when ill be able to save up the money for it

 

[Dominick]

Well i ordered all the ferts i hope i got all that i needed
My algae is out of control looks like 3 deferent types not sure tho

 

[Wood_Dog]

Did you decide to try CO2...even if it's only DIY ?

 

[Dominick]

that is next on my list only problem im having is the bottles
we dont have any right now also where to get thes little things i saw
they have threads on one side that would go in the bottle
and the other is perfect for attaching the air hose anyone know where i can get thes?

 

[JRagg]

I'm not sure where to get those, but you don't really need them.

I drilled holes into the lids of my bottles, stuck the tubing in, and just gummed it up with silicone. Let the silicone dry for 24 hours, and you've got a really good seal. I haven't had any leaks so far. It's not as pretty as the screw on things, but if you've got silicone already, it works very well.

 

[Dominick]

ok kool now just gota get the bottles :/