Algae Troubles

[black hills tj]

I have a 29g tank that i recently(about a month ago) added a 65w cf fixture to when I decided I wanted to try my hand at live plants. I have a small pleco(soon to be moved to my new 20g) and 2 golden algae eaters in there, and boy do i have an algae problem. I have green algae spots on all the glass, and my plants havewhat may be bba(not exactly sure). I don't really have a lighting schedule, turn em on when i get up(no earlier than 7am) and turn them off when i go to sleep. No CO2 and I don't plan on spending the money for it. The nearest window is a sliding glass door about 15 away from the front of the tank.

Any ideas on how to cure the problem here guys?

 

[rkilling1]

That is a lot of light to have over a 29 gallon tank without CO2. You may want to try and setup a DIY system of (2) or (3) 2 liter bottles.

Your lights should be on a timer set for a period of 8 to 10 hours.

Stuff your tank full of plants.

What ferts are you dosing?

Edit: After going through your tank log, I see you would have to make some major changes to go the CO2 route. You have a lot of surface agitation going on.

 

[black hills tj]

That is a lot of light to have over a 29 gallon tank without CO2. You may want to try and setup a DIY system of (2) or (3) 2 liter bottles.

Your lights should be on a timer set for a period of 8 to 10 hours.

Stuff your tank full of plants.

What ferts are you dosing?

Edit: After going through your tank log, I see you would have to make some major changes to go the CO2 route. You have a lot of surface agitation going on.

I've recently removed the air wand and the AC 50 is on my newly setup 20g So that reduced the surface agitation to just the air running through my activated carbon. I currently have a ton of hornwort and anacharis in there. As well as a single amazon sword that hasn't grown...AT ALL, but it hasn't died or anything.

I tried to put some riccia in there but it just aggrevated me because I couldn't get it to stay planted for the life of me so just yanked it.

Also...no ferts, trying to keep it low tech and cheap.

 

[Purrbox]

You really need to make a decision on whether you want a high light tank or a low tech tank. It's very difficult to have both. If you're absolutely opposed to ferts and CO2, then you're much better off cutting the light and sticking to less demanding plant species.

Either way, definately pick up a timer for your lights. At about $10 it's money well spent and your plants will thank you. This alone may help to reduce some of the problems your having, though I doubt that it will completely fix them.

 

[shayfish]

I agree with the timer suggestion. I expect you have the light on too long anyhow if it's coming on from 7am until you go to bed. More than 10 hours is a pretty good way to end up with algae issues. I would probably suggest 8.

If you don't want to get into ferts, maybe just bottle of Flourish Comprehensive? It's not too expensive, and provides some of the basics once or twice a week is good and will last for quite a while.

In any case, more than 2wpg is going to be tricky if you're not willing to go at least with some kind of dosing schedule.

 

[black hills tj]

Can you tell me a little more about the Flourish Comp. please?

 

[shayfish]

Flourish Comp is a trace fertilizer. It's not the answer to all of your problems but I expect it may be better than nothing. I use it in my planted tank which has just over 1.5 wpg and keep low-medium lights with good results. I sometimes do notice deficiencies that I know would be rectified with macro ferts. I used Flourish Potassium for a while in this tank when I saw signs of deficiency , which helped and I haven't had many troubles since.

http://www.seachem.com/products/product_pages/Flourish.html

I do really think you need to regulate or perhaps reduce your light more than anything though.

 

[black hills tj]

thanks for the info, i'll see if i can find any locally.