Some advice on green spot algae and lighting my 92g

[candymancan]

Question for you guys, My 92G bowfront corner is having issues with green spot algae.. I seem to have it actually in most of my tanks, except my 55g tank, and my 55g tank is using 4x T5 Normal output lights, 2x 6500k and 2x colormax bulbs..

The 30g used to get it a lot when I was using an LED light, so I took that LED off and put a regular Duel T5 fixture over it and that helped but not 100%.. My 44g which I moved the LED fixture too is getting green spot algae go figure so I blame the LED...

However on my 92g as I said I have GSA and its effecting all of my plants, it doesn't really get on the glass at all, I never have to clean my glass.. But it does get on my substrate, and all the plants except my watersprite.. Its killing my plants in fact. I think the reason why it isn't on my glass is because of the position I have the lights.

Here is a picture of their positions. This is an older picture when I was setting the tank up so not many plants, its really grown out 100x now,

but this pic is just to show you the position I have the lighs.. They are front to back vs side to side. I am also using 4x Power Compact 65w bulbs.. 2 are duel 6500k lights, the other 2 are actinic lights.. And I use the blue because it really really make my discus show so much better.. However I figured it could be the blue actinic doing this.. So I turned those 2 PC's off and I was running 2x of the duel 6500k by themselves.. one on each corner to give even light in the tank (well cept the back was still dark)

But the GSA STILL grows with just the 6500k lights on.. So I dunno what to do.. Currently I took all the lights off, and I have only 1 of the 65w 6500k duel bulbs over the tank, its in the middle of the hood going left to right this time. It lights the tank up... ehh barely its pretty dim and looks like crap I don't really like it... But its the only thing I can think of to reduce the light output... I also have cut back my light period from like 12-13 hours to only 6-7 hours maybe... Which also really sucks, I turn the lights on at like 3pm and turn them off around 10 or 11pm when I go to bed and I hate that light cycle.


Is there no way to kill GSA and have a bright tank ? Or am I bound to suffer with 1 light on this massive tank and a low light period.. Heck I dunno if this will even work either. But the GSA is killing my anubias, my s repens that im trying to carpet, and its killing my red lotus and my telenthara reneki plant, and its smothering my aamazong swords.. The GSA gets so covered on my plants they just look like one big green algae carpet eventually... All those healthy S repens you see in that picture.. they are still there, but they are withered and covered in GSA

It must be the lighting, because it doesn't get on my glass like I said, the position of the lights in that picture, make the lighting go side to side, vs front to back and with that bow in the tank, the light doesn't touch the glass

 

[Mebbid]

Could you post a picture of the algae?

 

[candymancan]

This pic is the tank today, it looks nice, but up close all the leaf plants have that green spot algae that you see in the 2nd pic.. So I removed 3 of my power compacts today and im just using one of the 65w 6500k lights, just makes the tank very dim

 

[tiger terror]

I

This pic is the tank today, it looks nice, but up close all the leaf plants have that green spot algae that you see in the 2nd pic.. So I removed 3 of my power compacts today and im just using one of the 65w 6500k lights, just makes the tank very dim

Not uncommon for the anubias,maybe move it to a shady area of the tank? Seems like alot of light for the plant load...what ferts do you use&what's your carbon source?
I'd also recommend not exceeding 8hrs of lighting..
Timers for everything will help as you try to find the balance within the tank..MORE WATER COLUMN FEEDING PLANTS too...

sit in silence...

 

[candymancan]

Well I cut back the lighting, i took the actinics off even though i liked the way they colored the tank and i also doubled the dosing of ferts and i reduced the lighting to about 6-8 hours a day from 12 before. I also increased the water flow in the tank, i moved the spray bar for the eheim canister from being on the surface of the water.. To vertical (up down) on the front left corner of the tank this way it pushes the water in the tank top to bottom in a circular motion, and i moved the internal top fin 40 filter on the otherside of the tank and pointed the spray bar up and have it pushing against the glass somewhat which agitates the surface and also creates a counter clockwise water motion by bouncing off the glass. The water is moving in the tank much quicker now as before it was kinda just sitting there You can see how i positioned it in the picture below. And the green spot is disapearing quickly on all my plants. I can see green again on my S.repens. And the anubias is looking much better too. Id say in the week or two ive been doing this About 50-60% of the green spot algae is gone.


I dont use CO2 its a discus tank and i dont want to hurt them with lack of O2 in the tank, as for water colum feeding plants.. I mean the watersprite if you notice there is a ton of it in there... That plant i know grows like a weed and sucks nutrients from the water like crazy. So does the red lotus, in fact the red lotus is one plant in experience that really sucks nitrates like crazy, i can get a measurable reduction in nitrates with red lotus plants.


What plants do you recomend i get ? Currently i have Telethanra cardinalis , S. repens, a red lotus, water sprite, anubias broad leaf, smaller swords. If the s-repens fully recovers from being covered in green spot i plan to carpet it on the front in the bottom, the back of the tank i cant reach by hand because a 92g corner tank is soo deep and tall its impossible to reach even with my 6 foot frame standing on a chair... nore can i even see because of the big driftwood stump and the water sprite is a green imposing background back already.. There really isnt much room in this tank for more plants.. I know the bottom looks bare but i assure you its covered in S.repens it just isnt fully grown out yet.


I kinda liked the actinic blue though i dunno, i might put those back on and see if just cutting the lighting back to 6-8 hours does the trick.. because with just plain 6700-10k lights on i dont like the tanish/green look it makes fish tanks have.




Another thing i think that is helping is my red lotus. The surface lilly pads are HUGE now, in that pic they were smaller, but now they are the size of your hand extended and i have like 9 of them on the surface, and alot of them are sitting directly below the Power compact lights blocking alot of the lighting in the tank.

 

[tiger terror]

Tank looks solid by the way....

sit in silence...

 

[candymancan]

Thanks i appritate that.