Help! Problems w/algae and poor growth

[jtd1216]

Ok, just before I hastily tore down my planted tank, I figured I would take some pics of my tank and get some help.

The tank is a 20g high, Eco-complete substrate, AC30 (i think) filter, co2 system (not pressurized), 28w in T5's from Coralife fixture and i dose twice a week with Kent Freshwater Plant, and Kent Pro Plant. Right now i have 3 rasboras, 3 cory cats, and one malaysian trumpet snail, my oto died not too long ago.

My water parameters are as follows:
PH - 7.2
GH - 5
KH - 5
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 10

This is my tank before about 6 months ago:

And these are some of the problems i'm having now with algae and poor growth [curled leaves and wavy leaves on the green wendtii (sp?)]

Any help would be great, I'd hate to just give up on the tank, since i've been enjoying doing it all along.

 

[Purrbox]

I suspect that your problems are in part due to the ferts that you are using. With a quick glance at the ingredients, you're only dosing some micros and that's it. Since you are dealing with a low light tank, you will probably want to try a good trace mix like Flourish Comprehensive, Tropica Master Grow or CSM+B. The other thing that you'll probably want to consider dosing is Potassium. Flourish Potassium or K2SO4 would be good options. Unless you have an extremely low bioload your tank is probably getting enough Nitrates and Phosphates from your fish.

Finally the algae that you are dealing with looks like it could be BBA. If this is the case it is likely a direct result of the DIY CO2. BBA is often caused by low fluctuating levels of CO2. These are both often the case when you are dealing with DIY CO2. You CO2 only calculates out to 9ppm. By increasing the number of generater bottles and/or increasing the efficiency of diffusion so that your levels stay above 30ppm, you should see a reduction in the spread of the BBA. Flourish Excel has also been used successfully to combat algae by dosing above the recommended amounts. You do need to be careful with Excel if you have either Vals or Anacharis in your tank.

 

[jtd1216]

would a few oto's aid in getting rid of some of the algae? there seems to be 2 types, an algae that looks like the rolled up thread that you see in the pictures, and little patches that look like hair that grow about 1/4 inch. I will try dosing the Flourish and then the excel

any other suggestions?

 

[u2_Crazy]

Rosy Barbs eat that stuff, and they look great too! Get 4.

 

[malkore]

more light. you only have 28w of T5 over a 20gallon...not even medium light category.

what are your nitrate and phosphate levels at? to me, it looks like you're dosing a lot more fertilizer than you need with yoru lighting setup...so the algae is using all the excess.

 

[JustOneMore20]

me, it looks like you're dosing a lot more fertilizer than you need with yoru lighting setup...so the algae is using all the excess

Thats what I think.

I sometimes get confused on ferts and CO2 in low light tanks...but here's my theory: You only have 1.4wpg, which is low light. CO2 should help with the algae, even if it doesn't help with plant growth. But DIY CO2 is pretty unstable, usually. You are dosing ferts twice a week, in a tank with slow growers (from what I see, crypts, java fern and anubias) which is too much IMO.

I'd only dose the ferts every two weeks, maybe once a week at the most. I'd get some Potassium and Nitrogen as well, and only use one of the Kent ferts you are using (if they are both just micros).

By the way, your rasboras would appreciate more and so would your cories.

I think higher tanks need a little more light (or atleast some compact fluorescents) so I'd upgrade the lighting before planting the tank again.

I could be completely wrong on this, I have plants in all my tanks, but I've battled my algae as well. I've had planted tanks for only a year and I do lots of research before adding the plants. And I've never had CO2...so I could be totally off.

 

[czcz]

Just FYI, the advice above applies when using lumens/sq in or equiv T12 wpg calcs (see lighting sticky). T5 is very efficient but unless you're running 2 28w, moderate-high CO2 and dosing is unnecessary. Your Kent Freshwater Plant product will get the job done as a K and trace source if needed.

Eq T12 wpg	Lumens	Lumens/sq in
	   1.77	  2080	      7.22

 

[jtd1216]

so then, czcz, what else would be the problem? if my lighting is ok, do u think i'm dosing too much? If so, why the poor growth?

 

[czcz]

Yeah. IMO there's a couple great ways to have a low light tank 1) no dosing and little-no CO2, so uptake is slow or 2) dosing and a few fast growers to help out. I think the reason people used to say ferts caused algae is because they would dose non-comprehensive ferts, like Kent, then something else bottomed out and induced algae.

If it were my tank I'd increase the plant mass if necessary, stop dosing, observe, try feeding the fish a little more, observe, and then look at dosing nutrients if necessary. I'd do water changes but not much vacuuming of the gravel. I'd probably cheat with Excel to kill that algae and start fresh beforehand. HTH