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Re: Algae problem, growing in the ears



> First....yes, I've read so much on algae the last few weeks I think it is
> growing out my ears...

> pH and KH are pretty stable at 7.0 and 3, thanks do DIY CO2.

Well in your first few statements I've found most of the devil in your tank.
DIY CO2 and 3.5w/gal of light.

You are the classic case.

You need to add enough CO2 to get the pH down to 6.5 -6.6 for the entire
photoperiod and keep in that range to whole time.

Until you address the CO2 you will continue to have algae.
None of the other stuff will help much till this is dealt with.

DIY on a 75gal with 260w of light is nuts. Buy a gas CO2 system. You will
have to work changing lots of bottles and need a very good CO2 reactor etc
to do it with DIY and need perhaps 4 - 2 liter bottles going with weekly
changes  alternating 2 bottles each week.


> Somewhere in this time period I upgraded to a 260 watt PC light
> fixture (3.5 watts per gallon) and added the DIY CO2.   Those plants were
> growing even better.
> On the other hand, my micro sword, dwarf sag. And crypts were hardly growing
> at all.  So I added that, also around the same period I added some Seachem
> sticks to the gravel, since it was setup inert.   I thought perhaps the
> water was moving to fast through the roots of the plants (maxi jet 1000 are
> pretty strong for a UG filter in a 75 gallon), so I changed over to a pair
> of Hagen 402's running in reverse flow.  This greatly reduced my water
> movement in the tank, but I figured it would be better on the plant roots
> and seachem sticks.   The magnum kept it up somewhat though.
> 
> So to sum things up, my iron contect went upto close to 1.0, and I got a TON
> of very dark green algae, which I determined to be staghorn algae.   Once I
> did some research on that, it showed I may have a high iron content, sure
> enough that was it.

You have poor plant growth due to low CO2 would be a better way of thinking
about what's going on.
 
> Mixed up some RO/DI, Freshwater Trace, and RO Right for the KH, and some
> neutral controller for PH since RO is so low.

Why use RO at all? It's not preventing algae in any way.
Use the tap water, it already has RO right and KH and also GH in it.
There's no need to use RO for a plant tank.

Sell the RO and get a Gas CO2 system. Or keep it and use it for drinking
water.

> My iron level is down to .10 or less finnaly, it hardly shows color on the
> chart now.   Nitrate seems to be around 5-10ppm, its hard to tell on a salt
> water test that has colors for 10-50 I think, possibly upto 100 anyways...

Don't rely on that test kit.
 
> I then added a wet dry to the fish tank, with a screen around the overflow
> box to keep fish out (tho it sure does collect algae etc).   Its currently
> run by a RIO 2500 pumping into a plenum around the top of the tank, there
> are so many bends and 90's in the PVC I think the Rio is pumping like 100GPH
> lol.   Soon I plan to remove the UGF Reverse flow power heads, and leave the
> plates in, perhaps adding a 7.5 watt heater to each lift tube for some
> convexing currents?

Might work okay.

Why would anyone have a plenum in a plant tank? Plants remove the NO3.
 
> Now I have the staghorn algae, though it seems to of slowed down a bit,
> theres still a lot I cannot get out, mainly on my micro swords, it seems to
> grow a little but I may only be seeing reminients of before.

Need to trim it off and do a good trimming to get as much as possible out.
Then correct conditions like the CO2 issue.
 
> Somewhere in here, around the same time as adding the wet/dry, I also added
> a small tray of sand/peat/soil mix (probaby 90% sand) and capped it with a
> half inch to inch of quartz gravel, and burried it.   Reason being to see if
> the micro swords would grow any better.  Above this tray of sand was the
> first place I saw the new green algae, but it was very very minimal and did
> not grow fast at all.

If you want the plants to grow better try adding CO2. You have tons of light
and nutrients. Adding more of either of those two will not help till you add
the CO2.
 
> But worse!  I have a new algae taking over, and its aking over worse, and
> looks harder to clean.   It's a very light looking, bright green algae, that
> flows very nicley in the water.  In all honesty, if I could keep it on the
> back glass I and rocks I wouldn't mind it, but its EVERYWHERE, I assume this
> is BBA from what I have found?

Sounds like it a bit.
 
> I am really at a loss, I cannot find test kits for P, K, etc to keep them
> all in balance, and am not really sure what to use for ferttilizer since my
> sustrate is inert.   The mix of 2 kent products and the tetra flourish and
> the seachem iron seems to be way to much of the wrong stuff.

CO2 is the problem at the moment. Spend your $ there. I can help you fix the
other issue with NPK etc.
 
> My only upgrades in sight is to swap out the RIO 2500 for a Mag 9.5 to get
> some more water flow

Might help some.
 
> Theres 2 guppies, 4 swordtails, a ghost shrimp, and about 6 ottos to eat the
> algae, waiting on the LFS to get in the SAE I ordered, and will add another
> 24 ghost shrimp (only 1 of the last 10 lived so).

Amano shrimp do work, Ghost shrimps are lazy.......
 
> Mark
>