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RE:Brown algae
>Hi,,
>
>My planted tank of 540 litres has brown algae on my fine leave plant and
>some beard and spot algae on the broad leaves plant.It has been set up for 3
>months already with one year old 5x40w flourescent tubes for 10 hours daily.
>I understand that brown algae is cos by low-light,is it the light intensity
>or lighting hour?I know Oto eat this kind of algae but I buy any over
>here.Does Pleco.do the same job too?
>The ph is around 7.5 which I believe is too high.I try to lower it by
>increasing Co2 but it doesn't help.I wonder if there are any other way of
>lowering the ph beside mixing RO and deionizing the tap water.
>BTW,what is RO?
>
>Thanks in advance.
>
>Aaron Chang
Hi Aaron,
Yea your Ph is up there. Try to get it down and keep it that way. What's the
Kh? You need/should test that before going on to remove the hardness if you
need too. If it's between 3 and 8 that's a good range to shoot for and a Ph
of about 6.6 to 7.0 or so. Look at a KH/Ph/CO2 table on the KRIB or Mr.
Booth's site to see a good specific range.
You should be able to drop the Ph some by increasing the CO2 if you have a
Ph of 7.5 though. You can either add CO2 more efficiently or add more of it.
Just watch the Ph. You have a big tank and may need quite a bit of it(3 or
more bubbles a sec). Also you may need to make sure the CO2 is getting to
the plants well. If it is (the CO2 rich water) is sitting in the sump or
getting remixed or if your tank has little flow/inefficient
reactor/diffuser(or it may be clogged or dirty) this may be the case. Where
you are taking your Ph measurement on a big tank can be different in the
sump compared to the tank also. Make sure the CO2 rich water is being moved
around well and towards the bottom of your tank.
This is likely what you need to do to drive the Ph down rather than soften
your water. Mixing
RO water is a pain. RO= Reverse Osmosis. Is it well water or city/public
supply?
Some folks add light between 9 to 14-16 hrs a day. 11-12 hrs should do just
fine. On the tank you could use a little more light......... say another 2-
40 watt bulbs. Add some Otto cats(you'll need a number for a 540 liter
tank!). Try and remove all the algae you can by hand also. Cut back a little
on the liquid fertilizer and or food until things are going well. A nice
water change can help a little too.
Have fun with that big tank.
Regards,
Tom Barr