More Water Changes Or A New Filter

[efina]

I have a Juwel Rio 120ltr tank that has been running fine since September last year. The tank is quite heavily planted and I have noticed over the last few weeks that the background and my bogwood is getting covered in a green hairy algae.
 
I do a weekly 25% water change and was wondering if this was adequate ??
 
I have also read that filters that come pre-built with Juwel tanks are fairly average and you are better off replacing with them a higher quality filter.
 
I would be grateful for any help and useful comments.
 
 
 
 

 

[CezzaXV]

Two questions:

What are your nitrate levels like?
How many hours a day do you have your lights on?

 

[efina]

I use the API test kit and the nitrate levels are either 10 or 20 - So difficult to tell from the chart
 
I have the lights on a timer - 7hrs a day

 

[CezzaXV]

Both seem good then. Nothing there that might be causing algae to build up.

Filters that come bundled with tanks do tend to be only just adequate, though I doubt replacing it is going to help with the algae.

 

[Lunar Jetman]

Flow might not be enough. You could have some dead spots where the algae is growing. Can you adjust your output/spray bar? Or maybe a powerhead will help move the water around more effectively? You may even need to reduce the lighting down an hour too.

 

[DrRob]

Personally, if given a juwel tank, I'd remove the filter and replace it with a good external. The filters themselves I don't think are that bad as such, but they take up a lot of space in the tank for what they are and the flow is pretty terrible for the size of tank. If you've got one running it's a pain to mess with them though as it creates huge mess in an established tank.
 
Heavily planted tanks need a lot of flow to keep every area going, the plants themselves tend to create dead spots so you need a fair bit of oomph in the pumps to get movement. A lot of the wavemaker type powerheads are very good at creating flow without creating too much of a jet of water and as Lunar says might be all you need to do to get things back up and running.

 

[efina]

Thanks for everyone for the helpful comments. Could anyone recommend a good external filter, suitable for a 120ltr tank and also if  I get a new filter will I need adapt the substrate from the current filter and put some of it into the new filter ??
 
I have just purchased a wave maker, so that should hopefully help things as well.

 

[taffia1]

Hair Algae can be caused by co2 levels.  I believe lack of co2 can cause hair algae, do you have any co2 input in your tank?

 

[efina]

CO2 is supplied by a JBL CO2 M602 set, so I don't think this could be the problem.

 

[taffia1]

Do you measure the amount of co2 either through PPM or a drop checker?  Even if you do and all your stats are fine algae can be problematic for even the most advanced aquarists.  There are a few fish species that eat hair algae (or shrimp) could you introduce these into your tank?  Or replace some slow growing plants with some quicker growing plants to out compete the algae?( I think some plants excrete some kind of substance that actually reduces algae growth (ergia densa I think may be one but not sure what type of algae it reduces) or have a couple of days of blackout on your tank?