My Tank Sucks

[Bloo]

Some of the green on the gravel, I flicked it round a bit the day before so its not quite as bad as normal

Hi Rodders. A few months ago (when I still had a sand tank), I had exactly the same problem as this specific algae on your sand and underneath. It actually compacted the sand into hard chunks - even with regular raking!

I siphoned out bits at a time and rinsed it extremely well in boiling hot water. After a month it was all gone.
There might be an easier way (I'm sure there is!) but that's what did the trick for me.

As far the nasty algae on your plants, I'm afraid I cannot help there

 

[zig]

I cant really make it out to well from the pic, but if the stuff under the substrate at the glass is green then this is BGA, it means your nitrate levels are to low, you need to obviously increase the nitrate levels but you also need to harass the bga as well, you are right to flick over the sand because this is probably bga as well, keep harassing the bga, get a credit card type thing and push it down between the glass and the sand and harass and scrape away the bga, keep doing this, this will help, also remove it when you can physically do so.

Bga can also be caused by poor circulation in a tank so make sure you have no dead spots on the substrate, when i first started up my main tank i had bga between the glass and the substrate at the front of the tank, the tank is also beside a window where this is quite common, i simply harassed the bga with a credit card and increased my nitrates and it went away and has not come back since although it had not gotten to the stage where it was creeping onto the substarte.

Not sure about the other algae it looks like a type of bba, the bga is more serious though if left unchecked it will take over the tank.

And i agree with gf you really need to have a good method for checking your CO2 levels.

 

[Bloo]

I cant really make it out to well from the pic, but if the stuff under the substrate at the glass is green then this is BGA, it means your nitrate levels are to low,

Hi Zig - please see my post just before yours. At the time my nitrates were around the 20 mark and still had that evil stuff. Not that it matters to me now, as luckily I don't have that problem anymore - but just wondering as my nitrates were fairly high already

 

[zig]

I cant really make it out to well from the pic, but if the stuff under the substrate at the glass is green then this is BGA, it means your nitrate levels are to low,

Hi Zig - please see my post just before yours. At the time my nitrates were around the 20 mark and still had that evil stuff. Not that it matters to me now, as luckily I don't have that problem anymore - but just wondering as my nitrates were fairly high already

Hi bloozoo........ welcome back hope you had a nice holiday

Was the tank near a window by any chance or did it get a lot of daylight, not nescessarily sunlight just daylight?

Its quite common in tanks that get a lot of daylight especially those beside a window, my tank was beside a window (still is but i dont get the green anymore) and you could see the line where the daylight came through and hit the glass and this is where the green bga started, once i harrassed it and used the credit card to scrape it away and increased the nitrates it went away.

If you get tanks that consistantly get this problem at the front of the glass and you think the nitrate levels are reasonably ok, use black insulation tape and run it along the bottom of the glass, if you take it off after about a week you will see the difference lack of light will make to the algae, its like doing a mini blackout in a very specific area, i tried this to see if it worked and it does, but once i increased my nitrate levels it never came back and the tank is still beside the window getting lots of daylight each day, but no bga.

 

[Bloo]

Hi bloozoo........ welcome back hope you had a nice holiday

Was the tank near a window by any chance or did it get a lot of daylight, not nescessarily sunlight just daylight?

Thanks Zig - had a fabulous holiday !

Your're absolutely right - my tank is situated close to a window and receives daylight; not direct sunlight - although the curtain is almost always drawn or part drawn.

 

[karlp]

Lighting is 1.6WPG but I was told as its a huge tank, 660 litres that should be ok.

Could that be the cause of the algae problem ? You're dosing CO2 and ferts, but with lightnig at 1.6wpg the lighting is going to be the limiting factor on photosynthesis leaving unused ferts in the water ?

What are your Nitrate and Phosphate readings at the start and end of the week's dosing schedule ?

Do you have the UV sterilizer on all the time ? The UV can make water go cloudy after dosing with iron, by precipitating the iron into the water column. I don't think it would cause the kind of milky white colour your describing though.

I think I'd be tempted to up the lighting to start with and then try cutting back algae damaged growth to encourage new shoots through and do more regular water changes.

 

[Rodders]

I have turned my Uv steriliser off now (couple of days ago)

I cant upgrade my lighting cause I cant find any 5 foot tubes, waterproof, to go in my tank. I need a single fitting but I can only find doubles and that wont fit.

I cant afford metal halide or anything cause on a 2 metre tank thats gonna cost a BOMB!!!! Unless anyone knows a cheap upgrade that also isnt gonna increase my leccy bill too much, lol

Just done a CO2 test and my Ph is 7.6 and KH is 10. According to the chart I have thats 9mg/l. Thats also 9ppm so thats miles to low isnt it?!?!?!?! spose to be 30ppm odd? So I need a Ph of 7. Can someone confirm this as if this is the case ill need a bigger CO2 diffusor as the one I have I cant push anymore CO2 through.
So could someone also give me an idea on a CO2 diffusor for a 660litre ish tank.

Thanks Mark.

 

[zig]

The first thing to say is that the WPG guidelines go out the window for larger and smaller tanks, they really only apply for tanks somewhere between maybe 20 and 90 gallons (probably more like 30 and 75 gallons) 1.6 WPG over a 175 gallon tank is loads of light, you should be able to grow most anything in this tank without any problems. Ideally T5s or metal halides would be best for light penetration but im not sure exactly what you are running.

What exactly are you running just ordinary T8s?

Your CO2 is way to low and probably confirms that you have bba in the tank, your readings are correct you need to target a ph of 7 to get 30ppm CO2.

What way are you diffusing the CO2 now, what type of diffuser are you useing?

 

[Rodders]

Yes, 4 T8's, two daylight, 2 plant growth.

Its a JBL diffusor. If I pump anymore bubbles through I dont think they'll disolve by the top. Ill give it a go and see what happens, otherwise ill have to get some extra sections.
Its the circluar one.