What's Wrong With My Tank?

[Spank]

hey everyone

I don't know what I'm doing wrong, I've had my tank setup now for 2 to 3 months now and things aren't going too well. The main problem I have is with hair algae, each week I have to scrub loads off the glass and ornamants and it's getting to be a pain in the arse to be honest

here's the setup....
120uk Gl tank, 5'X2'X2'
Substrate 85% Aquagrit with a small 15% area covered with sand
1X JBL cristal pro 500 filter
1X eheim 2229 wet/dry filter
heaters set at 27.5 degrees centigrade
Lighting 2X80W T5's and 1X 55W T5 power compact
CO2 injection using a D&D pressurised system and a home-made reactor

current stocklist
4X congo tetra
5X Cockatoo dwarf cichlids
5X blue rams
2X festivum cichlid
6X marbled hatchets
3X yoyo loaches
6X purple emporor tetra
4X black neons
8X otocinclus
12X amano shrimp

the tank is planted with around 40& of the substrate covered but the growth isn't what I'd call quick considering I'm adding CO2 and have adequate lighting
Ornaments include several large pieces of bogwood and slate
Water stats are
nitrate 25ppm<--- I would have thought this'd be lower with the 2 filter's I'm using
nitrate 0
Ammonia 0
pH 7.5
KH 12 (I live in London)

My current water change regime is 40% at weekends and 15% midweek

I'll be adding a UV steriliser (9W pond sterilizer) tomorrow just to keep the water clearer but I've thought of several problems that may be causing the tank to be the way it is,
1) There's a lot of gunk on the substrate........ I'm thinking of getting some cory's to help with uneaten food at the bottom of the tank
2) The wet/dry filter is eliminating my efforts with CO2, thereby preventing plant growth and lowering of pH........... I think if I were to replace the filter with a non wet/dry in an attempt to raise CO2 leveks my plants will begin to thrive and use up the excess nitrate from the breakdown of uneaten food

Does anyone have any other suggestions as to what maybe wrong with the tank and suggestions to rectify it?

Thanks all for the help

Hank

 

[tnhowery]

How long are the light on for the day. They should be on for somewhere around 12 hours and possible a 2-3 hour break midday and this may help some of the algea problems.

 

[Spank]

How long are the light on for the day. They should be on for somewhere around 12 hours and possible a 2-3 hour break midday and this may help some of the algea problems.

lights are on from 8 till 10 with a break 1t 1pm for an hour and a half, I'll try 8 till 10 with a break from 1 till 3 then!! thanks for the suggestion, anyone else?

 

[@ombomb]

I'd imagine that the problem is more likely due to the level of phosphates in the water. I also have Thames water and some of the results I've seen when testing my tap water for phosphates have been shocking.

Added to that you mention that you need something to clean up uneaten food at the bottom of the tank... try feeding less instead!

Personally I've never used a wet / dry filter, but I have heard they can cause problems with CO2. Are you sure your reactor is working efficiently?

I currently use a 50/50 mix of tap / RO water as they water from the tap is so filthy, really help manage the water conditions.

Also your lighting is less than 2wpg at the moment (which is low really), which means that the plants probably don't NEED CO2 to be healthy. Are you using any ferts? Are they fast growing plants?

 

[Spank]

I'd imagine that the problem is more likely due to the level of phosphates in the water. I also have Thames water and some of the results I've seen when testing my tap water for phosphates have been shocking.

Added to that you mention that you need something to clean up uneaten food at the bottom of the tank... try feeding less instead!

Personally I've never used a wet / dry filter, but I have heard they can cause problems with CO2. Are you sure your reactor is working efficiently?

I currently use a 50/50 mix of tap / RO water as they water from the tap is so filthy, really help manage the water conditions.

Also your lighting is less than 2wpg at the moment (which is low really), which means that the plants probably don't NEED CO2 to be healthy. Are you using any ferts? Are they fast growing plants?

cheers @tombomb, I don't really feed that much, infact I haven't fed my fish now for several days in an attempt to keep nitrates down. I've now turned off the wetdry filter and I'm running the JBL filter on it's own, within 8 hrs, pH has dropped dramatically and CO2 content has rocket . I will see in a week whether the increased plant growth will keep the alagae at bay.

I'm gonna buy an RO unit soon too as I want to keep Discus eventually and will require softer water.

 

[mark.w.jones]

Read this article. I found its advice very interesting and useful. Dispels quite a few myths as well.

http/www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_algae.php

 

[Spank]

Read this article. I found its advice very interesting and useful. Dispels quite a few myths as well.

http/www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_algae.php

thanks' for that, was very useful,

I've now decided on the following steps then,

buy some carpeting plants to cover the sand area so that waste that falls there will be taken up
swap the wet/dry filter for a normal one
feed less (once every 2-3 days)


just to note, I've had my pond UV sterilizer running now for 24 hrs and it's worked wonders on the clarity of the water.... obviously though I need to control the route of the algae problem rather than just it's symptoms.

 

[Spank]

sigh

it's back with a vengence, for the past month or so I thought I'd finally had it cracked.... after turning the lights off for a whole week, most of the tank was algae free, what little that was left I could remove by hand. So I thought "great", I'll try and keep it this way and got myself a new eheim 2028 filter, discarded some infected plants and got some cory's to help with keeping the sand substrate moving. The lighting regime is now 4hrs on, 4hrs off, then 4 hrs on again and I also bought an RO unit to make my water more fish friendly.

I then replanted with a few bushels of Hygrophila which are doing well, the top leaves go a lovely redish colour but the bottom one's are partially covered with algae

Over the past 3 weeks or so, the algae has mounted a counter-coup and it's doing a mighty fine job. I'm starting to get a carpet of blue-green algae now on the sand and some brown sludgy algae covering the ornaments.

At the moment, only 50%of the substrate is covered (not a lot considering it's a 5X2 tank), is this enough or do you think I need more to outcompete the algae for nutrients?
Is my lighting correct? I read that larger tanks don't quite follow the 2WPG rule so I've always thought my lighting to be adequate but do you think I need more? Also the bulbs I'm using at the moment aren't aquarium specific, I have one that's 6500K and the other at 8000K plus a T5 daylight bulb, could this be thr source of the problem?

Any advice would be much appreciated.... I'm running out of ideas at the moment

Thanks
Hank


nb... just tested my water for CO2 content, pH is between 7 and 7.5 at 8degs hardness, this gives me a CO2 reading of around 20.... will turning up the CO2 help with the problems or just make my algae problem worse?

 

[vinylman]

I think the best thing to do at the moment is to get more plants in there; fast growing ones like Elodea Densa. You need something that will actively fight the algae for nutrients. Try some floating plants too, they'll help to cut down on the light going into the tank. Good luck.