My new 120g leaving me with questions

[ride1226]

So, my new (used) 4x2x2 120g has been up and running for about 2 months now. Maybe a little longer. Its being filtered by a FX5 filled with Matrix. Substrate is pool filter sand, temp is always right around 78 give or take a degree, and tank is lightly planted. Plants seem to be doing great, one I have already had to trim back and the other has about 5 new sprouts around the bottom of it now so the lighting seems to be doing the trick. I am using a wavepoint 36inch light with one stock actinic bulb and one coralife 6700k in it. All 4 bulbs in made me grow a rediculous algae farm in my 75, so took two bulbs out and dropped from the 10000k to 6700. Hopefully that enough info on my tank setup to help answer the following questions.

1) I seem to grow, very slowly, a brown hair algae on my two pieces of driftwood. None of my tank inhabitants eat it, and with a growing Fahaka puffer, none ever will. Is there a way to rid myself of this issue or should I get used to cleaning it with my weekly 40-50% water change?

2) On that same subject, my pool filter sand gets a light brown coating to it, which grows as time passes. I usually hit this with the syphon and stir the sand up a bit each week to get rid of it, however, Id like it to just not show up. Vacuuming sand is a bit of a pain, and your always loosing the sand.

3) Poo, as well as the aforementioned brown algae, seems to settle on the bottom rather quickly. I know a filter is supposed to grab these things, but it always seems to just hit the bottom and sit in some areas no matter what, until I vacuum. Now, my puffer leaves some underwater mines, so I expect those to sink, however other stuff Id expect to get picked up by my filter. Any way to cure this?

Now heres my ideas...
-Add another FX5 in hopes the additional current will stop settling of debris and catch more gunk.
-Add a powerhead towards the bottom to create more current so my existing FX5 can do its job better. (bubbling power head, alternating sweeping power head, or regular power head)
-UV sterilizer somehow plumbed in to my system to kill the algae? Will this also help crisp my water up and remove the tiny floating particulates I see?

Any and all help getting my first big tank crispy clean would be greatly appreciated. I want my Fahaka to have a happy healthy clean life, and I want my girl and I to enjoy looking at the tank more, not just right after its freshly cleaned.

 

[deeda]

Your tank is still young at 2 months so you might have a bit of diatom growth (brown stuff) going on. Once your plants take off, you may see a reduction in diatom.

A powerhead will help to move the fish waste to the filter intake but you'll have to play around with the best location to place it.

My driftwood and rocks get a light coating of brown fuzzy stuff all over them but I like the way it looks, more natural in my opinion.

No opinion on the UV sterilizer as I've never used one before.

What are your water parameters, specifically Ammonia, NitrIte, NitrAte, pH and kH? This would be helpful to see what's going on with your tank.

 

[ride1226]

ph-7.9
nitrite-0
nitrate- looks like about 7.0 (bad eyes)
ammonia- test kit is apparently missing. someone has hell to pay. will grab one tomorrow.

Judging based on this info what can be told? This is on the last day of my weekly water change schedule if that matters at all. 40% will be changed out tomorrow, and the only chemical I use is API Stresscoat to de-chlorinate and help my fishies get some aloe. If Prime is a better option here then I will switch to that and only use Stresscoat for actual fin nip issues or ouchies. Haha. Thanks for the help so far, the better I learn, the happier I can make my fish.

 

[deeda]

How often do fish get aloe in the wild? Just kidding with you. I didn't care for the way Stresscoat worked and didn't really want to add another additive to the tank. I've been using Prime but when that runs out, I'm switching to Choram-X to try that product.

Which test kit are you using to get a nitrate reading of 7.0?

 

[ride1226]

All of the test kits I just used were API. It reads 5.0 and 10.0 but the color is so damn close on the two of those that I couldn't really differentiate so I just called it 7.0 haha. Is that ok? Whats wrong with Stresscoat just out of curiosity? It just happened to be cheaper in a larger quatity than Prime was so I grabbed in instead figuring there wouldn't be anything wrong with the added aloe in it. For the past two years I have used Prime to de-chlorinate, just decided to give the API product a try. Choram-X? Ill have to give that a look.

 

[ride1226]

Anyone else able to chime in? Im thinking I may pick up a oscellating or fixed power head, one that can be hooked to a bubbler, and also a sponge prefilter. I feel like the sponge prefilter may help catch some stuff and if its fine enough maybe even take some of the small stuff out of the water that my Fx5 misses. Also debating grabbing a whole new fx5 to add, putting the out take on the other side of my tank for some more current. And the idea of a UV sterilizer plumbed in somehow to crisp the whole thing up even more is toying around in my head. I wanna make this tank sparkle.

Im also thinking more plants is a good idea. That should help out compete the algae for nutrients correct?

 

[deeda]

More plants will help compete with the algae for nutrients but I don't know if you will ever lose the brown stuff growing on the driftwood.

I don't like using sponge pre-filters on large canister filters because they clog so quickly. I'm only using one powerhead in my 220G tank and I really hate the way it detracts from the natural look of my tank but it can work if placed properly. It all depends on how much tank decor you have in place. Obviously, rocks and driftwood will block water flow and debris won't be moved unless you are able to position your water moving devices to compensate. It is all trial and error.

 

[brich999]

Algea scrubber, look up a diy. LEDs grow less algea, and a uv will help.

 

[blkdrgn]

how long are your lights on? I run an inline UV and that helped on my 125g. You can always try to turn off the lights and cover the rest of the tank for a couple days.

 

[ride1226]

how long are your lights on? I run an inline UV and that helped on my 125g. You can always try to turn off the lights and cover the rest of the tank for a couple days.

Like cover it so its completely black inside for 48 hours? That supposed to kill off the algae? Wont it just come back when I uncover? Cant be good for my real plants either, let alone my poor puffer in the dark! I usually run my lights majority of the day. 9am to say, 10-11pm. However Im starting to leave it off while im at work, meaning 3:30pm my girl will turn it on when she gets home, and then itll be on until 10-11pm.

An algae scrubber? Hmm, any links to a good one? Im thinking a UV may help as well. Whatever I can do to reduce the build up on my sand and glass mostly. I dont mind the brown on the driftwood that much, just the hair algae bothers me a bit but thats very slow growing. Its the brown on the top of the sand and where the sand meets the glass that drives me insane.

I hear you on a big power head distracting the look of the tank, I hate my in tank heater, and I hate my bubble line that runs into the tank as well. Gets a nasty crud build up on it and just looks terrible. Wish there was some other way to get bubbles in there haha.