Algae Bloom vs. Live Plants: The Battle for America

[jeffthefish]

My 100 gallon tank is currently in the middle of a yucky algal bloom. This makes me sad and frustrated.

I have around 200 watts of light on the tank. Until a week ago the tank recieved 9.5 hours of light, but I've since cut that down to 7 hours. I have a lot of plants in the tank.

I've got a 500gph HOB filter and a Rena XP3 (as of yesterday).

My water is within acceptable operating parameters, but as of last week the nitrites and nitrates were pretty high. It's a fairly new tank.

Everyone says that the way to clear up an algal bloom (short of buying a UV filter) is to decrease the photoperiod. My question is, how long can I leave the lights off before it starts hurting my plants? I've got some medium light plants in there that are just starting to take off.

 

[spinnerbayt]

Is the outbreak just green water? If it is then just keep up with your water changes and when the tank finishes cycling it will go away on its own. This is not uncommon for a new planted tank. If you want to speed up the process I would add some watersprite to the tank as it grows like crazy and will suck up the nitrite. Just don't get frustrated and give it some time and it will go away.

 

[jeffthefish]

At the very first it was kind of white cloudy, but now it's just green water. I have one clump of water sprite in there, and I intend to buy more every time I see it for sale. I just havent' seen any lately.

So I'll just keep up what I'm doing. Thanks for your advice!

 

[HarleyK]

Howdy,

your tanks need to cycle completely. Try adding bottled bacteria to speed it up. No not reduce the lighting period. The opposite: Set it to 6.5 h ON, 2 h OFF, 6.5 h ON, 9 h OFF. Although some people call it a myth, I have had great success with a 2 h break in the fight against algae. Your plants need 12-14 h of lighting a day. If you cut that down, you provide algae with an advantage. Only if your plants flourish, they will outcompete algae.

Good luck,

HarleyK

 

[LA213]

 

[WyldFya]

I agree that 12 hours is needed for plants. There are a few other things I would recommend to help give your plants the edge. 1) Up the lighting, I would use at least 3.5 W/gallon. 2) CO2 injection, be it fully automatic, or DIY 2 liter bottle. 3)Ferts. Fertilize your plants, and they will take off (with the above mentioned additions). With the right conditions I find the best way to get the algae to go away, is to just keep wc's up, and ferts, lighting, co2 all in acceptable ranges. Keeping the plants happy will get the algae to go away very quickly as it will not be able to absorb nutrients as fast.

 

[lemcc]

Your plants need 12-14 h of lighting a day. If you cut that down, you provide algae with an advantage.

many algae can reach their photosynthetic potential within 30sec
so 8hrs or 24hrs algae will always grow faster than your plants and take over if provided with the right conditions (right conditions vary from algae to algae)

the key is balance there plenty guidelines to start from
(so many watts per gallon, CO2 levels, fert ppm, % WC)
so start with the recommended parameters and through trial and error find what works with your tank

no 2 setups are alike
what works for a nano tank will not work for a 240g
CO2 / non-CO2 , 6500k / 10000k , tap water variations, plants growth rate

lastly light is the gas pedal the more light the faster everything happens