algae issues, what to do without CO2

[conig]

I have a 120 wide predator aquarium with a t5 108 watt lighting system. The fish are not clean eaters and are 12 in long so I cannot add little Otto cats.
The substrate is just plain gravel.
In it I have a good 5-6 Anubis some red Wendy and java fern all easy to keep plants attached to egg crate and barely buried. The plants themselves look fine except I have beard algae and green tuft algae in the gravel. I have adjusted my lighting to 8 hours a day(prior probable 15 hours) and will be trimming all the leaves with beard algae. Is there anything else I can do? I want to avoid CO2 which is why I chose these plants.
I use flourish excel 3-4times a week but I'm not religious about it. The tank it self has good filtration, and air stones. From reading last night it seems I do need a nutrient substrate for these plants, but even then will I be able to keep the algae under control without CO2 ? I may just go back to artificial plants but if I am missing something easy let me know please.

 

[jcardona1]

it's your lighting. those plants wont need any special substrates. for a low tech tank with non-demanding plants and no co2, you really shouldnt be using T5HO. you could keep those plants alive with regular output flourescent bulbs. T5HO are best left for co2-injected tanks since they are very intense. take a look at the sticky in the planted tank section

 

[conig]

could I just remove a bulb? I had regular T12 bulbs before and was told I needed more. lol

I have a 48 in two t12 fixture.

 

[geronimo69]

it's your lighting. those plants wont need any special substrates. for a low tech tank with non-demanding plants and no co2, you really shouldnt be using T5HO. you could keep those plants alive with regular output flourescent bulbs. T5HO are best left for co2-injected tanks since they are very intense. take a look at the sticky in the planted tank section

I agree... You shouldn't need more than T5 NO instead of HO. Normal output whould be fine. I have a 55 gal with a 2 bulb 48" NO and my plants grow fine. I add flourish once a week and have fert tabs in the substrate... I even have water lettuce floating on the surface which cuts the light down more...

 

[jcardona1]

could I just remove a bulb? I had regular T12 bulbs before and was told I needed more. lol

I have a 48 in two t12 fixture.

depends on your fixture. some wont run with one bulb, some will. ill post a chart for reference in a few...

 

[jcardona1]

here you go, take a look here. a low light tank should have 25-45 total PAR at the substrate. assuming your fixture is 25" from the substrate, you have right now about 80 PAR, which is medium to high lighting, and this would require co2 and ferts. since youre not adding them, thats why youre having algae problems.

using one bulb at 25" would give you a PAR reading of about 40, which should be good for a low light tank. using T8/T12 bulbs would require about 4x bulbs to be considered low light since the light output is fairly weak compared to T5HO

 

[conig]

thanks. I went with the HO as its 24 in deep and was told I needed more penitration.

the old eclipse t10-t12 fixture is an eye sore so I would like to use this one, it will run on one bulb.

I thought all t5 were Ho?

 

[conig]

thanks I'll try one bulb and see what I get, I do dose once a week with regular flourish. No root tabs, if I mixed in some plant substrate around the roots would it help any?

the plants have been looking alittle week lately but thats with algae on them.

 

[jcardona1]

thanks. I went with the HO as its 24 in deep and was told I needed more penitration.

the old eclipse t10-t12 fixture is an eye sore so I would like to use this one, it will run on one bulb.

I thought all t5 were Ho?

that's BS for a 24" tank. i'd understand if it were 4-5' deep. sounds like they were just trying to make a sale and dont understand the basic lighting requirements for a planted tank. the more light you have, the more your plants demand co2 and ferts. if you dont add the co2/ferts, your plants suffer and algae takes over.

the only way to reduce the demand for co2/ferts is to lower your lighting. lighting intensity drives the rate of photosynthesis. photosynthesis requires co2/ferts. how do you slow this down? by decreasing your lighing

and no, there's T5HO and T5NO. two completely different fixtures and bulbs, and they can be used interchangeably.

 

[jcardona1]

thanks I'll try one bulb and see what I get, I do dose once a week with regular flourish. No root tabs, if I mixed in some plant substrate around the roots would it help any?

the plants have been looking alittle week lately but thats with algae on them.

substrate isnt gonna help your problem. the plants are looking weak because they dont have the nutrients they need (co2/ferts). the plants you have are generally slower growing. throwing that much light over them will give you algae problems. i had to remove the anubias from my high light tank becaue they were getting algae (using two T5HO bulbs). my faster growing plants were fine, but slow growers generally dont do well with lots of light.