algae issues, what to do without CO2

[conig]

any point in getting a uv sterilizer to stop it from coming back when ever I do get a handle on it?

 

[jcardona1]

a UV light will only help with green water. if the algae is growing on rocks/plants/wood, the UV light wont do anything.

 

[FSM]

If you squirt the excel directly on the algae (I use a plastic syringe, also turn your filters off first and wait a few minutes so there is no current) it will kill it. The black brush algae turns red as it dies, I've never tried it on any other types but it's pretty toxic in high concentrations so it will probably kill the green algae too.
Wait 5 or 10 minutes before turning the filters back on.

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

It's worth mentioning that the chart is a guide, not a guarantee.
Look at the original thread on plantedtank.net
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/lighting/97622-par-data-selecting-t5ho-light.html
the first response is a guy who measured 1/3 the predicted amount, that's a big damn margin of error

I agree that it is too much light, though. Raising the fixture is the easiest solution.

 

[jcardona1]

If you squirt the excel directly on the algae (I use a plastic syringe, also turn your filters off first and wait a few minutes so there is no current) it will kill it. The black brush algae turns red as it dies, I've never tried it on any other types but it's pretty toxic in high concentrations so it will probably kill the green algae too.
Wait 5 or 10 minutes before turning the filters back on.





It's worth mentioning that the chart is a guide, not a guarantee.
Look at the original thread on plantedtank.net
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/lighting/97622-par-data-selecting-t5ho-light.html
the first response is a guy who measured 1/3 the predicted amount, that's a big damn margin of error

I agree that it is too much light, though. Raising the fixture is the easiest solution.

yeah, it's definitely meant to be used as a guide. i posted this same chart and the ligthing sticky and made sure to mention these werent tested, they were charted based off Hoppy's measurements.

and actually, that's an old thread you linked. here's his more current one. once i pick up my MH fixture i'm going to borrow Hoppy's PAR meter and do some of my own testing (nice to live close to him and tom barr!)

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/lighting/105774-par-vs-distance-t5-t12-pc.html

 

[conig]

I thank you guys for the help.

I like the syringe trick.

I have a 20gal hospital is there anything I can do with the plants in the mean time? sine there on plastic ege crate they all pull out as one assembly, so removing and putting them back in is easy.

I removed one light from my fixture and will see what that does. I also have flourish I can add in, I stopped when the algae started.

 

[conig]

this is right after I got the lights. I havn't pruned much and need too.

 

[punk-in-drublic]

I like that chart J its a nice complement to the lighting sticky.

I can speak from experience as being someone who got into planted tanks recently. I pulled the classic noob mistake and bought too much light for my tank. 2x54 t5ho for a 75 gallon without pressurized co2. I now am in the process of raising my fixture up to about 35 - 40 inches from the substrate. I have kept algae in check with lots of tank maintainence water changes and algae scrubbing but I am definitely seeing that I have way too much light. Plants are growing faster in my lower light setups and are looking healthier with the exact same dosing of ferts.