Help with light and algae problems

[MartinBoy]

My brother has a 125g african cichlid tank and wanted to add some basic plants. His tank is mounted in the wall of his living/dining room so you can not see equipment and we also didnt want to spend $300 on a made in china light fixture so we got this light after doing some research on DIY light ideas.
http://reviews.homedepot.com/1999/2...white-with-320g-reflector-reviews/reviews.htm

we purchased 6500k light bulbs at HD also but ended up only using 4 of them in the fixture because it was to bright! The problem is after a week the tank is breaking out with green algae on rocks and what looks like brown algae on glass but I'm no expert. I wish I had taken new pics but here is a pic before new light.


Any input on light and controlling algae would be much appriciated. Also can sand substrate work for simple plants, I know using it as a cap is the way to go but he wasn't down with putting dirt in tank?

 

[O2surplus]

I'd normally recommend some algae eating fish for control but seeing that it's a cichlid tank, I don't know how long they would last before being killed. A flag tailed prochilodus or pleco in an appropriate size in relation to the other fish you have may work. Other than those mentioned, I think you may be limited to using chemical control.

 

[MartinBoy]

Does this sound normal? We put an amazon sword plant and it quickly got covered with algae as well. Do you always have to use an algae chemical in a planted tank and what kind do you recommend? This is all new to me!

 

[lipadj46]

you can't control algae with chemicals. the tank is new and the light is too intense, lower the light intensity, do lots of water changes and wait it out. Sand is fine for plants but you will need some sort of fertilizers and without CO2 it may get tricky avoiding algae.

 

[MartinBoy]

you can't control algae with chemicals. the tank is new and the light is too intense, lower the light intensity, do lots of water changes and wait it out. Sand is fine for plants but you will need some sort of fertilizers and without CO2 it may get tricky avoiding algae.

Tank has been set up for 6+ years prior to new light. The light was on for 10 hours so we lowerd it to 8 hours. Water changes are hard to do to often because the ph has to be keep high for the fish and tap water has a low ph were tank is

 

[jcardona1]

So you don't do water changes because of the PH? That doesn't sound good. What's the water change schedule like?

 

[MN Fish]

How many hours are the lights on? They shouldnt be on for more then seven or eight hours . If you have alot natural light that wont help either.

 

[MartinBoy]

So you don't do water changes because of the PH? That doesn't sound good. What's the water change schedule like?

ya its not good but its my brothers tank not mine just tryn to help him out. The tap PH I believe is @ 7.0 and I think his african cichlids like @ 8.0. He's got some coral in there to help raise ph and then the fish are fairly large fish. I expected algae but not so quick! We did a complete cleaning of his tank before we set up new light.

 

[DirtyPoorFish]

Get some freshwater clams.

 

[junglej]

you're tank has lots of nutrients, especially with your new lighting. But you have nothing in there to remove excess nutrients and not doing water changes is not helping your situation. I would suggest removing that lighting and going w/ something less intense. There are not a whole lot of plants to choose from when dealing w/most cichlids, as they will chew them up. Some good options for plants in a cichlid tank are java ferns and Anubias -both do well under lower light.