toughest battle yet - your suggestions, please

Those plants need a save, Ill be watching to see whats the solution.
so BUmp.

Wow its like the tank got some moon light and went from model tank to ware tank.

Bump, Amazing planted by the way.

man those are some serious algae problems! youre not adding co2 into this tank right? from the looks of it, i see BBA (black brush algae) and GDA (green dust algae on your glass).

i always refer to this page for algae solutions. you'll see the almost ALL algae issues are caused by low levels of co2. Excel will help, but it may wipe out your shrimp population, so do more research before dumping it in.

i'm confident that co2 will solve your problems, even though you think it's a myth

http://theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm

interesting note about the BBA. seems like your excess water changes could be part of the problem...

f you have a low light tank without CO2 injection then not doing any water changes will help. This is because tap water often has lots of CO2 dissolved in it which causes CO2 levels in your tank to fluctuate. The algae respond to this a lot quicker than the plants do.

Siamese Algae Eaters are known to eat BBA so can be used to control this algae.
Overdosing Flourish Excel will clear it up.

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hey Harley,

while the ph/kh chart is an accurate way to measure co2 levels, it will often give you skewed results. here's why: the kh levels in your tank are influenced by many different factors; sediment, substrate, rocks, wood, etc etc. all of these things will swing your kh levels one way or another. because you dont have a true and accurate kh reading to begin with, your results will be skewed.

because of this, planted tank guys rely on a drop checker. i'm sure youve heard of drop checkers. theyre genius little devices. there's lots of articles online explaining how they work, but you basically fill the drop checker with a solution that has a truly accurate and SET/KNOWN kh value. right now most people are using a lab certified (or home-made) 4 degree KH solution, or 4dkh. 4dkh solution in the drop checker, then add a few drops of bromothymol blue (the solution we use to check our ph). you add drops until the solution turns a deep blue color. place it in your tank and in a few hours see what happens.

now back to the ph/kh chart. ok, we have 4dkh solution. that is our constant and is not gonna change or get influenced by other things in the aquarium environment. when the drop checker turns a deep green color, that correlates to 30ppm of co2 according to the chart. 30ppm of co2 is considered optimal levels at this time in the hobby. blue color means your co2 is too low, and yellow means its too high and could kill your fish. a drop checker is really the cheapiest and easiest way of knowing what our co2 levels are.

im confident your drop checker wont show 120-150ppm of co2!!! its hard enough to get 30-40ppm of co2 using a pressurized system! get a drop checker and youll see that co2 should be at low levels in your tank.

now about phosphates. rex grigg recommends keeping phosphate levels at 1-2.0ppm for a planted tank. i did a little bit of reading on plantedtank.net and there were some people concerned with high phosphate levels, but the experts say this is no cause for concern. people have reported much higher phosphate levels with no problems. and here, Tom Barr states that he adds as much as 15ppm of PO4 (phosphates) and this guy is a true planted tank wizard. here's his response:

plantbrain said:

Let's get one thing straight, low KH=> this might offer you some benefit.
Low PO4 will offer you no benefit.

I'm adding 15ppm + per week to my tank and I have rich PO4 in the sediment as well.

Where O where is my problem PO4's? Why would I add this much?
Why is it that I have sold 300-400$ per month of plants out of this one tank?
Why are my Cardinals fat, firsky and bite me when I put my hand in the tank?
Why is it that I have a lot of CRS and cull off 100 per month for sale?

I've been adding high PO4 since 1993, did not realize till about 1996, added even more around 1999, and this routine about 4 years ago.

Now where is the issue and risk again with PO4?
There might be other issues with the tap, but PO4 ain't one of them.


Regards,
Tom Barr

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and to be honest, i think we're over complicating things here. i dont think there's a need to get in too much to the water chemistry stuff. all the problems ive dealt with, and what ive seen people encounter come down to two basic issues. CO2 & LIGHTING. too much of one and not enough of the other is responsible for more problems in a planted tank than anything else. i would try dosing a lot of Excel and see how it goes. although your tanks seems to be of a good size, it may get expensive doing it long term...

let me know your thoughts

Had i seen this sooner i would have said pretty much what jcardona1 has said.

I had BBA in a 40 gal and i started a (2) 2 little DIY CO2, eventually it went away. You need the Plants to out compete the algea. How long are you running your lights? Beyond 8 hours and you start helping the alfea more then the plants. Ecel is good since it's a carbon source (just like CO2) but it could be pricey for a large tank.

Maybe slow down the drip system and see what happens to the nitrates, maybe the plants will step up and absorb more. but 10-20 does seem about right for plants.

Is there a window shinning on the tank? June is about the time for the sun to have more energy and start causing problems.