# I've got algae - too much lights?



## PeteAce (Oct 23, 2010)

I have two tanks with fast growing algae, I would like to know if it's to do with my lights.

20g - just two 15w spiral CFL on for 12 hours a day. I only have Java moss and ferns in there but I have this cotton like green algae growing all over the moss and fish can hardly swim in the moss. I also have BBA growing on the ferns...

66g - just two regular 40w T12 daylight fluroscent bulbs on for 12 hours a day. I added some plants about 2 weeks ago and I already have string algae growing on the tip of the leaves, and green spots on the leaves body. Also lots of BBA on woods and ornaments 

What can I do to fix this without co2 injection? Should I reduce the light time from 12 to 8 hours?

Thanks!


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## EDGE (Aug 24, 2010)

reduce lighting. 

If you only have java fern in the 20 gallon, take 1 bulb out. There is too much light on the 20 gallon for java fern.

what is the dimension of the 66g tank? 
Water parameter for both tank?
adding any fertilizer?
I am guessing these are fairly high fish load tank or the fish get fed really well?


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

The best solution when you have too much light is to raise the fixtures. then its to reduce photo period, then finally reduce wattage. 

You'll notice most people get BBA or tough spot algae on the hardware close to the light surface, that is due to the light sitting right on top of the tank. They may have the perfect light level lower in the tank, but the difference is substantial as you get closer to the surface. By raising the lights and using stronger light sources (with CFLs its really easy), you narrow the difference in par from the top of the tank to the bottom. That is why you see many tanks with their light sources sometimes a foot or more off the surface.

With java ferns, i found that if the fixtures are right on the tank, you often need to find a way to shade the plant. I try to use my lotus to shade them, and where they cant, i make sure the plants are closter to the substrate. Otherwise you'll need to keep trimming little bits of BBA off the tips.

As for the other the other algae, its really hard to eliminate it without proper ferts and co2 injection. Reason being is you need light to limit the plant growth, the moment you let nutrients or carbon limit plant growth, algae happens. For non co2, your options are go complete low tech, or to use a co2 substitute, which are mentioned in the co2 stickies.


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## PeteAce (Oct 23, 2010)

The 66 is LxWxH 48"x16"x19".. I don't have the parameters now but last time I checked it was good and water change 20-30% every week. I put some tablet fertilizers when I first put the plants in. Not too many fish and only fed twice a day.

My main concern in the 20g is the java moss... don't care about the ferns. I thought moss need some good light to be healthy... it's growing well now, but there are also a lot of cotton algae.

Instead of taking out one of the bulbs... can I just reduce the light timer? I'm getting some LED moonlights for the 66 soon so the regular lights will be reduced.


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## PeteAce (Oct 23, 2010)

I can't raise my fixtures as they're built-in the hood. I will try to reduce photo period... would 8 hours be enough for fish?

Oh I forgot to mention those spot and string algae grow on my 66's glass too, I have to scrub the entire tank every 2 weeks... sick.



neven said:


> The best solution when you have too much light is to raise the fixtures. then its to reduce photo period, then finally reduce wattage.


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## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

i got rid of my algae by doing a 2 day blackout then adding a bunch more plants haha

worked for me...


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## fisherman (Apr 22, 2010)

nerite snails would reduce the algae a good amount... 8 hours of lighting would help alot also..


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## EDGE (Aug 24, 2010)

2x 40 watt T12 over 66 gallon shouldn't give you algae problem normally. 

What is your plant load like in the 66g? What are you using for substrate? Do you gravel vac? Possible to feed once a day? Algae gets worse as the organic waste goes up. Can you cut back your feeding to once a day or are you growing out your fish?

Quick fix without CO2 is go with spit.fire method. add more plants, add seachem equilibrium. The K will help with the metabolism of the plants to help bring the organic waste down faster. Aim for a few heavy root feeding plants as they help break down the organic waste in the substrate/gravel better than stem plants. If you want stem plants, bacopa sp, ludwigia repens, rotala rotundifolia, hygrophila sp. 

As for the 20 gallon. If this is only for moss, You can scale back the light quite a bit. go with 9w or less CFL instead of 15 cfl.


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## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

EDGE said:


> 2x 40 watt T12 over 66 gallon shouldn't give you algae problem normally.
> 
> What is your plant load like in the 66g? What are you using for substrate? Do you gravel vac? Possible to feed once a day? Algae gets worse as the organic waste goes up. Can you cut back your feeding to once a day or are you growing out your fish?
> 
> ...


im not to sure what its called but the "grass" in this pic seems to grow real quick and has a decent sized root system. After i put it in my 30gal it seemed to help slow down / stop the algae


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## aquafeet (Jan 18, 2011)

Easiest thing to try is put your lights on a timer so the tank isn't lit for more than 4 hours at a time (algae need this amount of time to start using light for energy - plants start converting in a few minutes). So if you want your plants to get a total of 12 hours of light a day, do it in 3 shifts of four hours. You also need to have at break of 2 hours between the light shifts where there is no light, or very little - this way the algae "turn off" again before the next light shift (where it will take it fours hours to get ramped up again to start using light). I got rid of algae this way quite effectively.


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## tang daddy (Apr 21, 2010)

Reading this post led me to believe that your moss is melting, while most people have no problem with growing moss I have experienced the same stuff you're going through.

As edge said earlier if we know more about your tanks, like substrate, parameters and feeding aswell as bioload it will be easier for us to pinpoint your problem.

Heres where I have run into problems with moss melting..... too high or low ph, I find moss to be tough but that can be said about most plants....I made the mistake of not completely emptying coral sand in my old marine set up probably had quarter cup in a 50g, to this day my planted 50g suffers the same symptom with hair algae if I dont consistantly do weekly water changes....basically if I leave it for a month the ph slowly climbs up and the moss starts to melt.

In my Ada planted tanks, the substrate is very acidic again with the lack of water changes and constant co2 injection the ph drops causing the moss to melt....

Here is what I found to help....correcting the GH to 4 and weekly water changes. Too much nutrients in the tank can cause bba, as most have mentioned overfeeding, lack of WC and overstocking fish all work hand in hand to feed the bba....

I would do as most suggested on here: feed every other day, do 50% water changes for 1 month then cut down to 25% weekly and lastly reduce your light to 8 yrs daily.


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