Hi everyone, I got a situation with my 29G tank. It's slowly but surely getting all types of algae. Below is a brief description of my setup:
total of 8~ light split with 2 hour break inbetween
nitrates above 40ppm
co2 via citric acid + baking soda with a DIY intank bell reactor
I dose is micros, KNO3, KH2PO4 but recently stopped dosing KNO3 due to high nitrates
30-40% water change every week
The algae I'm getting are black brush algae, some kind of long black hair algae, green spotted algae, and some thin threads of green algae on the glass.
I believe it is not a lack of CO2 being that I'm getting all these algae growing on my bell reactor as well. So would that mean I'm lacking in some form of nutrition? I will admit some days I don't dose anything and sometimes I dont turn on co2 until 1-3 hours the light turns on.
What type of light are you using? Maybe they are too bright and need the intensity reduced and/or reduce the time period?
If you are trying to accomplish "siesta" for the plants, 2 hour break is too short. According to Ms Walstad, plants need at least 4 hours to siesta, so I think your 2 hour break is just adding to the "lighting period" as the plants don't have enough time to switch over to "not photosynthesizing" mode. This would help algae thrive.
I've tried siesta before and I just got more algae (4hrs on, 5 off, 4 on) so I've since stopped.
I'm with lucius - reduce the light, and/or reduce the lighting period. Drop the break or make it 4-5 hours. Its easier to reduce light to control algae than it is to tinker with nutrients and CO2 to get balance.
its possible my light is too bright, i found my chihiros a series wasn't the nicest shade of light and didn't seem to pearl my pearlweeds.
I added my old floodlight which was extremely bright but only covered around 12inch wide distance. Combined this light intensity may have been too strong. I'll see what I can do about reducing the light quality. My planted started pearling like crazy once I had the floodlight on so most lightly its really strong.