Is there such a thing as too much light?

[Kats]

Our tank is down to 6 hours of light per day... but yet... I am still fighting algea... green and black!!!

The tank is not in the direct light, it's setup on an inside wall in a room that gets plenty of light but no direct sunshine.

We have lots of plants in there that I can't name because I don't know their names (2 that I know is a sword and the contest plant...)

I have algea covering almost every surface, less on the glass but lots on the decoration and, on ALL of my plants 

We have the H2O T5 ballast with 2x39w in it....  could it be that it is too much light for my 46G?  I have been thinking about buying bulbs that are less powerful but I'm afraid I'd kill my plants....   

Any suggestions?

[dan2x38]

What type of substrate? How deep is your substrate? How tall is your tank? Any CO2? Add ferts? Any root tabs? Do you know what your NO3 level is? How about PO4 (phosphate) any tests for that? How often do you do water changes? On city water or well?

[jrs]

To answer your question directly; within reason, no you can't have too much light over a tank.  I have 130W over a 20g.  Superficially plant growth is a pretty simple equation:

light  +  ferts  +  CO2  --->  plant growth

However the amount/concentration of each of these is directly proportional to one another.  Therefore if you have high light but are low on ferts and/or CO2 then you will get algae.  In your case it sounds like you have made your ferts and CO2 your limiting factors.  You need to establish a balanced relationship between those three or you will continue to have algae issues.

[jackura]

yes or no, it can be too much light or turned on too long may lead to the algea to growth in ur tank.

[charlie]

To answer your question directly; within reason, no you can't have too much light over a tank.  I have 130W over a 20g.  Superficially plant growth is a pretty simple equation:

light  +  ferts  +  CO2  --->  plant growth

However the amount/concentration of each of these is directly proportional to one another.  Therefore if you have high light but are low on ferts and/or CO2 then you will get algae.  In your case it sounds like you have made your ferts and CO2 your limiting factors.  You need to establish a balanced relationship between those three or you will continue to have algae issues.

jrs has summed up best,algae is a sure sign that the plants are limited in their uptake, you need to get the system balanced , in that light drives growth, as the plants grow, they need food namely & in this order carbon ( co2 most common source), macro nutrients ( Nitrate, phosphate & potassium), Micro nutrients ( trace elements) ,

If you can identify the type of algae you are having , it could give you a good indication of what is lacking

[fischkopp]

A good explanation by JRS.

With the amount of light over your tank you will very likely have to do a bit more than 'just keeping' the plants in there. First of all, the lighting period shall be between 10-12 hours, more or less will benefit algae. Second, given the amount of light you may want to consider adding a bit of CO2 to your tank or actually reduce the intensity a bit (while CO2 will be more successful IMHO). You should also check whether your tank is planted enough with a combination of fast and slow growing plants.

[kennyman]

I run a bit larger tank with a bit less light, but still pretty similar. I get by just fine (all-be-it slowly) without CO2 injection however I do need to add a capfull of carbon supplement and two capfulls of comprehensive liquid fertilizer each week. This provides enough nutrition to keep my plants growing. Once the plants are actively growing they seem to take the nutrients before the algae gets it.

[irene]

I run a bit larger tank with a bit less light, but still pretty similar.

I'm assuming you are talking about your 55g?  What lighting do you have on it?  Just curious as my 55g is currently growing an algae farm. 

Irene

[kennyman]

I'm assuming you are talking about your 55g?  What lighting do you have on it?  Just curious as my 55g is currently growing an algae farm. 

Irene

2x 40w T12's

[Kats]

Dan2x38 said: "What type of substrate? How deep is your substrate? How tall is your tank? Any CO2? Add ferts? Any root tabs? Do you know what your NO3 level is? How about PO4 (phosphate) any tests for that? How often do you do water changes? On city water or well?"

We have fluorite mixed in with the gravel.  Our tank is 20 inches, no CO2, no ferts or root tabs and we do not do or own test kits for NO3 or PO4.  We do 20% water changes every week on city water (treated with prime and not directly out of the tap).

Charlie said: "If you can identify the type of algae you are having , it could give you a good indication of what is lacking"

We have green and black brush algea.  Some gooey type of green stuff too.

I'll go to BA this weekend and check at the nutrients and stuff like that.  I'm not sure I want to start with the CO2 but giving the plants additional nutrients seems like a good plan!  I don't know the names of all my plants, I have 2 that need constant trimming, 2 others that are less agressive and a sword which is growly surely but slowly.  My contest plant is not doing well though 

THanks for the advice!!

[charlie]

Dan2x38 said: "What type of substrate? How deep is your substrate? How tall is your tank? Any CO2? Add ferts? Any root tabs? Do you know what your NO3 level is? How about PO4 (phosphate) any tests for that? How often do you do water changes? On city water or well?"

We have fluorite mixed in with the gravel.  Our tank is 20 inches, no CO2, no ferts or root tabs and we do not do or own test kits for NO3 or PO4.  We do 20% water changes every week on city water (treated with prime and not directly out of the tap).

Charlie said: "If you can identify the type of algae you are having , it could give you a good indication of what is lacking"

We have green and black brush algea.  Some gooey type of green stuff too.I'll go to BA this weekend and check at the nutrients and stuff like that.  I'm not sure I want to start with the CO2 but giving the plants additional nutrients seems like a good plan!  I don't know the names of all my plants, I have 2 that need constant trimming, 2 others that are less agressive and a sword which is growly surely but slowly.  My contest plant is not doing well though 

THanks for the advice!!

That green gooey stuff might be BGA, cyano bacteria, do some research on it, your best bet at the moment is to try & remove as much of it as possible probably trim some of the BBA away , do a good water change & do a black out of the tank, then another water change & start a co2 nutrient regime, if you search on the site here , BigDaddy has a article on how to do a black out.
good luck

[Kats]

OK, my hubby came up with something.  We had a bubbler going on in the tank.  Would stopping the bubbler increase the CO2 enough to help with the algea?

[dan2x38]

Bubble wands & airstones will gas off the CO2 present but it will not be enough to make a difference. If your adding aeration will gas off a lot of your CO2. Aerating is great when the temp. is to be rasied or keeping the water warm. If your cycling the tank  with high levels of NO2 it helps too. Also if are adding high levels of CO2 putting a timer to turn on aeration t night can be done to reduce CO2.

[BigDaddy]

First off, CO2 should not be a requirement on the tank, although it will help.

The big thing you are doing that hasn't been stressed enough in this thread... turn your lights back on!  The plants can't grow without a good photoperiod.  Go back up to 10 or 12 and let your plants get a decent day's light so they can start outcompeting the algae for the nutrients.

Knowing which plants you have is also a good idea.  If you have a bunch of high light plants in there that require CO2, obviously that isn't an ideal situation.  Conversely, if you have nothing but low light plants, you don't have anything that grows fast enough to get things back in order again.

As far as the bubbler goes, if you weren't injecting CO2 into the tank, the bubbler isn't going to outgas anything.  All it will do is help maintain atmospheric levels of CO2, but nothing more than that.

Vacuum out the BGA, trim back the BBA as best you can... and find out what plants you have in there so you have a better idea what conditions you HAVE vs. what conditions they NEED.

[Jeff1192]

I was having similar problems with my tank. It's 1.7 watts per gallon, no CO2. I found that by stopping adding most fertilizers and adding quite a few fast growing stem plants (lots of different hygro)  my algae problems are almost completely gone.

Hope this helps.

Jeff

[Kats]

OK, back to normal hours then.  I went to BA and bought some Flourish.  My tank has been "scrubbed" clean of BGA this morning (trimmed all the high stems plants that were full of it and scrapped it off the glass in the back.

I know very little about my plants... other than a A. Undulatus (contest plant) and a sword.... I don't know what I have....  I see it, I like it and I buy it.  Dan and Charlie's plants are in there since the beginning, they helped me start it so they may remember what I have 

I added some pictures of my tank in my gallery:
http://ovas.ca/index.php?action=gallery;su=user;cat=309;u=2528

it's kind of all short now because of this morning's trimming but there are 2 long stem plants in there that grow like crazy....

[charlie]

Ok here is my stab  ( guess, subject to correction  )it appears you have , judging form the pics. you posted in your gallery
Pic 1 - looks like Hygrophila polysperma
Pic 2 - Looks like  Limnophila sessiliflora in the middle - & Vallisneria americana (natans) left
Pic. 3 not 100% but looks like Egeria densa
Pic. 4 - apart from the contest plant, the red plant looks like a freshly purchased batch of Rotala macrandra, this one can cause you heartaches, this plant can prove to be a challenge for a lot of folks
Pic.5 , - more of the others + some Java fern ( I think)
Pic 6 - looks like some more Hygrophila polysperma  but the Giant hygro vartiety & a bit of Bacopa near the pick up tube
Pic 7 -all of the above
now how much did i get right 

[charlie]

OK, back to normal hours then.  I went to BA and bought some Flourish.  My tank has been "scrubbed" clean of BGA this morning (trimmed all the high stems plants that were full of it and scrapped it off the glass in the back.
I know very little about my plants... other than a A. Undulatus (contest plant) and a sword.... I don't know what I have....  I see it, I like it and I buy it.  Dan and Charlie's plants are in there since the beginning, they helped me start it so they may remember what I have 

I added some pictures of my tank in my gallery:
http://ovas.ca/index.php?action=gallery;su=user;cat=309;u=2528

it's kind of all short now because of this morning's trimming but there are 2 long stem plants in there that grow like crazy....

I still think you shoud do the balck out to rid the tank of what algae is left, what FLOURISH did you buy ? , are you sure its BGA or BBA that was on the back glass

Here is al ink that provides cause & remedey of algae , i have found it to be pretty helpful, infact i have found his entire site to be helpful when venturing into planted tanks.
http://www.rexgrigg.com/Algae1.html

[dan2x38]

looking from the front:

back right corner- Bacopa carolina - grows fast, roots poorly
in front of Bacopa- Hygrophila polysperma- grows fast
front right ground plant- green cyrpt - slow
left beside Bacopa- Alternanthera reineckii - I think - med. growth needs higher light
left of the reineckii- Hygrophila difformis- grows fast
left of Westeria- Egeria densa - grows fast in cooler water with med. light
left of Egeria- Spiral val. - med. light - grows fast when established
in front of the Val.- Limnophila sessiliflora- grows fast
right of the sessilifora- Hygrophila polysperma- grows fast
right of the polysperma- A. Undulatus- meds. high light will grow fast with ferts, CO2, & hi-light

At least these are my guesses... let Charlie & BD correct me... Thank God for experience!

PS- nice looking tank guys... 

[Kats]

Thanks Charlie!  I'll try to remember those names    (better yet, I'll print them down!!!)   

I had some of both.  BGA was all over my plants and some parts of the back (mostly behind the filter)  BBA was on the heater and the tube for the aeration block.

I bought the Comprehensive Supplement for the planted Aquarium Flourish (seachem)....  Is that OK?