# Balancing lighting and c02



## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Hi Lee77, 

That's such an open ended question. But I guess I'll try to generalize the answer...

For me, I'd argue that you should start with as much stable CO2 as your fish can handle and as little light as it takes to let your plants grow properly. Don't forget your fertilizers!

Since this is in the algae section of the forum, I'll assume that your focus is on preventing algae. So, the next step is to see if your plants are growing and if algae is held at bay. If yes, you can step up the light a little more. If you have an algae takeover, then most likely, you've outpaced your CO2. Of course, this is assuming you are at least dosing fertilizers all along. At any point of this process, if your selection of plants are growing happily and fast enough for you, feel free to keep the light at that "lower" level. I feel that too many people try to push for higher light with no good reason. That's just asking for algae.

There are a few tricks to increase your CO2, but without knowing how you're injecting, I'll generalize again. Go with the best co2 system/method you can afford, the best reactor you can buy/build and agitate the surface of your water to allow your fish to tolerate more CO2. Notice, I didn't exactly say 'expensive.' You just need to research whats the best way for you to provide a stable, ample supply of CO2 or you'll probably not achieve your balance either. I'll also assume you have an adjustable light, but if not, you'll either have to find ways of suspending your light higher from the tank or blocking some of the light with screens, film, etc.

Oh, one more thing, the balance you seek is sometimes a moving target as you progress and change things in your tank, so compensate accordingly.

Hope that helps.


----------



## Lee77 (Sep 16, 2017)

Hi ipkiss, 
Thanks for the info and yes I'm starting to get black hair algae ( think that's what it's called). I started to increase the light time as I wasn't getting any algae. I'm injecting through an inline atomiser and into the tank through a spray bar with a slight ripple on the surface and dosing ferts a complete one (macros and micros) I've recently stepped these up and increased the co2 in order to try and stop the algae in its tracks. 
I've only recently re scaped my tank 2 weeks ago and new to this part of the hobby I just had a gravel substrate and no co2 so plants were not good. 
My plants are now growing well. 
Substrate is tropica aquarium soil.
I've changed my t5 bulbs for LEDs Arcadia freshwater pro and tropical pro they are on 8 hours a day. The tank is a Juwel Rio 180 the light unit is 2" above the water. 
All prams are good and looking at the drop checker it's a nice lime green colour. Ph controller set to give a ph of 6.
Should I decrease the light time? And see how the algae reacts but still dose extra ferts and co2. 
Thanks for the help.


----------



## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

The dreaded black beard algae? Mostly short tufts of hair? Oh man, that's the rough one. There's tons of threads on that one. All sorts of speculations. Well, like you said, you increased light and it showed up. That 'usually' means you've went past the CO2 you're able to provide. At some point, you'll probably have to start thinking about a reactor as they usually dilute CO2 in more efficiently. More plumbing, but it'll probably be worth it. Some people will claim a ph controller causes fluctuations in CO2 supply that may trigger the BBA too, but I don't know how accurate that is. Whether or not it's true, I feel that it still fits into the theory of too much light for the CO2 you're supplying. Well, you did say that you've already increased the CO2 so probably just hang on for a little to see if it takes effect. What already grew will only go away if you spray some hydrogen peroxide or excel on it. It should turn red and fade away. You'll know if your changes worked if it comes back or not. 

Decreasing the light time should help, but I can see the point of keeping it at your increased level if you want to only make one change at a time to figure out what really works. There's other things about BBA that people (myself included) that sort of helped was reducing organics, finding a "real" siamese algae eater, doing an anti BBA dance, sacrificing some small animal, okay, maybe I'm going off on a tangent  I spent a couple years with it -- just spraying it every water change until I figured out what worked. I hope you fare better. At the end, it's probably most likely the CO2, but a siamese algae eater wouldn't hurt.


----------



## Lee77 (Sep 16, 2017)

Yes think I'm going to invest in a reactor is there any that you recommend? And a Siamese algae eater.
I have some tnc liquid carbon I can spot treat the algae with, failing that When using the hydrogen peroxide do I dilute it or use straight from the bottle at 3%? 
Thanks again I'll keep you posted on my progress.


----------



## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Hi Lee77,

If you're sort of the handy type, you can diy a reactor that's just as good or even better than the store bought ones. I'm partial to the cerges type only because I researched it first : http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/20-diy/110100-cerges-reactor-diy-inline-co2-reactor.html, but I hear the rex griggs reactors are gaining more favor lately for it's simplicity and possibly higher efficiency. 

rex grigg's reactor
How To Build A CO2 Reactor | Build a Regulator | Test Kit
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/9-equipment/1133650-how-set-up-rexx-griggs-reactor.html
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/9-equipment/1119826-need-reactor-advice.html

plus, there's plantedtank members (nilocg) who build variants of them for sale. 

As for hydrogen peroxide, I went with this style http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/23-algae/747466-anyone-spot-dose-h2o2-instead-1-2-punch.html. As described by others in the thread, I don't recall diluting my peroxide, but I made sure that the amount I used never exceeded the max that was safe based on the 1-2 punch method. 

True siamese algae eaters are hard to get due to all sorts of fish being sold as one. I suggest that you do a decent amount of research on this one too. In addition, even amongst true siamese algae eaters, I feel that they develop different habits and they are not as effective over time. I suspect they voraciously scour algae at the store because they get starved, but in your home tank with easy food, they sort of know what's easier and go for that. So, your own fish feeding regimen may affect it. My last of 3 siamese algae eaters seem to appreciate both easy food and algae still. Then again, I do forget to feed my fish sometimes ^^;

Here's some links to help with that:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/21-fish/199693-true-siamese-algae-eater.html
http://www.fishlore.com/aquariummagazine/may08/siamese-algae-eater-id.htm
Aquaticscape.com
Will the Real SAE Please Swim Forward? Epalzeorhynchus and Crossocheilus et al.; or Minnows as Biological Algae Controls; In Search of the Elusive SAE's (Siamese Algae Eaters)


I guess whatever you end up with, I think the consensus is don't get sucked into buying a chinese algae eater or one of them being sold as a siamese algae eater. 

and out of all this, beware of changing too many things at once or too fast together. sometimes, it may do more harm than good.

good luck!


----------

