# I'm alex and I need help!



## ThaiP (Oct 1, 2014)

Light on from 6-9 than 4-? If you have your light on from 6am to 9pm (15 hours... too much light - been there, done that a week ago).

If it was 6am - 9am then 4pm to?


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## brooksie321 (Jul 19, 2014)

ThaiP said:


> Light on from 6-9 than 4-? If you have your light on from 6am to 9pm (15 hours... too much light - been there, done that a week ago).
> 
> If it was 6am - 9am then 4pm to?


Yep, my b...


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## Raymond S. (Dec 29, 2012)

If you have two LED fixtures on a 20t tank, that is why it's there.
The pictures aren't close enough to tell for sure but I believe it's hair algae. Cladophora is the other choice but the texture of it in the third picture looks to be hair algae. This usually only grows when the light is intense.
One of those lights is enough in a tank/w injected CO2 to grow DHG.
The rest of the plants don't even need that much.


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## greaser84 (Feb 2, 2014)

Way too much light, shoot for between 6-8 hours. The finnex planted plus is more than enough light for a 20gallon. Do you have a drop checker? I never like to judge bsp but your probably not adding enough CO2 or turning it on early enough, try turning the CO2 on 2 hours before. If you have a KH and PH test you can test the water right before the lights turn on and throughout the photoperiod to see if you have around 30ppm CO2. http://fishfriend.com/aquarium_co2_calculator.html Its not a perfect test but it should give you a idea of your CO2 levels. Consistence is what your looking for. I'd pull all the driftwood and rocks out and scrub them with a toothbrush. Even a mild bleach dip would kill that algae. What are your water parameters? I'd imagine with a fully stocked tank there are some nutrients you don't even need to dose as your fish supply them.


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## brooksie321 (Jul 19, 2014)

I don't think its too much light, anyone else?


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## g4search (Aug 10, 2014)

Alex,
this is a sedentary, short hair algae, probably a _cladophora_ species. It is extremely difficult to get rid of, since it is so plant-like. You could try the 1 - 2 punch to destroy most of it, but I doubt that you can truly get rid of the algae.

Fortunately, this is also a type of algae that fish really like. (If your tank was a cichlid tank you wouldn't have this problem.) There are quite a few tropical fish (e.g. molly & platy) that consume this algae as well.

Further, I suggest that you play with your lights (dimming). You should be able to rid of these algae at least on the bottom of your tank, however this is a long process. Another way is to use some floating plants.

Good luck.


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## ThaiP (Oct 1, 2014)

So you're going for 8 hours of light with a long break around noon... Are you sure there are no other source of light in the room?


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## roadmaster (Nov 5, 2009)

brooksie321 said:


> I don't think its too much light, anyone else?


 
Your plants say otherwise.
Also see no mention made of nutrients.


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## brooksie321 (Jul 19, 2014)

g4search said:


> Alex,
> this is a sedentary, short hair algae, probably a _cladophora_ species. It is extremely difficult to get rid of, since it is so plant-like. You could try the 1 - 2 punch to destroy most of it, but I doubt that you can truly get rid of the algae.
> 
> Fortunately, this is also a type of algae that fish really like. (If your tank was a cichlid tank you wouldn't have this problem.) There are quite a few tropical fish (e.g. molly & platy) that consume this algae as well.
> ...


Ouch, the corys and otos nibble but not enough to make a dent, would you recommend a 3 day blackout?


ThaiP said:


> So you're going for 8 hours of light with a long break around noon... Are you sure there are no other source of light in the room?


The tank is by a window, i keep the shade drawn but my stupid gf opens it all the time, i may move the tank to a darker area, none of my tanks in the other room have this issue.


roadmaster said:


> Your plants say otherwise.
> Also see no mention made of nutrients.


I dose pps pro as directed.


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## Clear Water (Sep 20, 2014)

roadmaster said:


> Your plants say otherwise.
> Also see no mention made of nutrients.


I agree. 

I had the same problem until I cut my hours. I have even cut back to 6 hours a day. I also only have one led light on top of my 20 gallon tanks with no problems and very little alga.


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## brooksie321 (Jul 19, 2014)

Clear Water said:


> I agree.
> 
> I had the same problem until I cut my hours. I have even cut back to 6 hours a day. I also only have one led light on top of my 20 gallon tanks with no problems and very little alga.


Ok I'll try cutting the light to 3 and 3.5 hrs.


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## Mark.burns43 (Jun 12, 2014)

I love the look on the wood but the plants ouchie.


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## brooksie321 (Jul 19, 2014)

Mark.burns43 said:


> I love the look on the wood but the plants ouchie.


Yah, i don't mind it, looks natural, the dhg is really the worst, I may have to trim it down to the substrate and see what happens?


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## vinizuh (Sep 17, 2014)

Your main problem is there is not enough plants to balance that much light and nutrients. Also your current plants aren't fully established. High light/high tech setups from day 1 usually turn into algae farms because it's close to impossible to balance.

The finnex fixture is perfectly fine to start off with. Not sure why you think its not enough? You can always add more light when your plants start to fill up the tank but i see no point in that... unless you like to do weekly trimmings. It gets old pretty quick IME.


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## brooksie321 (Jul 19, 2014)

vinizuh said:


> Your main problem is there is not enough plants to balance that much light and nutrients. Also your current plants aren't fully established. High light/high tech setups from day 1 usually turn into algae farms because it's close to impossible to balance.
> 
> The finnex fixture is perfectly fine to start off with. Not sure why you think its not enough? You can always add more light when your plants start to fill up the tank but i see no point in that... unless you like to do weekly trimmings. It gets old pretty quick IME.


That makes a lot of sense, I started with just the planted plus and it was worse, as the plants have grown in i moved the planted plus forward so it was right over the dhg, the algae has been getting better on the stem plants as they grow in, seems to be getting worse on the dhg and surrounding substrate.


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## vinizuh (Sep 17, 2014)

brooksie321 said:


> That makes a lot of sense, I started with just the planted plus and it was worse, as the plants have grown in i moved the planted plus forward so it was right over the dhg, the algae has been getting better on the stem plants as they grow in, seems to be getting worse on the dhg and surrounding substrate.


This speaks volumes for itself. The planted+ is too much light for your current plant stock. 

Try raising the fixture above the tank a few inches, or float some fast growers like wisteria or duck weed.


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## brooksie321 (Jul 19, 2014)

vinizuh said:


> This speaks volumes for itself. The planted+ is too much light for your current plant stock.
> 
> Try raising the fixture above the tank a few inches, or float some fast growers like wisteria or duck weed.


Hmm, I thought dhg required higher light?


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## vinizuh (Sep 17, 2014)

brooksie321 said:


> Hmm, I thought dhg required higher light?


It is not required, DHG can do well on medium light with co2. But the key here is balance.. You need more plant mass.

As you can see here, my DHG did amazing on medium light.

90 gallon 48x18x24
T5HO 2x 54w 6500k bulbs
day 1(water is still cloudy)









1 month
Added water sprite for plant mass to help reduce algae and absorb extra nutrients from the water.









3 months (today)
about 80% fully carpeted. 










BTW, this is my first planted tank and i decided to go high tech 2 months in.


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## brooksie321 (Jul 19, 2014)

vinizuh said:


> It is not required, DHG can do well on medium light with co2. But the key here is balance.. You need more plant mass.
> 
> As you can see here, my DHG did amazing on medium light.
> 
> ...


Sick..... I'm going to raise the light.. i have some anarchis I can throw in there for the time being to soak up excess nutrients


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## brooksie321 (Jul 19, 2014)

Little update. I physically picked this tank up and moved it to a much darker room, no windows right next to it... looking a wee bit..less green. Still have some work to do. I'm leaving the back alone, otos, shrimp and snails hit it up frequently


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## SankenAquaticFoliage (Dec 9, 2014)

brooksie321 said:


> I don't think its too much light, anyone else?


15 hours is far too much light, espically if you have two lighting systems...6-8 hours is probably ideal


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## brooksie321 (Jul 19, 2014)

SankenAquaticFoliage said:


> 15 hours is far too much light, espically if you have two lighting systems...6-8 hours is probably ideal


It's a split photoperiod.. not 15 continuous hours.. more like 6.5.


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## Lyana (Aug 4, 2014)

Pretty sure OP is saying they run the light in the morning and again at night not 15 hours straight.

The algae looks kind of cool on the driftwood :hihi:


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## brooksie321 (Jul 19, 2014)

Little update...


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## Coralbandit (Feb 25, 2013)

^nice!^


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## brooksie321 (Jul 19, 2014)

Coralbandit said:


> ^nice!^


The myrio grows is so fast I May need to remove it, the limno need more food!! I freakin love my blyxa, can't remember who it was but I got it on here and it's one nifty my favs!


Coralbandit said:


> ^nice!^


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