Dave M. Picklyk wrote:
Nearly half a year ago I upgraded to 4 wpg (yah I know, holy crap am I
nuts?) I noticed an increase of algae proliferation. Mostly it (green hard
algae) starts to collect on the glass on the front (Probably because now I
have one of the bulbs closer to the front). My anubias MUST hide under other
plants to grow without algae because of the high lighting. One bush of
plants I have been cropping a lot of leaves off that have spot algae. I know
4wpg is a huge challenge to maintain a balanced aquarium but...any
suggestions?

Specs:
- 15 gallon wide (12" high)
- approx. 24-28ppm C02
- Fertilizing 1/8 tsp (0.6ml) KNO3 every other day and 3/4 tsp (3.6ml) of
traces on the off-days (I stopped doing P...but should I start?)
- Perform a 50% water change every week (scrape glass, remove algae infested
leaves)
- 3 SAEs, 4 otosinclus, 8 harlequin rasboras, some clowns & cats
- 12 hrs/day of 4wpg light with acrylic mirrored reflector (three 24" bulbs
spaced evenly)
- huge amount of plant proliferation, lots of fast growing hygrophila
polysperma, hygrophila polysperma 'Rosanervig', rotala indica, ludwigia
repens (extremely red, really no green on this plant...possibly a sign that
I need more nitrate?...after the light increase this reddened immensely),
lush and fast growing java fern, hidden anubias growing on driftwood (did
much better when I had 2.66 wpg), a huge forest of crypt that sprouts
everywhere!, bacopa australis that is getting algae on lots of the leaves
but growing fast.

Opinions? Thanx!!

Dave



The red colors on your plants are from the light intensity. That's one
of the really fun results of high light intensity and good amounts of
iron. Spot algae is one that likes high light intensity, which is why
you're seeing it now. I'd actually try dropping the nitrate rather than
increasing because you have a lot of fish in the tank, but don't drop the K.

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__ Elaine T __
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