New planted tank

I started a new planted tank about a month ago lights are on for 10hrs and
have been getting algie, so I decided to get some algie eaters.. I was told
by my LFS that my lights are on to long for a tank under 6 months old she
told me that the lights should be on for 4hrs, and that the algie that is in
there right now is not good for algie eaters. She also told me that the
four hours is enough for the plants. I was wondering what other peoples
experience was starting there tank.

That makes no sense at all. Is the sun is up for only 4 hours a day? An
aquarium is suppose to mimic the natural habitat of plants and animals.
Many aquarium plants come from tropical regions of the world where
their location on the globe means they get 12+ hours a day.

Yes it's true, there are several (many?) types of algae fish won't
touch.

A hard lesson I have learned: The presence of excessive algae in your
tank means there is a nutrient imbalance. It seems that whatever
nutrient is in excess, determines the type of algae growth. I had an
excess of phosphates in my tank and consequently grew LOTS of BGA (blue
green algae or cyanobacteria).

Read up on it. There is lots to learn!

My aquarium info & pics at:
http://www.geocities.com/spiral_72/Spirals_page.html

On Fri, 24 Jun 2005 01:05:49 GMT, "Tink"
wrote:

I started a new planted tank about a month ago lights are on for 10hrs and
have been getting algie, so I decided to get some algie eaters.. I was told
by my LFS that my lights are on to long for a tank under 6 months old she
told me that the lights should be on for 4hrs, and that the algie that is in
there right now is not good for algie eaters. She also told me that the
four hours is enough for the plants. I was wondering what other peoples
experience was starting there tank.



I have my tank lights on for 13 hours a day. I have a 2 hour dark
period for some reason I know longer remember, but it is at a time I
am usually napping or reading so I leave the timers set as is.

Plants need light and darkness. I am sure none of us provide anything
approaching the variety of lighting conditions found in nature and we
have plant varieties living together that would not normally cohabit.

Thus, I suggest you set your lighting hours to fit your schedule. A
dark fish tank is not interesting to have around! g

As to algae, there are many species requiring different methods to be
rid of them. As part of an early "get rid of the algae" effort in my
tanks, I added Black Mollies and Siamese Algae Eaters. I fell in love
with the SAEs and now have 12 in three tanks. However, I also have 2
tanks with no special algae eaters and all 5 tanks have similar algae
problems: spots of green algae on the glass, black looking algae on
some plants, and until recently some brown algae on the glass. Oh
yes, I run air bubblers and accumulate a green slime on the covering
glass/plastic above the air bubbles. I have to clean this off every
month or so.

Unless you have one of the more wicked algae problems such as the
infamous "Black Hair Algae" I would suggest a "live and let live"
attitude. One must balance the effort needed to make improvements
against the $$$ and effort needed to achieve some modicum of
improvement.

Happy fishing!

dick