brown algae-how to control with live plants

Rico wrote in message . ..
I'm in the process of migrating from artifial to live plants. My set
up is a 55gal tank, Eheim Professional II Canister filter, Coral Life
compact flourescent light 230 watts. My chemistry is
Ph 7.0
dKH 4
dGH 10
Nitrites 0
Amonia 0
Nitrates 80

Too much NO3 and too much light.
If you are using CO2, this is still a huge amount of light.
Without CO2 it is a recipe for algae and problems.
1/2 this amount of lighting would be better and fine with a CO2
enriched tank.
50-70% weekly water changes will correct things for you.
What is wrong with your tap water BTW?
Why use RO and go through all that hassle?
Is it for the fish?

Plants do better in harder water.
Fish will not stress out due to hard water increases of say 2-4KH.
Altums and Discus did fine.
Something else is causing the fish ick, maybe 80ppm of NO3.....

Otto cats will eat brown algae, diatoms.

If I stick to R/O water, what can I use to raise it's KH to 3-4?

As said, baking soda.

What is a normal water temp fluctuation? Should I keep the heater on
so the water temp does not drop during the night?

2 degrees perhaps.

What can I use to eliminate the algae?

Grow the plants and have lots of them.

BTW, while I'm waiting on the CO2 injection system, I'm using the
jungle fizz from a friend.

That's not going to do much on a 230 w, 4+ w/gal PC lighted tank.
You need a decent gas system, a KH of about 3 and a GH of about 5 or
so.
With a KH of 3, your pH target by adding CO2 gas ONLY, will be 6.5.
Try and keep this pH using only CO2 gas while the lights are on and
keep it close to this pH the entire time the lights are on. 6.5-6.6 is
your target range for a KH of 3.

Regards,
Tom Barr


Thanks

Jerry

PS: Please post your reply to the group as the email addy is not valid
to prevent spam.

I live in Florida and the water seems to be on the hard side. Here are
the results of my tap water.
Ph 7.4-7.6
dKH 9
dGH 15
Nitrates 0
Would you still recommend using the tap or stick with the R/o and add
baking soda to it to raise it's KH?

My CO2 system should be here by the middle of next week. These are the
components:
1 sms 122 co2 automatic shutoff made by milwaukee
1 CO2 Regulator with needle valve, solenoid valve, and bubble counter.
Dual guage regulator displays output pressure and bottle pressure.
Standard American CO2 bottle connection. made by milwaukee
1 Reactor 1000 co2 reactor Aqua Medic

BTW, Thanks for the websites. They are full of good info.

Rico

On 10 Jul 2004 10:54:45 -0700,
) wrote:

Rico wrote in message . ..
I'm in the process of migrating from artifial to live plants. My set
up is a 55gal tank, Eheim Professional II Canister filter, Coral Life
compact flourescent light 230 watts. My chemistry is
Ph 7.0
dKH 4
dGH 10
Nitrites 0
Amonia 0
Nitrates 80

Too much NO3 and too much light.
If you are using CO2, this is still a huge amount of light.
Without CO2 it is a recipe for algae and problems.
1/2 this amount of lighting would be better and fine with a CO2
enriched tank.
50-70% weekly water changes will correct things for you.
What is wrong with your tap water BTW?
Why use RO and go through all that hassle?
Is it for the fish?

Plants do better in harder water.
Fish will not stress out due to hard water increases of say 2-4KH.
Altums and Discus did fine.
Something else is causing the fish ick, maybe 80ppm of NO3.....

Otto cats will eat brown algae, diatoms.

If I stick to R/O water, what can I use to raise it's KH to 3-4?

As said, baking soda.

What is a normal water temp fluctuation? Should I keep the heater on
so the water temp does not drop during the night?

2 degrees perhaps.

What can I use to eliminate the algae?

Grow the plants and have lots of them.

BTW, while I'm waiting on the CO2 injection system, I'm using the
jungle fizz from a friend.

That's not going to do much on a 230 w, 4+ w/gal PC lighted tank.
You need a decent gas system, a KH of about 3 and a GH of about 5 or
so.
With a KH of 3, your pH target by adding CO2 gas ONLY, will be 6.5.
Try and keep this pH using only CO2 gas while the lights are on and
keep it close to this pH the entire time the lights are on. 6.5-6.6 is
your target range for a KH of 3.

Regards,
Tom Barr


Thanks

Jerry

PS: Please post your reply to the group as the email addy is not valid
to prevent spam.

Your new C02 system will probably drive your PH down anyway.

Rico wrote:

I live in Florida and the water seems to be on the hard side. Here are
the results of my tap water.
Ph 7.4-7.6
dKH 9
dGH 15
Nitrates 0
Would you still recommend using the tap or stick with the R/o and add
baking soda to it to raise it's KH?

My CO2 system should be here by the middle of next week. These are the
components: