[Malex530.]

Hey everyone, I have a 40 gallon tank set up. The tank is lightly stocked at the moment, but heavily planted. I've had problems with hair algae for years but recently it got bad, hair and green slime algae completely took over the tank. I tested the water today and the results were as follows
Ammonia- 0 PPM
Nitrite- >.25 PPM
Nitrate- 0 PPM
Phosphate- > .5 PPM
Ph - 8.2
I have no explanation for the algae or why it keeps coming, can anyone help?


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[hoppycalif]

What lighting are you using? Light is the driver of growth of both plants and algae. You shouldn't have zero nitrate, because nitrate is most important of the three macro nutrients. Are you using any fertilizer? What substrate are you using? Some substrates supply nutrients to the plants, but most are inert. Your pH is pretty high, too. Do you know what your GH and KH readings are?

 

[Malex530.]

I'm using a finnex LED fixture over the tank, the substrate is black sand mixed with eco complete. The ph out of the tap is 7.4 but goes into the tank and it gets higher. I'm not sure of the GH but I'm assuming it's on the higher side as it's Chicago tap water. The plants are doing great with the nitrate levels so low, and the blooms usually happen when the plants are doing great.


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[hoppycalif]

I tried to check your Chicago water quality report for hardness, but, being Chicago, there is only the minimum of information, that required by law, in the report.

Is it a 40 gallon "breeder" tank, 36 inches long, or a 40 gallon "long" tank, 48 inches long?

There are at least 4 different Finnex lights - the Fugeray, the Ray 2, the Planted Plus, and the Planted Plus 24/7. Do you know which one you have?

Algae start blooming when you don't have a lot of healthy, growing plants, all of which are growing as fast as the light intensity allows them to grow. If you don't have enough of any of the nutrients, including carbon, to meet the growth needs of the plants, algae start growing. The brighter the light you have, the faster the plants can grow, and the more of the nutrients they have to have available. That's why it is so much harder to avoid big algae problems when you have high light versus when you have low or medium light.

Your substrate contains no bioavailable nutrients, so the plants have to rely on what you dose.

Do you have a full tank photo to show us?

 

[Malex530.]

I tried to check your Chicago water quality report for hardness, but, being Chicago, there is only the minimum of information, that required by law, in the report.

Is it a 40 gallon "breeder" tank, 36 inches long, or a 40 gallon "long" tank, 48 inches long?

There are at least 4 different Finnex lights - the Fugeray, the Ray 2, the Planted Plus, and the Planted Plus 24/7. Do you know which one you have?

Algae start blooming when you don't have a lot of healthy, growing plants, all of which are growing as fast as the light intensity allows them to grow. If you don't have enough of any of the nutrients, including carbon, to meet the growth needs of the plants, algae start growing. The brighter the light you have, the faster the plants can grow, and the more of the nutrients they have to have available. That's why it is so much harder to avoid big algae problems when you have high light versus when you have low or medium light.

Your substrate contains no bioavailable nutrients, so the plants have to rely on what you dose.

Do you have a full tank photo to show us?

The finnex is a fugeray 24/7, overkill yes but I was planning on starting co2 and EI dosing, school sucked a lot out of me before I could get much done. The tank is a 38 gallon 36 inches long. I have an eheim 2217 as the filter. I'm hoping to get started with the co2 soon. I'll get a photo of the tank tomorrow. Thanks for all your help!

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[hoppycalif]

A 36 inch long FugeRay gives you about 45 PAR at the substrate, if you have about 2 inches of substrate. That is medium intensity light.

I have about the same light intensity in my 65 gallon tank, with no algae problems. I have found that with DIY CO2 (yeast/sugar), plus Seachem Excel dosed at about 2 ml per gallon of water daily, and with fertilizing at about half the dosages recommended in http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/fertilizing/15225-estimative-index-dosing-guide.html (modified a bit - with the KNO3 dose cut in a fourth, and with K2SO4 dosed at the same amount as the KNO3), I get good growth of all the plants I have, except for Hygrophila pinnatifida, which I just can't get to grow. I have crypts, sagittaria, Blyxa japonnica, a sword plant, myriophillium mattogrossense, bacopa, ludwigia species red, and Potomogeton erectus, all growing well.

The effect of a two 2 liter bottle DIY CO2 system is very dramatic, and I get about 15-30 ppm of CO2 with it, changing one bottle every week.