# A year of algae and constant battles



## island lad (23 Jan 2014)

I'm having constant battles with hair algae and diatoms in my planted tank. Iis the Roma 125L. Specs are as follows.
Fluval Roma 125L.
Tetratec Ex700 external with 50% media.
Fluval 3+ internal with diy spraybar full length,(good flow).
2x20w T8's on for 8 hours (low lighting).
2x2L diy co2 bottles running at a steady 1bps through internal filter and out of spray bar.
Dosing full ei with 50% weekly water change on rest day.

So what direction (equipment wise) do I need to take to increase the health of my tank. Bigger filter ? No co2 or Fe co2 ? T5's instead of T8's.  I'm putting a lot of time and research in with very little results. I'm keeping my goals realistic and just want a balanced tank.

Thanks, Steve


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## island lad (23 Jan 2014)

Forgot to mention I'm using cat litter substrate.


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## Lindy (23 Jan 2014)

Doesn't sound like enough co2?


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## tim (23 Jan 2014)

Pressurised co2 or no co2 would be the way I'd go with t8s sound like your suffering from co2 fluctuations/shortfall.


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## island lad (23 Jan 2014)

tim said:


> Pressurised co2 or no co2 would be the way I'd go with t8s sound like your suffering from co2 fluctuations/shortfall.




That's what I thought Tim. I think Im going to go down the Fe co2 route. And a bigger filter.


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## tim (23 Jan 2014)

island lad said:


> That's what I thought Tim. I think Im going to go down the Fe co2 route. And a bigger filter.


Wish I'd stuck to t8s mate nothing but algae battles since I switched to t5s pressurised is the way to go for consistent co2 spraybar for flow and you won't look back


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## island lad (23 Jan 2014)

Didnt you find the T8's a bit dull though ?


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## tim (23 Jan 2014)

island lad said:


> Didnt you find the T8's a bit dull though ?


Yep, plants didn't though only time I've been able to grow glosso and staurogyne was under t8s also hydro japan carpet just grew sideways no trimming, unfortunately listened to my lfs upgraded the lights then discovered ukaps through another chap at same lfs and realised I should of stuck with the t8s,co2 and flow is key, once you have that sorted you'll be ready to supercharge your tank with t5s (hopefully)


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## island lad (25 Jan 2014)

Do you have any pics of your tank under T8's ?


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## LondonDragon (25 Jan 2014)

island lad said:


> 2x2L diy co2 bottles running at a steady 1bps through internal filter and out of spray bar.


How often do you change your mix?


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## island lad (26 Jan 2014)

Alternate bottles weekly. Its OK though I'm going down the FE co2 route this week. Yeast co2 isn't worth the hassle. I've learned that if you want a lush green high tech tank then you need the right gear to do it.

Steve


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## tim (26 Jan 2014)

island lad said:


> Do you have any pics of your tank under T8's ?


Sorry mate no, lost all my old pics to a dodgy iPhone before I discovered iCloud and Dropbox etc if you have a look through Ian holdichs older journals I know he had glosso under t8's can't remember which journal though.


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## FerdinandPorsche (27 Feb 2014)

LondonDragon said:


> How often do you change your mix?



Hi Paulo, is there any concern on this? My mix last more than a month I think.


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## LondonDragon (27 Feb 2014)

FerdinandPorsche said:


> Hi Paulo, is there any concern on this? My mix last more than a month I think.


If you want constant CO2 you have to change it often, I used two Nutrafin bottles and changed one mixture every Wednesday and the other every Sunday, that provided a constant level of CO2 in the tank, I did run an air pump during lights out to ensure the fish had a break.


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## island lad (27 Feb 2014)

A quick update. The tank has been running for several weeks with no co2. I have added some more plants and dosing 50% ei. Ive also been doing 50% weekly water changes and as of Monday ive gone over to 10% daily water changes. Lights are on for 9 hours and ive added purigen to the filter a few weeks ago.I have good surface agitation and flow is strong around all the plants, ( ive added a diy spray bar to my power head that runs full length. After all this though ive still got diatoms in the tank and a bit of brown hair algae, (especially on the java moss). Also my repens looks pale. Any further tips would be really good because to say im frustrated by it all would be an understatement. Also just to add that im not over feeding fish and all filtration is kept clean.


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## island lad (27 Feb 2014)

Dropbox - Thursday, Feb 27

Dropbox - Thursday, Feb 27


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