newbie in need of help with planted aquarium

[kate1891]

i need help with my planted aquarium as all im seem to be able to grow is brown and green algae,i have a fluval roma 90 with 2 15 watt t8 life glo bulbs and as been set up for 2 months,i have vallisneria which all died back grew new leaves but only got to a few inches in height and as since stopped growing though it as put out a few runners, i have water sprite which is nearly all died , ludwigia repens the leaves have greenish brown fur growing on them and cryptocorynes which are getting covered in brown algae, i have the lights on for 8 and half hours a day i dose 1.5 mls of easycarbo which i did gradually as i was told this would improve growth as nothing was really growing and i dose 10ml of leafzone a week with 30% weekly water change,i did use some cheap root tabs which i purchased from ebay but dont think they were any good,can someone please put me in the right direction as i find the more i try and research things online the more confusing it gets with too many conflicting suggestions.

 

[kirk]

Hi, have you tried reducing your lighting a few hrs,to start with? Try 5-6.or remove a tube for a while. Also is your tank in direct sunlight? is you filter breaking the surface or do you run air pumps.?

 

[kate1891]

hi i did have it at 6 hours a day but i read online that increasing light would help remove the brown algae, i just have a fluval u2 filter which is breaking the surface, it gets really confusing as so many people are saying different things.

 

[Julian]

Algae = too much light, not enough CO2.

If you aren't injecting CO2, then you need to lower the brightness of the lights. Not quite sure how you'd do this on your tank, taking out one of the bulbs should be enough. It won't look very bright in there, but this will help ensure that algae doesn't grow.

In lots of pictures of tanks, you see really bright lights. The reality is that they are grown and maintained with far less light, it just makes for a better picture if you have more light.

 

[Jaap]

I believe the Vallisneria does not like liquid carbon products and react negatively to them...

 

[Iain Sutherland]

hey kate, best bet is to forget nearly everything else you have read online as there is a lot of misinformation out there.
First off API leafzone is only iron and potasium so isnt a complete fertilizer. Have a look at Tropica specialised for now, there are cheaper options such as dry powders if you want to look at them later.
Be careful with easy carbo as Jaap has said, Valis can react badly unless used very sparingly.
Try and reposition your filter so it doesnt break the surface too much, gentle rippling all across the tank is ideal for low light.
Reduce your light period to 6 hrs, this is plenty for most tanks.
Have a look at the flow in the tank, it needs to be reaching all corners with no dead spots.
While you have algae increase water changes to 50% or more a week.
If it suits your livestock you could look at adding some amano shrimp to help manage brown algae.

If you would like to post some photos of the algae then further help will be easier 🙂

 

[kirk]

Hi, again, ^^ good advice^^ , I don't know how good your u2 is but every u model I've had was usless flow wise and was soon replaced, there flow rate reduced too quickly. I've been expecting Clive(ceg4048) to comment on this thread, if he doesn't well worth reading any of his posts you can find on here regarding light ferts co2 and then........ belive.🙂