help diagnosing my algae problem

[fortunateson]

Hey guys,

Before i go out and self-diagnose and spend tons of $ I stopped in for a second opinion. Before I get started here are my tank specs and maitenance schedule.

90 Gallon
5 inches of seachem flourite black sand
tek light with 4 giessmen bulbs 2 aquaflora 2 midday on for 10h a day
Pressurized C02 with inline diffuser
50% water change every week
do not really dose with fert
4 powerheads
Eheim 2028 canister

So i've been dealing with some algea issues for about the last 3 months. Green hairry algae gets stuck in my ground cover plants and mostly on the ground. I bought 3 power heads to get the current moving but doesnt help alot and this power heads are now coverred with BBA.

I set my C02 canister to distribute tons of CO2 because i know most of the problem is related to lack of C02 but i go through a 10lbs C02 canister in 3 months.

Is my inline diffuser busted?

Is 10 hours too for my plants?

Any help would be appreciated I feel a little at a loss.

Would also like to know how you guys mesure your C02 levels

thanks

[Jeff1192]

I'm far from one of the plant experts on this board....but you definitely need to be dosing ferts. When you go high light and CO2 you have to be dosing ferts otherwise there plants aren't getting everything they need for good growth so the algae takes over.  Google EI dosing and do some reading. It's how I dosed my 90 gallon and it worked very well for me. There are many others in OVAS who swear by the EI dosing methods for ferts.

Jeff

[exv152]

A leading cause of any algae, aside from inconsistent co2 levels, is low nutrient levels. Dosing ferts daily is a must.

[blueknight0303]

When i had this problem, i stopped my c02 diff then i double dosed flourish excel for 7 days. then after 7 days i ran my c02 diff again. all the algae was gone.
i recommend a strong air pump if theres fish in the tank. the algae turned white then died on me. lights are on 8-12 hours a day. im not sure if this will work for you coz u have a 90 gallon tank and i only tried mine on a 30...

[Peekay]

Eric, daily dosing with EI is the normal protocol.
If you had a low light and were using Flourish Comp would you portion the weekly dosage and dose daily? 

(Hey, thanks for all your answers and help... you're always around with your knowledge, and I appreciate it!)

[exv152]

I just re-read this thread and there's a couple more comments I have regarding potential issues with this setup. First, the lighting, I recommend a four bulb tek light should be placed no lower than 12 inches from the top of a 24" tall tank. That should help moderate the accelerated nutrient requirement. Second, I recommend ferts be replenished daily with that much lighting & co2. Thirdly, to get the best co2 diffusion in a larger tank (and I consider 90g a challenge for co2) I'd go with a more proven method like an inline reactor (DIY Rex Grigg-style). It's the best method imo to introduce dissolved co2 in a large volume. Anything larger than 50g is going to cause a challenge for proper co2 diffusion in my experience. And two drop checkers on either side of that tank would be a good way of monitoring the co2.

Brenda, thanks for the kind words, it's my pleasure to help fellow planted tank enthusiasts. I have a 125g low tech planted tank that's been stable for a long while, I don't recommend the ei method when you're dealing with low light. I dose seachem flourish once a week, seachem equilibrium once a week, and seachem alkaline buffer once a week (to maintain the KH since low tech planted tanks use the carbon in the KH much quicker).  But from my experience, dosing can be done weekly or bi-weekly depending on what you observe.