to much light?

[redbelly]

I recently set up a plated aquarium and am quite happy to say that for the first time i have managed to get my plants to start pearling! Unfortunately at the same i have started getting an outbreak of  algea i have never had before either. I now have a green algae that forms in a layer above, i guess you would say, of the substrate and this stuff grows like crazy! there also seems to be a slow growing, very dark brown or black algea forming on my driftwood.
Should i just do a blackout to get rid of the algea?
Do i have too much light now? (can you have too much light?) I do shut my lights off for 2 hours in the middle of the day for a "rest" time to try and keep the algea down.
currently i have one SAE and some malasian trumpet snails to keep the algea down, should i get some more SAE's?
Oh yeah and i am not using CO2, but if i did start using it would this help the plants use the nutrient as opposed to the algea?

[motoman]

How much light do you have? How big is the tank? Is it in direct sunlight? We would need a few more details to have an idea as to what you're doing and how your setup is.
It sounds similar to the problem I had before. I had too many nutrients in the water and my tank wasn't heavily planted at the time, needless to say I ended up with a large algea problem. Since then I've added a lot more plants, started a proper fertilizer dosing schedule including nitrates ( I had readings of "0" so my plants couldn't grow or use the nutrients) and prior to that I did a black out to kill the algea. I also have DIY C02 with about 4 watts per gallon (WPG) over my 20 gal tank.

[BigDaddy]

A black or brown "smear" type algae is quite common in a newly planted tank.  Simply clean or remove any plants that it grows on.  As well, ottos can be a big help against this.

Again, answering the questions will help us give you a course of action

Size of tank (not just gallons, dimensions is better)
Type of lighting (compact fluorescent, normal fl.)
Total wattage
Type of substrate
Ferts used and dosage schedule
Types of plants currently in tank

[redbelly]

the tank dimensions are 12x12x24
for lighting I am using multiple compact flourescants totaling totaling 105 watts.
As for substrate i am using a pea gravel over a thin layer of soil.
I was using Seachem Flourish, comprehensive plant supplement and was dosing with 2 ml a week but have stopped dosing due to the algae.
As for plants I have have 30-40 vals (some regular, some spiral and some giant) lining the back and sides and a sword.

[BigDaddy]

Are these screw in compact fluorescents, or twin tube T5 cfs?

105 Watts over a 15 gallon tank is way, way, way too much light.  If you are using screw-style compacts, you can cut that number down some due to their ineffecient design, but even still that's a lot of light.

I notice you have no CO2.  At high light levels, CO2 is a MUST, or you will always have algae problems.

15 gallons are shallow tanks too, so a lot of light can reach the bottom of the tank.

Maybe you should specify exacty how many and watt type of bulbs you have over this tank.

Be aware that anything over 3 watts per gallon, or 45 Watts, will REQUIRE CO2 injection to keep algae at bay.  As well, you will need to dose ferts at significanly higher rates than 2ml per week, and will more likely need to switch to an N, P, K, traces fert regiment instead of relying on all-in-one ferts like Flourish.

[BigDaddy]

The other problem is you have heavy root feeders, and you have no ferts in the substrate or in the water column.

Your algae isn't coming from the ferts, it's coming from the lack of ferts, lack of CO2, and lack of quick growing stem plants to get the plants off to a head start over the algae.

[gvv]

I notice you have no CO2.  At high light levels, CO2 is a MUST, or you will always have algae problems.
...
Be aware that anything over 3 watts per gallon, or 45 Watts, will REQUIRE CO2 injection to keep algae at bay.

Definetly should agree with BigDaddy! As soon as I began CO2 injection with 2.5W/G the algae (I actually had only Green-Spot) is not a problem any more, as plants are growing much faster and GSA is not so fast
And DIY CO2 is very simple (at least for small tanks)

[BigDaddy]

Absolutely.  DIY in a 15 gallon is a breeze.  A Hagen ladder is the perfect solution, and now you can buy just the ladder and save some bucks doing the pop bottles yourself.

[redbelly]

They are the srew in type but i believe they are T8's sylvania daylight tubes. They are each 15W and i have 7 of them stagered over the tank. I will try and get some batteries for my camera so i can post some pics.
If i keep the tank fairly stocked with fish how much C02 do i need to put in and how do you control the amount of C02 with a DIY set up... maybe i should just look that up, i know i have seen it on here quite a bit.

what would be a good fast growing stem plant them that would keep the algae down?

[BigDaddy]

Okay, well the screw ins don't have the effeciency of a straight tube.  This is because a lot of the light will not penetrate the water's surface and just end up turning into heat.

Even so, I would still consider that a high light tank requiring CO2.  You gotta get something setup asap.

For fast growing stem plants, go with hygro, watersprite or rotala.

[redbelly]

its taken me a bit as i had to reformat my computer but here is a pic of the tank before i put the hood on it.