Wicked!

[deonild]

I've got a spider web in my fish tank! And it's green O.O

Haha, I think it's pretty cool... for now, cycling my tank atm. Recently bought T5 lights on ebay and came with reef bulbs, so that's 99% of the temporary cause of this wicked algae. Actinic and 12k, in freshwater, with some sunlight through closed blinds, and fertilizer for plants. Can't get a good pic of it today but maybe tomorrow. I assume it's "green water (floating algae)." which the primer does say is caused by wrong light spectrum. I'll try to get a pic where it can be seen well, with my camera phone. Looks just like a huge detailed thick spider web, I thought a Wisteria was uprooted. It's about 8" by 12"!

So I should probably include a question in the post: I plan to stop using fertilizer for the next few weeks. Do you think the algae will clear up once I get the right bulbs? I plan to need 1 BN pleco to help counter the diffused sunlight through closed blinds.

EDIT: this is probably going to take months to clear out isnt it? >(
Can I still plan to add fish when the cycle is done?

Edit 2: I have Wisteria thriving and everything else dying, I assume because regular gravel no eco-stuff. Should I stop using lights(until I can get right bulbs) and hope wisteria does ok? I already plan everything else will wither away and I'll just get more/new Wisteria.

[EddyC]

If I were you I'd stop using the fertilizer. It's not really necessary until the plants start growing well and run out of nutrients in the water/substrate. (You can add root tabs though, they'll help establish a good root system and encourage overall health.) And since you're cycling the tank the plants can't have been in there that long. The ammonia/nitrites/nitrates will be used by the plants to get nitrogen (the plants actually LIKE it!), so extra nutrients usually aren't necessary. Adding more ferts will just encourage green water, and can actually "burn" plants that haven't established themselves.

The gravel shouldn't be a problem. I've always used it in my planted tanks (and still use it in the tank I have now). With root tabs and fish waste the gravel becomes nutritionally the same as the more expensive substrates after a few months.

Wisteria is a beast! That stuff's impossible to kill, and will grow quickly under almost any conditions. The other plants could be suffering from the lighting (don't know too much about that), from the ferts burning them, or more likely from the algae stripping nutrients from the water and/or blocking out light (combined with the others). Cut out the ferts and the problems should begin to resolve themselves.

And who knows, the other plants may survive or recover. So don't give up hope yet!

[deonild]

After noticing the huge amount of algae that seemed to bloom 10 times over that day I saw a web, I stopped using the lights for 2 days, and took out the actinic bulb, now using just the 39w 12,000K bulb 3 hours a day, for the moment. With water changes now that my cycle is done, after 4-5 days the algae is under control, water is fairly clear, I think average for a tank. My Opaline Gourami seems to be nipping at the little bit of algae on every surface all day long, didn't even expect he would.