Adventure: freshwater LED

**bethyMT** · 10-17-2012, 01:59 PM

Cermet, would frequent water changes help with the phosphates? I do two 30% changes per week. I can up it if that would help.

Nitrates are usually about 10-15 here. I test before I do water changes.

I dose with an iron-containing fertilizer...tetra florapride. No phosphates in it.

I want to try to keep this low-tech. No time for anything else! Thanks for the info!

**bethyMT** · 11-10-2012, 11:09 PM

All right, it's been a couple of weeks since I updated.

The light is nice. Really. I must be doing something relatively right, because the tank hasn't become an algae farm. I have quite the crop of BBA, and have started lightly dosing flourish excel to see if that helps...there has been no new development of this over the past week or so. There isn't any green algae in the water column or on surfaces, and the plants are doing quite well. By watching what is happening in the tank, it looks like this fixture gives high light.

I am not going to try to completely remove all the BBA (or red hair algae), because the guppies and rainbows graze on it, to my surprise. While it's not their favorite, the otos eat it too.

Anyway, for being an experiment, I think it's going well. I am doing 100% weekly water changes (50% twice), to help keep nitrates and phosphates in check. Hopefully this will continue to work.

**Shidohari** · 11-10-2012, 11:11 PM

Originally Posted by Cermet

A bit of warning - if your nitrates get very low, algae will also grow since the plants will struggle for food; others here can correct me but most plants need about 3 ppm nitrates if memory serves. Phosphates should never read much above 0.3 ppm but if you have fish, than phosphates will tend to climb above 0.5 ppm, and then they are too high. An algae scrubber can eliminate high phosphates (and will complete for ferts so be careful if you get one.) Be aware a shortage of iron can lead to algae, too.

Also - did I say, I HATE ALAGE!

yes...Yes you did say you hate algae.

**bethyMT** · 02-02-2013, 02:52 PM

Updating this thread once again. This light is definitely under the "high light" category, and I have had fabulous growth of almost every plant in the tank. However, keeping algae in check is a challenge, but not impossible. I have to be very vigilant about water changes, keep a good bit of surface plant coverage, and make sure the filter media is rinsed pretty often. It seems that nitrate/phosphates can be a big problem when you have this much light. I'd imagine CO2 would help as well, but that's something I'm reluctant to get into. However, I do like the way the light looks on the tank, and for as much as it cost I'm not going to replace it. It's just a bit of upkeep. So, this light can work on FW planted tanks, as long as something is done to temper it a bit.

**fishmommie** · 02-02-2013, 03:01 PM

Bethy - I can't remember how you have your tank stocked and I don't know if this info is anything that can help you with your algae issue, but I accidentally discovered that sword tails are MAJOR algae eaters. I added 6 to my tank 3 months ago and they have totally eliminated every speck of green algae growing on my driftwood. I mean totally. they peck at the driftwood constantly. I'm just amazed. I've never seen anyone on the forum mention sword tails for algae control - and I realize it might sound a bit silly - but again, wow. they really work at it and are IME much hardier than oto cats. Just thought I'd mention it.

**Cermet** · 02-02-2013, 05:09 PM

The lights should reduce nitrates and phosphates since plants should consume them when they grow fast. If phosphates are an issue, might be over feeding the fish (maybe not - fish waste is high in phosphate.) Since some algae is your goal, I think you are doing well. The excel, I understand, gives plants the carbon they need.

**bethyMT** · 02-03-2013, 03:03 PM

Fishmommie - that's excellent! I love that wierd stuff....fish doing extra things. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately?) none of the algae I've seen in the tank is green. It's all either diatoms or BBA, with the occasional BGA. So IDK if the fish would help me. However, I might get some of those fish when my guppies finally age out...a hidden benefit is a good benefit nonetheless. You should tell more people about this, so you can see if swordtails do the same thing in other tanks.

Cermet: I stopped doing the excel for a while, and also cut back to once weekly WC's...whoa boy that was a bad idea. Diatoms and black brush algae everywhere, especially on the plants. IDK why I keep getting diatoms...might be silicates in my water. Also, I may well be overfeeding. Anyway, I'm back to my original routine, and it seems like the algae is disappearing. Just a lot of work, this is. My other three tanks are so so easy compared to this balancing act. But hey, it's an adventure, and sometimes adventures aren't easy.

**Cermet** · 02-03-2013, 03:12 PM

Sorry to hear that; most likely your nitrates and phosphates are high. Either increase the number and or size of the W/C or consider an in tank algae scrubber - I have one and it cured my BGA issues so I'd think it would help with the BBA; of course, useles for diatoms but they should clear within a month or two - if not, then it could only be diatoms if the tap water has a lot of silicon (sand) and that would be very strange.

**mizzoutank** · 02-03-2013, 05:13 PM

They make a product at lowes or home depot (blanking on the exact name)
but it is a film/mesh that you can wrap around the fixture. it'll help decrease the brightness some
other tricks-put a glass lid on the tank

raise the fixture off the tank.

not to burst your bubble with your choice, but i'm also experimenting with the LED stuff and so far it is has been a nice surprise. my plants were dying/algage all over the place, and just by switching the light, i'm getting new plant growth and algae isn't spreading and i'm able to pull it out and get back under control

**bethyMT** · 02-03-2013, 10:56 PM

Mizzoutank, you're not bursting my bubble. I knew this might not be ideal, and I'm really glad (sincerely) that you are having an easier time. LEDs really are wonderful if you pick the right one, and I have two other tanks that are "tricked out" with different LED systems that are doing quite well. This large fixture was my first LED choice in this adventure; in retrospect, I probably would have done better by choosing another, but hey, I'm making it work. People told me this light would be completely unworkable....it is workable, just learning how to balance everything is hard(without doing CO2). It's well into the world of high-tech when I have a low-tech brain and limited experience.

Cermet, I am thinking about an algae scrubber...off to do some research. Let's see if you have turned me to the dark side!