new tank algae problem

[willgaze]

I am new to planted aquaria and I have a 100L cube tank roughly 47cm square with:
72W of lighting, 6 hour photoperiod
Eheim 2232 Thermo (500LPH) 24-25 deg C
JBL Co2 with JBL reactor 2 bubbles per sec
ADA amazonia substrate
50% water changes every other day
heavily planted
double dosing Easy Carbo (bit worried about the vals)
water 12 deg GH, 3 deg KH, pH 7.2, nitrates 25-50ppm

I'm already doing what I can but still my HC is getting swamped by green thread algae, I have noted the cooments regarding flow and have ordered a Hydor Koralia Nano and a more efficient co2 reactor.

Should I reduce lighting intensity, I have three independent 28W tubes?
Currently I am not dosing and hadn't intended to for the first 6 weeks because of the ADA Amazonia, is this correct?
I also have the option of using r/o water for changes but this will be a real pain as I will have to transport it from work, is it the nitrate in my tap water that's the problem?

Many thanks for your help.

PS. I recently purchased my plants from the Green Machine and they were fantastic as was the service.

 

[Superman]

It's your lights that are causing the problem: 72W over 100 litres?!

You're fueling the fire loads and not dosing the amount of ferts and co2 required for that amount of light.

EDIT: In addition, if you say "heavily planted" then you don't have enough flow, I'm not sure a K-nano will do it.

Reduce your lights loads maybe to one/two tubes and then gradually increase the photo period.

 

[willgaze]

Thanks,
I did wonder about this but the lighting was designed to give me close to 4wpg which alwasy seemed to be the magic number.
Cheers

 

[Superman]

Thanks,
I did wonder about this but the lighting was designed to give me close to 4wpg which alwasy seemed to be the magic number.
Cheers

4wpg is way too much as the start of a tank and to someone who's new to planted tanks.

TBH, you've gone way OTT on the light and forgetting the basics of getting the balance right of flow, ferts, co2 and light. I did this and took me ages to get everything back in line. I only made the discovery when I came across this site.

 

[willgaze]

Would you advise 56w or right down to 24w, and should I start dosing now?
Cheers

 

[Superman]

Would you advise 56w or right down to 24w, and should I start dosing now?
Cheers

I'd take it down to 24w until the algae is sorted. Remove as much algae as possible and use the EasyCarbo to spot dose.

When I started my tank I dosed straight away, just to be safe. If you're going down the ADA route then that supplies the correct ferts at the right time. Although I just added the required dose of TPN+.

Remember the plants will take a while to settle into your setup, in addition, some will be moving from emmersed to submerged growth (ie the out of water leaves being shed for underwater ones). As that growth dies back for the new ones that decays, therefore it's an ammonia source for the algae. Add that to the leeching of ammonia from the aquasoil then there's a time bomb for algae should you supply it with enough light.

 

[willgaze]

Thanks,
I'm not using the complete ADA system, I have green brighty step 1 but have not started using it yet (set up 5 days ago), and Tropica Plant Nutrition for later on.
Cheers