ceg4048 said:
Hi,
Based on the data in your original post it would be an utter waste of time and money to buy a UV for these problems. UV will only treat green water, which is does a fabulous job on, but not any of the other types - certainly not BGA nor diatoms. In any case, you seemed to have assumed that bacteria are the source of your problems while in fact they are the source of your solution. The tank needs more bacteria to help break down the organic waste which is the real problem in a tank.
You have not given enough information to perform a complete analysis. Is this a newly set up tank? One assumes so since diatomic algae are normally prevalent in new setups. BGA is typical of poor nitrate dosing, however there are some other possible causes such as poor filter maintenance. Is this a CO2 injected tank? if so you may wish to consider increasing the injection rate as this does a very good job of producing crystal clear water. There is no need for buying any other product. You need only perform multiple water changes per week, increase the injection rate, review your dosing (which you have not yet specified) and to have patience. A tank that size may require a few months to mature but once done it will be crystal as long as you keep the plants satisfied with proper levels of nutrients, good filtration, good maintenance and good CO2.
Apart from green water, the usefulness of a UV is limited to it's ability to kill free floating pathogens which attack fauna. In order to be effective at killing pathogens the UV requires slow flow-through in order to expose the pathogens to the radiation. This is at complete odds with plant requirements as high flow is typically required. An injected 100G tank ideally requires around 1000Gallons per hour of flow "rating". Therefore if you wish to use a UV in a big tank you would best be served by isolating it and using a dedicated low flow filter to power it apart from your higher flow filtration and powerheads.
Again, if your tank is newly setup, there are a lot more things to do than to worry about cloudy water which is a necessary and natural occurrence and does linger on for many weeks. If the plants are being fed with proper nutrition and CO2 the tank ultimately will clear up brilliantly but it will do so at it's own pace. Careful attention to to points discussed above can and does accelerate the clearing. Above all though, patience is required and will be rewarded.
Cheers,
I'm sorry, when i said I've had algae problems for aout 10 weeks, i meant 10 days, I've changed it now that i realized. Sorry.
My nitrates are the best part of 40, they were originally at 20, and have increased. I have done nothing to increase them. I perform weekly 50% water changes, follwed by weekly mechanical filtration cleaning, and all my water params are spot on. In the sand in my tank i have nutrafin plant feeder sticks, and i am dosing flourish excel weekly. Plants have really grown, and are all healthy, apart from 1 of my watersprite is covered in brown hair type algae. The cabomba plant i have is 30 inches already, and my 2 watersprite are 20''+, and they are meant to grow to 12'' ( correct me if i'm wrong)
My tank does not have co2, i have just under 1.2 wpg on the tank. I'm using a single arcadia starter, and a double hagen starter, both t8's. This is my first planted tank, im new to plants. The tank has been setup (cycling) since the start of december 2008, i then introduced my piranhas and plants at the beginning of january 2009.
Will all of my algae problems be taken care off if i stick to my weekly maintainence etc.?.
Surely i will be able to find a way round this, spending the least amount of money. I only want something to polish the water. I have been advised to buy the rena microfiltration pads, which from what i have read, seem to do the job of making your aquarium water crystal clear. From what I've read on different sites, it seems as though the uv sterilizer is designed to take care of algae altogether. But as i said surely there is a way to keep on top of these algae problems, and sort it out maintainence wise.
I'm not gonna buy a UV sterilizer. Please tell me what you think i could do to tackle my algae problems, and therafter, making and keeping my aquarium water sparkly clean.
Also, is there a limited amount of plants that i can have for this setup? I currently have, 2 watersprite plants, 1 C.carolina, 2 E.bleheri, and 2 twisted vals. I have ordered this collection of plants.
http://www.plantsalive.co.uk/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=43
All help and info very much appreciated.