I just set up a 20L planted tank about a week ago. Plants are getting 8 hours of light. I'm using a DIY lighting with (4) Daylight CFLs: (Two 16W@5000k and two 18W@6500k) Substrate: Dark Flourite, Dosing with Seachem Flourish and Flourish Excel.

Is that too much/little lighting? I'm experimenting with everything...so right now its trial and error.

I also noticed that all my plants are growing great except for some hair algae growing on my amazon swords (not growing on anything else) My guess is they could have already been growing on them when I bought them and added them to the tank (since it isn't growing on anything else). I tried physically cleaning it off, but the ones on the edge of the leaves are hard to pull off. Should I toss the swords out? Will Flourish Excel dosing eventually get rid of it? Will it spread to my other plants?

Nice tank! The red plants are that way probably because of the lighting! The light levels depend on the level of maintenance/precision of your maintenance.

Are you adding any CO2? I think the lighting is a tad high, but if you are diligent with using the Excel, you can get buy without adding any CO2 if you lower the light levels. I find it very tricky when you are doing high light planted tanks because you have to be on top of the CO2, ferts, water changes and water chemistry, but the results are also top notch when it is done. You would definitely need to go with CO2 injection if you want to keep the high light.

You may want to do some research on Flourish vs. Excel; I think Excel is Flourish with more additives that are more beneficial to a planted tank, such as a CO2 source and an algae controller. Excel can sometimes be used as an algaecide when dosed in high quantities for a couple of weeks, making it the preferred fertilizer for planted tanks over Flourish.

I wouldn't throw out the swords because they aren't the root of the problem. If you really wanted, you can give the affected swords a quick dip in a solution of sorts: could be weak peroxide, or very weak bleach solution followed by a dip in strong dechlorinator, or potassium permanganate(used in plant ferts), some say you can take a syringe and locally dose Excel on the algae(I've had no luck with this). Thing is I would think by now it's not just on the swords and so the whole tank could be "infected", because no tank is ever algae free. The algae were probably stowaways on the swords, now introduced into your tank.

If it were to get really bad, like taking over the tank, you could do a black out: no lights, tank covered up, for a period of time(would have to research on time, not sure about duration).

I'm still trying to understand algae myself with planted tanks. I've always had fairly squeaky clean tanks when I had fish only, and have never seen algae till I've done live plants, let alone 4-5 kinds over the years. It seems the more info I read the more contradictions I find. From what I've read, the algae is thriving because the light or nutrients are out of whack. Algae can make uses of it faster than plants. However you want to have the light and nutrients there for the plants to grow, right? They say it's about balancing your plant load, water chemistry, ferts, and light....but I'm not seeing it so much.

I don't mean to thread jack but this spawned a question


I have 300-350 gallons running through a 55 gallon refugium tank full of plants, what do you think the light levels should be?

I currently have 4 t12 40 watt daylights and everything is doing ok. sense there is so much water flowing through it, normal formulas and comparisons don't really apply as well.

I have 0 plants in my other aquariums because the tx chclids tear them up anyway..

I figure that the fish would be adding enough co2 and it would be coming in from aireation.

hmm that's a good question. I think you're right, with the large amount of water, you'd think the excess nutrients would spawn algae outbreaks. But if it's working for you, no need to tinker with it! That's the strange thing with planted tanks; each person's situation/methods varies from another. What works for one may not work for others, even it's the the same plant invloved. It's just as varied as the water chemistry of each person's tap water.

It's my opinion that it's always good to have more water in the system behind the scenes if one can afford it. That's why I like the refugium idea, it adds to the water volume.

depends on what you want to grow... seachem flourish is just micro you also need to dose your marcos n,p,k, also that is a lot of light those 15 bulbs would equal 100w of flourescent lighting. so you have around 400w. i would say two of those bulbs would be good enough and give you medium to high light. plus your tank is still planted lightly so the algae is out competing the plants for the ferts.

I have a 20 gallon tank that contains guppies. I am having algae problems. What would be a good algae eater (and how many) that I could add to the tank?

cut to 2 bulbs for now and you should be good. excel is a good idea. dont forget to use root tabs under those swords.

Also try dipping your swords into the excel let it sit for a few seconds then wipe the leaves off presto no more hair algae.

Cutting down on your lights might help you should also have some fast growing plants (that you have to keep trimmed) Penny wort is a nice plant for this it helps cut down on nutrients that the algae is using.

Do you have any fish in the tank ...I do not see any. If you do I would recommend using root tabs for the swords and let the fish be your ferts for the rest of the plants and cut back on the liquid dosing.

You might also want to check the spectrum output on the 5oook lights swords are a bright light plant I use 2 40w 10oook and 2 40w 65ook floros on my 20l plant tanks. And if that is baby tears back right of the picture you do need some light output to keep them from dying. There is a good lighting chart floating around on here that I am too lazy to look up that is excellent about the brightness level for depth of tank water that is a great resource.

Last question how long are the lights on for each day....6-8 hours is usually more than enough...had my timer mess up while my wife was taking care of the fish room and now all my swords and java moss have tough black hair algae growing in clumps....o well neede some excell any ways. Pour a bit into a small bowl to use on leaves of the plants a small amount should treat all your plants. Try it on one leaf first to see how the plant reacts just to be on the safe side. Good luck hope this helps.

PS that is a beaut of a tank