40 gallon breeder nature style

[cneon]

Hello, everyone. I just subscribed to this forum, and am eager to become an active member. In that spirit, I'd like to present to you all my standard 40 gallon breeder, which is currently 1 month old. The only issue I'm having is some brush algae. By no means an epidemic, but it is creeping in. From what I've read here, it's all about the CO2, which I've increased to the point of my fish surfacing for air, then dialed back slightly, so I know it's pretty much maxed for the tank. On the flip side of that, I have 2x39w T5HO lights @ 6500k hanging 5 inches above the rim of the tank (which puts it 18-19" above the substrate.) 8 hour photoperiod. CO2 kicks on 1 hour before lights come on, and turns off 1 hour before lights go out.

EI dosing (levels are much too high right now, so I'm tooling with that. PO4 reading at ~7ppm. Nitrates at about 40ppm. I have made reference solutions (thank you to this forum for offering them)). Currently undergoing daily small (5-10%) water changes and one large (40%) water change every week. I'm very mindful to pick up any dead/decaying leaves that are scattered about during the changes. PO4 readings are negligible from the tap water I use.

To help the issue, I have a brigade (okay, maybe just a battalion) of algae eaters from Amano and RC shrimps to Otos to SAEs. I don't want to hide the issue, I want to fix it.

Any thoughts on the setup and the appearance of algae? As the CO2 is in overdrive and the ferts are way up, I'm assuming I'm back to focusing on lights as the factor.

Ninja edit: I am currently misting through a powerhead, but am waiting on an atomic inline diffuser from GLA.

And, of course, any and all critiques of the actual layout are tremendously appreciated.

5 days after planting

1 month old

Trunk detail

Length detail

Thanks for viewing!
Chad

 

[cneon]

and it wouldn't let me edit, so I'll just quickly add here that I'm currently misting through a powerhead. However, I've invested in an atomic inline diffuser from GLA and am anxiously awaiting its arrival.

 

[Tom Barr]

At first I thought the grass was C. parva, which would look very nice also.
Also, do you think needle leaf java fern might look better here?

 

[Tom Barr]

At first I thought the grass was C. parva, which would look very nice also.
Also, do you think needle leaf java fern might look better here?

 

[cneon]

Mr. Barr,
Yes. In fact, I thought I was buying needle leaf java fern. It would have gone well with the C. Spiralis and C. Balansae behind the trunk. However, when I received it, I was disappointed to see it was of the regular variety

Caveat Emptor, I suppose.

 

[Tom Barr]

Sell that one, and get the other.

 

[trailsnale]

why is nl preferred over the regular?

 

[cneon]

2.5 months after planting

[attachment=1623:name]

Just a quick photo update. Thanks for looking!