Too much light? Algae Growth

[tomm10]

I have a 2.5 week old planted 10g tank that I am just starting to notice algae in. I began cycling the tank with four zebra danios and began adding plants soon after. I now have a Rangeri Sword, Cryptocoryne, two bunches of micro sword, an anubias, two bunches of wisteria, and a struggling bunch of anacharis (didn't realize how much light it needed when I got it.) All the plants beside the anacharis are looking great. the anacharis turned almost entirely brown in its first spot (near the filter) so I moved it across the tank and directly under a bulb. It is showing new growth.

Light is two 10 watt screw in flourescents and is programmed on a timer for 12 hours a day. Ph is 7.2.

The algae is brown and is showing up on the broad leaves of the anubias and the rangeri sword. My first reaction is to cut down the amount of light in the tank. I was thinking of cutting down the light cycle to something like 9 or 10 hours a day but I don't want to starve the plants of light. Does this sound right?

If I cut back the light time, how long should it take to notice a reduction in algae or to realize I need to cut back further on the time?

Any help would be appreciated.

[djlen]

Are you doing any water changes? New tanks tend to have algae problems until they age up and the plants have the opportunity to acclimate and begin to grow. Try to do a weekly 30 - 50% water change along with rubbing/vaccing the algae away. Don't expect it to go away on it's own. Be aggressive with it.
I do think 12 hours is high and would go to 9 or 10 until things get more established.
You should start thinking of feeding the plants at this time. For a 10 gal. tank, Seachem makes a line of ferts that will work to get them growing well and thereby helping out with the elimination of the algae. They will need K = Potassium, N = Nitrogen, P = Phosphates, and Traces. You can find all of them in Seachem's Flourish line of ferts, with plain Flourish being your trace minerals.
Don't buy Flourish 'Trace'. It's not as complete as plain old Flourish.
Before You Dose Nitrogen or Phosphates, pick up test kits for each and see what you have in the water and also in your tap water. You may not need to dose them as much as the K and Traces. My belief is that you only dose N and P when needed.
Others may differ on this idea.

Here is a great site for info of all types. On it you will also see a link for "Setting up A Newly Planted Tank".
www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/articles.htm

Len

[MrGoodbytes]

I was thinking the same things djlen. CO2 would help too, if you start dosing ferts.

I also like Chuck's website, I fing the info and the calculators very useful.

Graeme

[tomm10]

I've thought about getting some co2 in there. The DIY co2 that I've seen is pretty large and elaborate with generators and reactors, soda bottles and tubing, etc. I think I would be more inclined to go with one of those $20 co2 reactors. I think Hagen makes one. Does anyone have any experience with this? I relly want to avoid a large system attached to a 10g tank.

Thanks for the tip on the website! Its interesting stuff.

[djlen]

I am a great believer in CO2, but for a 10 gal. tank the Flourish Carbon will work fine as long as you keep up with the dosage schedule that they recommend.
DIY is not that difficult and if you decide to go that way, rather than buying the 'system' you referred to, just get the ladder reactor that they sell and set up a 2-liter bottle to feed it. I use one in my hospital tank(10gal.) and it works well.
That website is full of info. on many subjects. I refer to it frequently. Even has a section on nutrient deficiencies in plants.

Len