i have a 55 gal tank covered with plants, maybe thats the key, i will
suggest adding a few more plants, hygrophilia should grow very fast under
those conditions. are your bulbs old? do u supply co2? the amazon sword
should grow very fast and beautiful, but its a very demanding plant in terms
of fertilizers, it requires a rich substrate (root tablets), do u provide
them?

also check for plants (Water lettuce, dont think duckweed please) for the
surface, many times these plants have saved my tank from an algae
infestation. i had your problem once, maybe worse, about three years ago my
plants were covered all over by this blue-green mess algae, i corrected the
problem adding some water lettuce my mom gave me as a present, a month went
through and the algae disapeared. maybe you have too much nutrients in your
water, that was my problem, the water lettuce is very demanding in terms of
nutrients, it absorbs them very fast. i didnt feed the tank with iron or
micro until the algae was gone.

hope this helps.


"Nwwise01" wrote in message
...
I seem to continue to have an algae problem (although it is simply a
nuisance at this point) and added the carbon media in hopes it would
cut down on some of the nutrients that the algae are feeding on.
Should I just add more plants to my tank in hopes of the plants
outcompeting the algae for nutrients.

Adding more plants would not solve the problem because these new plants
would
not outcompete the algae for the same reason your old plants are not.
Find out
why your old plants are not winning and correct this.

My ammonia & nitrites are zero. Nitrates are between 10-15ppm when I
do a weekly 20% water change. Ph is approx 7.0 - 7.2.

What are your nitrates before the water change? I'll wager they are
higher
than the 10-15ppm you get. A healthy growing tank will suck nitrates down
to
zero ao that you will need to add additional nitrates. Since yours are
not,
there must be another limiting factor. I think the obvious answer is CO2.
With 160W over a 55 gallon you really need to add CO2.

You did not mention of you were adding CO2, but if you are, then look to
some
other limiting factor to plant growth. Are you dosing potassium? Do you
have
a phosphate test kit? If your plants are not getting significant amounts
of
either, they will not be able to utilize all the nitrates in your system
and
thus the algae will take advantage of the excess.

N.Wise