Oh, OK, I answered one of my questions. your temperature is 76º, so that's
OK.

Also, I'm not familiar with the bio-wheel power-filter. Is that a
mechanical filter that accelerates bacterial breakdown by heavily
oxygenating the water? If so, your CO2 is most likely coming out as fast as
it's going in. That could be an issue, even at moderate lighting, because
you've some fast-growing stem plants in there.

My Rotala indica is one of the fastest growing plant in my tanks. At
comparable light levels, I'd expect to prune four to six inches off it every
week. Is yours growing that fast?

kush wrote in message
...
My point is, that at under 2 watts per gallon in an 18" high tank, you
shouldn't have your lights on for less than eleven hours at bare minimum.
Therefore, let's look for something else. You're supplementing CO2 so,
particularly at a moderate light level, we'll rule that out as a problem.
Which leaves either an excess or a deficiency of nutrients.

So, three more questions:

How much and how often are you changing your water?
Have you added any phosphate-based products to adjust your pH?
What is the water temperature?

And, btw, pearling IS good. It is visible confirmation that photosynthesis
is occurring (algae will pearl, too).




chet chet-at-surewestDOTnet wrote in message
...
Trace elements. Sorry, missed that. Yes, I was adding Seachem Flourish
about
two/three times per week for two months. I have stopped. It didn't seem
to
make any difference one way or 'tother.

"kush" wrote in message
...
Something's out of balance. Please post your stats. Also, are you
dosing
with trace elements?

chet chet-at-surewestDOTnet wrote in message
...
I am still fighting algae. What I have now is dark reddish brown but
not
"powdery" like diatoms. It is definitely more like green algae in
texture.
When I trim the plants, the algae looks black once out of the water.

I have a 29 gallon tank with a 55w CF, fluorite substrate, and
Nutrafin
CO2
kit. Plants include Nana, Amazon Swords, Onion plants, Java Fern,
Pond
Penny, Anacharis, and Rotala indica. After two hours of light they
all
perl
like crazy. There is a shower of small air bubbles floating up to
the
surface.

I have been cutting back on the light and am now down to about 10
hours.
Will it count toward a light reduction target if I start turning off
the
light in the middle of the day? Will it inhibit growth or damage the
plants?

I am hoping that by slowly cutting back on light I can eventually
get
the
algae under control. On the other hand, I want to see the tank while
I
am
at
home. Any advice?

chet