Phosphates

[Southpark9112]

Been awhile since i posted. Anyways..everything was going fine in the 55g, or in least i thought it was until we ordered a phosphate kit we apprantly have over 10 (no not .10 or .1) on the scale. we've did a 50 percent water change every week for two months now, added a phosphate reducer in the filter, and added some chemical phosphate lower. still no differance.

Nitrate- 20
Nitrite- 0
Ammonia- 0
GH- 30
KH- 200
PH- 8.0

there really isnt THAT much algae, and its just green, not bluegreen and no hair/stringy algae of any sort. and the water isnt discolored or green either like it seems it should be.
The tap water has only a trace amount of phosphates and i cut back on food to them, heck nothing much really comes out of the gravel when we vaccum it now.

an oddball culprit could be the natural rocks we put in them? but we bleached all of them for 3 days and washed them for another 2.

Very confused. thanks for your guys help.

[Damon]

I don't think your kit is accurate or your testing is flawed. While it is possible, those readings seem high but without knowing more about your tank there is no way to diagnose.

[Doodles]

How long do you leave your tank lights on? The longer they are left on the more 'chance' you have on getting algae. You could get an algae eater to help out.
Your Nitraes sound fine, just try to keep it at 20ppm and no higher. Im not sure about the rocks, maybe someone else can help. Where did you get the rocks from?

A lot of algae/phosphates can come from fish feces, overfeeding/decaying fish food. So you can try feeding more lightly. Actually I personally would feed the fish more times durring the day more BUT feed very lightly so the eat it all and no waste is left. Then there will be a lot less fish waste.

Do you use any pH adjusters? They have phosphates in them.

To help lower the phosphates you can try not keeping the tank light's on as long, feeding less, making sure there is not as much waste.

[Scuba Kid]

your Ph is also a little high. what do you keep in the tank?

[Southpark9112]

simpte, what other information could i give? we may buy a new test kit sooner or later, but i dont think we've messed up the readings 20plus times.

doodles, the lights are on in least 14 hours a day normally. Which is a lot, but it's for the plants and such. The temp rarely gets over 82, and since its fall, its been in the 78 range lately. Speaking of algae eaters, we just got 2 today. the rocks are from the creek that flows in my backyard...
we've stopped giving them flakes all the time and switched to some meaty foods lately, rarely anything touches the ground than.

we used to use ph adjusters to try and get it to 7.0 but those didnt work out too long, its been over a month since we've used them and the water/filters have been changed since than a couple times.

thanks for the tips doodles.

The fish i have in my tank: (not adding anymore, i think it's overstocked but according to my marinetank-expert friend its not. oh well.)

2 Rosy barbs
2 pictus cats (they might be going out soon due to the fact of their size...)
2 algae eaters
1 flying fox
2 upside down cats
2 rainbows (i still havent found out what type from this site or any others)
4 giant danios
1 clown loach
1 skunk loach

pretty much all the fish are half way to reaching full size.

[Damon]

14 hrs a day is way to long even for a planted tank. 10 hrs is perfect. Most plant's photoperiod is only 8-9 hrs. It doesn't seem overstocked but you do have a high biomass in there. The fish you have produce above average waste. That could be your problem. Your stocking levels for the fish is also off. Clown loaches are social and like to be in groups of at least 3. The barbs perfer more company also. You mentioned 2 algae eaters but didn't state what kind. If they are common plecos, that could be your problem.

[Doodles]

doodles, the lights are on in least 14 hours a day normally. Which is a lot, but it's for the plants and such. The temp rarely gets over 82, and since its fall, its been in the 78 range lately.

I think leaving the light's on that long is your main problem for your algae troubles. The longer they are left on the more algea problems you will have. So I think 14 hours leaving the light's on is way to long. It may be a bit stressful on the fish as well. They need some rest like us as well.

14 hrs a day is way to long even for a planted tank. 10 hrs is perfect. Most plant's photoperiod is only 8-9 hrs. It doesn't seem overstocked but you do have a high biomass in there. The fish you have produce above average waste. That could be your problem. Your stocking levels for the fish is also off. Clown loaches are social and like to be in groups of at least 3. The barbs prefer more company also. You mentioned 2 algae eaters but didn't state what kind. If they are common plecos, that could be your problem.

I agree with Simpte, this could as well add to your algae problem. You may want to consider adding another filter to help out. What kind of algae eater did you add? If it's just Ottos, or Chinese algae eaters you will be fine, but if it's plecos you will be really overstocked, especially if it's two.

Your stocking levels do sounds fine. What kind of filtration do you have? Also how often do you clean your tank? Weekly cleaning's will help a great deal in controlling algae.

2 Rosy barbs
2 pictus cats (they might be going out soon due to the fact of their size...)
2 algae eaters
1 flying fox
2 upside down cats
2 rainbows (i still havent found out what type from this site or any others)
4 giant danios
1 clown loach
1 skunk loach

Just a suggestion here. A lot of your fish are schooling fish. If they are in schools you will see their true behavior. When I first started out and had my first tank (10 gallons) I couldn't keep many fish in there. So I went a bit nuts and have 6 tanks now and one is a 75 gallon tropical tank. I started getting really large schools of tropical fish of 10+. It was the best thing I ever did. It is so beautiful to see them all schooling together. They are so much more confident and happy. I started to see their natural behavior and it truly is amazing on the difference I see since I started keeping large schools. I also have lost very few fish since I started keeping the schools. Schooling fish can get lonely and depressed if not kept in schools, especially loaches.
This is just my opinion however, but I would keep your schools in groups of 5+.
Add 3 or more upside down catfish, you will see them more if you do this. Add a couple more danios. Clown without a doubt need to be in schools. Clowns get stressed very easily and they are prone to a lot of infections, heath problems, stress ect and to keep this at bay they do need to be kept in schools. The problem is they get huge. It takes a long time to grow however so I would either return them or get some more and upgrade later when they get to big for the 55 gallon. The more loaches the better. To see them in a large school is absolutely amazing!

[Southpark9112]

Okay, i'm going out to buy a timer for the lights sometime this week. going to keep the lights on for 9 or 10 hours a day.

NO. wow i hate plecos to the max, their CAE. i dont really like their personality but ive never had any luck with otos.

We were going to get more clown loaches because one of them died recently ( 2 weeks ago), i might get 2 more instead of 1 maybe...depends. the petco up the street didnt have any in anymore. so off to david's fish store this weekend i suppose. for the other fish...im not sure. i may buy more barbs but i truely dont want much more fish in that tank. and my wallet is going through a drought as of late... i need a job or something...heh.

thanks for the schooling suggestions, i may be upgrading to a 75 or 100 gallon in the next year or so, once i get my summer job and such.

Doodles, we clean the tank every sunday and do a 25 percent water change, scrape of algae, etc. I also have two filters, a 60 gallon and a 30 gallon on either side of the tank.

thanks everyone. see you all later.

[Damon]

It sounds like you are off to a good start. Tank matainence is crucial to a healthy algae free tank. If you don't want to add more barbs, get rid of the ones you have. This will allow for more of another type of fish and still allow you to school them together. Your fish will thank you for it. CAE's eat algae while young (first 2 years) but as they mature, they will stop eating algae and start in on your larger, slower fish. They have been known to kill oscars and the such.