algae and tank balance

I have a 120 gallon tank, lots of plants that range from crypts to hairgrass.. have probably 60 fish that range from roseline sharks to angels

I run RO watter with RO right added at 7.0 PH,

here is the issue, I am running co2 5 bubble per sec with an atomic CO2 defuser and 4XT5HO 54w bulbs at 8 hours a day on a timer, I am not using any ferts, i do have plant substrate "cant remember name but was not cheap"

Plants are not growing... they are green and pretty but just not getting any bigger and now I have allot of green algae on the glas, am I running to much light, not enough light, too much CO2, not enough CO2???

the hardest thing to find so far in the planted tank forums is help finding the balance in the aquarium I know its allot of trial and error but I am starting to get frustrated and dont want to give up

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Permalink Reply by Luke Newcomb on April 5, 2014 at 9:05am

Nick,

couple things to try.

-Might be the RO water. there are no minerals in it. try running tap water with some water conditioner, and see how that works.

-Cut back on the Co2 to like 2 - 3 bubbles per sec.

-Make sure the color temp of your lights is in the 6000 - 8000k range

-You may want to cut back your lights to 6 hrs per day, to get that algae under control. Do some water changes and get rid of as much as you can.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head with what you have provided. Just try different things. you will eventually find the balance. I took me 13 months to find a balance in my 90 gal. don't give up!