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Jaycat, I think youd really benefit from reading the Estimative Index thread in the articles page. :) Itll explain all about co2, dosing and water changes in there. This will go a huge way towards solving your BGA issues.. I think that filtration should be lower on your list of priorities in...

blackouts are an extremely effective way of resetting an algae issue... but as the others have already said, dont forget to solve the cause of the algae issue or itll just reoccur. blackouts wont solve your algae issues, but they will give you a clean slate to start over... ONCE youve fixed the...

your problem is definitely no ferts. TPN+ is ok for low light tanks, but youre running about 2wpg. light > co2 uptake > nutrient uptake > growth. at the moment, you have the first 2, expecting the final growth stage, but you have nothing for the plants to 'eat'. So instead, the algae, which...

well theres yer problem! You need to dose, especially if your adding co2. Co2 allows the plants to take up nutrients, but you have none! so the algae uses it instead

Otto's, shrimp and snails love the brown if you dont want to black out to get rid :)

Tom Barr said this about 2 years ago.. maybe hes changed his mind.. again.. like he does. Im not a scientist so I have no idea exactly what he said. Anyway, whether thats the case or not.. thats still alot of light you have there which will be driving any problems very hard. Its far better...

thats over 3 wpg of T5.. remember T5 output about 3 times the amount of light that a T8 does. Clives right, thats a whole lot of light.

Theyll gasp at the surface quite a bit before theyll die, so youll get fair warning. Mine will go pretty damn yellow before the fish start complaining, but I do have a reasonable surface agitation so o2 is fairly good.. remember its not CO2 that kills fish, but lack of O2.. as CO2 gets higher...

yep, as I said.

TNP+ isnt really EI Im afraid. Its a different sort of regime. You need to be dosing dry ferts to be following EI. Have a look in my sig for a very nifty program that will work it all out for you. Makes life alot easier. While TPN+ does contain everything, the amounts of each are vry hard to...

Interesting :) yeah I realise that the outputs are dependent on all sorts like media, head and wotnots. Ive been quite happy for a while with a 305 on a 235 litre. I remember reading a year ago or so, I think it was Tom Barr actually, suggesting that a low flow was preferable in a planted...

If youve reduced biomass be very careful increasing dosage.. this can lead to higher excesses in the tank, and more issues. Its a horribly complex subject dosing, with so many parameters that the only really decent way to gauge how youre doing is to look at your plants. Getting a fast growing...

10 times?? really Clive? I run a 305 on a 235 litre with no issues. I do however run a powerhead to wash out the dead spots due to scaping. I can remember back in the old days when 3 times turnover was considered excessive! Be wary of TPN+ Ive used it and had algae issues until I stopped...

Eds dead right.. I missed this bit in your original post. 2 months is a long time in a planted tank where theres alot of detritus about all the time. I clean mine out monthly at the longest.

London makes a good point.. the original EI calculations were based on a normal biomass operating under 2w/g of T8 lighting.. so if you have more biomass, or T5 and/or more than 2wpg then you need to increase accordingly. Depending on the tubes, T5 outputs about 3 times more per watt, hence its...

even though you have a good flow, you may have a bad circulation. Generally though, these problems occur due to poor water quality and/or other maintenance issues including co2/fert problems. Remember, even though your using a drop checker that shows everything ok, it doesnt mean that co2 is...

the only really good way to remove the dreaded cyan is to blackout. follow a strict 3 day blackout.. turn off co2/lighting, do not feed and wrap it up. after that, the cyan will be gone, as well as alot of other algae types. Its worth doing.. cyan is a bacteria, not an algae.. only really a...

I have it persistantly, with great co2/flow/and everything else.... I have high KH as well.. be interesting if someone could run 2 tanks side by side, one soft, one hard and see what happened when BBA samples were added.

firstly, dead spots can cause bad flow, even if you have a high turnover. also, EI was designed for something in the region of 2wpg of T8 lighting, so if you have more than this, you need to increase your dosing accordingly.. so, 4wpg, would be double EI.. you can use the dosing calculater in...

it its the same stuff i had, which i recon it is.. its exactly like a carpet of BBA, but an inch long.. and not in bunches.. its very horrid

its a nightmare, im not overly sure what it is, but i had it.. i know exactly what you mean. i solved it by changing my lighting, turned out my compact interpet triplus tubes werent getting on with the tank.. too much intensity in too smaller space. as soon as i swapped to an arcadia normal HO...

ahh clowns.. yeah, that rules out a brigade of snails. If you are going to let the GDA run its course, if you have the time, it would be fascinating to see any pictures as the experiment progresses. If your up for it, maybe you could put a thread in the journal section. This is a problem that...

Tom Barr is an advocate of letting it follow its life cycle. In other words, leave it to do its thing, which will probably mean not being able to see in your tank for a week or so. The algae lives out its life, and dies naturally.. never to return. Or so Im told, although Im lucky to not have...

if your plants are getting everything they need in the way of co2 and ferts (either by full dosing or a low tech approach), and your light isnt over the top, then your algae shouldnt be able to compete with the plants. Remove all you can, whenever you see it, this should tip the balance in the...

counting bubbles is seriously no good.. you need a drop checker, they cost very little and are bang on if you use 4dKh reference solution in them. It really IS the only way.

Oto's are the generals of my algae eating band of critters.. stunningly amazing fish, easily my fav fish in the tank. Go very easy on initial introduction, they become very very fragile on transport but once theyve been in a month, bullet proof. Expect to loose 25% of your initial stock, and no...

It looks like diatoms to me.. is it a new setup? if so sand and glass can leech silicates into the water column which triggers diatoms in high numbers. we all have diatoms in our tanks all the time, as its part of the ecosystem were trying to create. do you have a drop checker? ive always...