Hey All,
New here and new to the hobby. Just after a bit of help regarding balancing my tank as I was getting hair algae, using excel at the moment to stop it, and now getting BBA.
So I get the idea behind balancing the light, co2 and nutrients but don't really know the starting point or what to change next, or by how much. (Especially as I don't have co2)
Ideally, I would like to get off using the Excel and keep it a simple setup.
Here's some of my tank info.
Setup
45l planted tank
Nicrew 18w LED, about 1/2 power, on for 6 hours in the morning
Tidal 35 filter, sponge and matrix
Aquel 50w Heater, 24c (relatively new, past 2 weeks)
Tropica Soil substrate
Plants
Floating
Limnobium laevigatum / Frogbit
BG
Echinodorus 'Bleherae' / Amazon Sword
Echinodorus 'Ozelot'
Stem
Bacopa caroliniana
Hydrophila ( maybe "polysperma")
Limnophila sessiliflora - auxiliary plant
Ludwigia sp. mini super red
S. Repens
Cryptocoryne parva, very slow barely growing
Cryptocoryne wendtii
Cryptocoryne usteriana
Moss
Christmas Moss
Spiky Moss
Rhizomatous
Microsorum pteropus 'Windeløv'
Anubias
Livestock
4x Amano shrimp
1x nerite snail
5x danios
Water parameters
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 10-20ppm
PH 7.5
Kh 4
GH 10
Schedule
Feed fish once daily, small amount if flake food
Up to 2ml of Excel daily, 5ml at water change
I was doing 1ml of Profito fertiliser daily, have just cut down to around 2/2.5ml weekly now to ensure I am not overdosing. (Also have the Tropica Specialised fert, if I see nitrates are low.)
Change 50% of water weekly, and clean filter out.
So my question is, what do I need to do next to get of excel and control the algae?
To much ferts and light, not matching the co2 levels?
Can you get algae from too little light? (I see everyone saying to start at 8-10 hours, and I am already at 6 and a half-power on what I believe is a low light, 18w)
Do I need to use ferts at all, are my fish producing enough to feed the plants?
A bit lost on what to try next really, so open to ideas, so would much appreciate some insight.
Thanks,
Tyler
New here and new to the hobby. Just after a bit of help regarding balancing my tank as I was getting hair algae, using excel at the moment to stop it, and now getting BBA.
So I get the idea behind balancing the light, co2 and nutrients but don't really know the starting point or what to change next, or by how much. (Especially as I don't have co2)
Ideally, I would like to get off using the Excel and keep it a simple setup.
Here's some of my tank info.
Setup
45l planted tank
Nicrew 18w LED, about 1/2 power, on for 6 hours in the morning
Tidal 35 filter, sponge and matrix
Aquel 50w Heater, 24c (relatively new, past 2 weeks)
Tropica Soil substrate
Plants
Floating
Limnobium laevigatum / Frogbit
BG
Echinodorus 'Bleherae' / Amazon Sword
Echinodorus 'Ozelot'
Stem
Bacopa caroliniana
Hydrophila ( maybe "polysperma")
Limnophila sessiliflora - auxiliary plant
Ludwigia sp. mini super red
S. Repens
Cryptocoryne parva, very slow barely growing
Cryptocoryne wendtii
Cryptocoryne usteriana
Moss
Christmas Moss
Spiky Moss
Rhizomatous
Microsorum pteropus 'Windeløv'
Anubias
Livestock
4x Amano shrimp
1x nerite snail
5x danios
Water parameters
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 10-20ppm
PH 7.5
Kh 4
GH 10
Schedule
Feed fish once daily, small amount if flake food
Up to 2ml of Excel daily, 5ml at water change
I was doing 1ml of Profito fertiliser daily, have just cut down to around 2/2.5ml weekly now to ensure I am not overdosing. (Also have the Tropica Specialised fert, if I see nitrates are low.)
Change 50% of water weekly, and clean filter out.
So my question is, what do I need to do next to get of excel and control the algae?
To much ferts and light, not matching the co2 levels?
Can you get algae from too little light? (I see everyone saying to start at 8-10 hours, and I am already at 6 and a half-power on what I believe is a low light, 18w)
Do I need to use ferts at all, are my fish producing enough to feed the plants?
A bit lost on what to try next really, so open to ideas, so would much appreciate some insight.
Thanks,
Tyler