Poor stem plant growth and some algae

[Adumlee]

Hi guys. My tank has been running about 2 months now. I had issues with hair algae which I seem to be winning the battle with. I've added some floating plants which seems to of helped with overall clarity of the tank. However what are ment to be fast growing stem plants are growing slower than my crypts the leave are quite light green and leaves are very narrow with some algae on.

Tanks specs are as follows.

60x40x40 opti white.

Thermo 200 filter.

Ebay light (can't remember brand ) set at 6 hours.

Fe co2 set up feeding into inlet on filter.

Currently dosing is one pump a day of liquid co2 and tropica complete.

Flow is from a standard outlet pointing slightly too the top for surface agitation.

I'm thinking maybe the lights are too bright and don't match the ferts? I can also add the spray bar back on for overall flow.

Any advice would be great.

All the best.

 

[Ria95]

Fe co2 set up feeding into inlet on filter.
Currently dosing is one pump a day of liquid co2 and tropica complete.

Glad to hear you are winning the battle against hair algae. Could you clarify what fertilizer you are using as I am not aware of a product called Tropica complete and don't want to make the wrong assumptions.
The drop checker in the images also looks rather dark. Have you considered increasing the CO2 a little bit ?

 

[Adumlee]

Hi Ria thanks for the reply. I've increased the co2 slightly its usually a darkish green I took the picture just after a water change hence the colour. I've also rescaped the tank ad close as I could get it to originally planned ( all the hardscape come apart ) sorry its called tropica premium nutrition and floragrow carbo. I've just ordered some seachem flourish.

I will do another little maintaince session once the tank has settled again glass needs cleaning and some some detritus left on the gravel after the move around. I plan on adding some more moss and buces. Would be nice to get a decent background of stems even if I have to rip out what I have and start again with them.

All the best

Thanks

 

[Ria95]

Hello,
looks good. Tropica Premium does not contain any nitrogen or phosphor. It's likely the stem growth rate is limited by their low values. As the tank is relatively new some nutrition will be provided by the soil but if you want higher growth rates I would recommend getting a source of macros ( N, P, K ) to dose to the water column. Individual chemicals to add these nutrients specifically are available from online shops like aquariumplantfood or already mixed in easy to dose but more expensive solutions ( TNC, Tropica specialized).
Darkish green does sound a little low. Small increases and watching the fish for a couple of days should help getting the CO2 dialed in. I would however encourage you to first sort the nutrient aspect or the plants will quickly start showing deficiency symptoms.

 

[Adumlee]

Hi thats great thank you I will have a look into that and get some ordered. I've made a small adjustment to the co2 and the checker is now this colour. Would you go lighter green than that? I'm also planning on adding some neocaridina I've kept them previously in a lower tech set up, so that's another thing I will have to research in regards to how well they do in co2/fertilised tanks.