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Hate to ask for suggestions but...



my tank needs help. I know, I know, I should search the archives, which I
have. I have a huge pile of print outs of various interesting topics.
However, since I am new to this planted tank thing, there are way too many
variables right now for me to understand and also make the right decisions.
I came back from vacation to find a very green fish tank. My brother-in-law
who was too watch it didn't do so well. I feared an algae bloom just prior
to our leaving and did an 80% water change. The little bit that I could see
in the tank showed me that the plants were still growing well, but so was
the algae. I had some of that hard dark algae on some plants prior to
leaving, but kept it at bay by removing the infected leaves, bleach washed
my riccia, etc etc. Some fine filament algae waving back and forth on the
glass (hair algae maybe) spotted algae on glass that my oto seemed to love
eating (brown algae maybe). When I got home all these algae's were doing
great. Riccia is full of a fuzzy looking algae again (beard algae maybe?),
tank water is green, algae that looks like fine hair is doing well, real
dark algae that almost looks black that was on glossistigma didn't seem to
increase (one good thing!), algae on tank glass increased. I scraped glass
and wiped clean, then did an 80% water change, vacuumed rocks pretty well,
cut any leaves that weren't healthy, rubbed off algae that I could by hand.
I shut-off CO2, turned on air pump, shut off lights, replaced filters and
covered tank with black plastic. Tonight will be 48-hours with no light. Can
any of you give me suggestions on how to bring things back in control? I
have 2-watts/ gallon compact fluorescents at 4100K, DIY CO2 yeast thingy, Ph
6.8 -/+, I don't have test kits for other parameters yet. Hoping to get them
soon as I know I need to test these other things to have better control. Any
suggestions other than buying a uv sterilizer or diatom filter? I have a
Regent trickle filter, anything I can add to that to help filter out some
stuff? Thanks Ken, for your thoughts. Other idea from list?