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Endless Algae Woes...
I am a long time reader of the APD, but this is my first post(sorry it is so
long.) I set up a 20 gallon heavily planted tank 1 year ago, but there has
yet to be a day without algae(ecept the first day I set it up.) For the
first several months I was figuring how things worked, and algae always
seemed to have the upper hand. I had every different type of algae: hair,
green water, staghorn, that one with little 3 mm hairs etc.... But for the
last 5 months cyano bacteria showed up and has taken over. Through posts on
Aquaria Central and Tom's place many people helped me figure out that I
wasn't getting enough of the correct nutrients to my plants. I tryed using
ppmd but I could never seem to get the concentration right. I switched my
water column fertilizer to Tropica Master Grow and Kn03( from Flourish and
ppmd) in the hope to simplify things. About a month and a half ago I added a
second DIY CO2, I also added flourish tabs and pices ofJobe's p&f sticks to
the substrate to keep the nutrients away from the BGA. This improved the
growth and the plants looked heathier but the cyano bacteria didn't slow
down. I was removing it daily. I always tested my water and my phospate was
always .05 or so. I felt I had got the the nutrient levels at a good place
and I decided to do the marycyn treatment for the BGA. The plants were
growing vigorously. The BGA went away after the full treatment but promptly
returned a week later. I felt like throwing my tank out the window... Now my
tank had both hair algae and BGA. I am extremely frustrated to say the
least. Now as a last resort I turn to you my fellow APD'ers. Any ideas of
what I could be doing wrong or overlooking? Thank you for your help.
Tank info:
20 gallon( 20% water change weekly)
eheim ecco with spray bar and powerhead for filtration and water movement
pH 6.7-7.0
55 5600k PC on for 12 hours
2 DIY co2 yeast bottles into filter intake(one changed a week)
Flourite
kh 3
gh 5
phosphate .05 (seachem test kit)
iron .1 (although this never seems to change)
nitrate .2 (i never got a reading higher no matter how much KNo3 I add)
Jobes and flourish Tabs added to substrate for nitrate and phosphate
I add 1 ml TMG daily and 1 ml if KNo3
Plants: lots of hygrophilia(green and tropical sunset), lots of rotala
indica, chainsword, glossostigma, crypt lucens, mayaca, hairgrass, and Java
fern
fish: 4 rummy noses, 2 diamond tetras, 1 emperor tetra, 4 ottos