trying to avoid algae before it starts...
i have a juwel rio 125 tank (33 US gallons), 2nd hand, new set up.
substrate is tropica plant substrate with fine gravel on top.
it is an old style juwel tank with 2x18w t8 tubes, i have bought another starter so now have 2x24w t5 tubes also in the hood. i can therefore run just the t5s or both the t8s and the t5s - would be interested to know what people think?
using the juwel internal filter
planning on using pmdd based approach as not easily able to do 50% weekly water changes called for by ei
cannot afford pressurised co2 system at present, but have made a 2 bottle diy system set up with the nutrafin diffuser. changing bottles on alternate weeks.
plan to plant tank with an online plant collection.
reading around i appreciate that diy co2 is far from perfect and blamed for much algae. if i get algae (of a type that is co2 dependent) and cannot add more co2 as most articles suggest, can i reduce other factors to limit it - e.g. reduced lighting, reduced nutrient dosing? given that i would only be using diy co2 i imagine that just using the 2 t5 bulbs rather than all 4 would be most sensible as that would give me about 2wpg (if you multiply the t5 wattage by 1.3 or 1.5)? i am not keen on adding liquid co2 as i hear it damages quite a few common plants.
thanks.
i have a juwel rio 125 tank (33 US gallons), 2nd hand, new set up.
substrate is tropica plant substrate with fine gravel on top.
it is an old style juwel tank with 2x18w t8 tubes, i have bought another starter so now have 2x24w t5 tubes also in the hood. i can therefore run just the t5s or both the t8s and the t5s - would be interested to know what people think?
using the juwel internal filter
planning on using pmdd based approach as not easily able to do 50% weekly water changes called for by ei
cannot afford pressurised co2 system at present, but have made a 2 bottle diy system set up with the nutrafin diffuser. changing bottles on alternate weeks.
plan to plant tank with an online plant collection.
reading around i appreciate that diy co2 is far from perfect and blamed for much algae. if i get algae (of a type that is co2 dependent) and cannot add more co2 as most articles suggest, can i reduce other factors to limit it - e.g. reduced lighting, reduced nutrient dosing? given that i would only be using diy co2 i imagine that just using the 2 t5 bulbs rather than all 4 would be most sensible as that would give me about 2wpg (if you multiply the t5 wattage by 1.3 or 1.5)? i am not keen on adding liquid co2 as i hear it damages quite a few common plants.
thanks.