Reduce Macro or Micro Nutrients?

[scoobiemandan]

So, I have the following planted in my tank;

- Vallisneria Spiralis
- Microsorum Pteropus
- Cryptocoryne Balansae
- Echinodorus Ozelot
- Hemianthus Callitrichoides

The following equipment;

- Fluval 306 External
- APS 2000EFX+ External
- Fluval Waterlife and Plant LED strip
- CO2 injection

I have a split photoperiod of 4 hours on 4 hours off and 4 hours on. Not ideal, I know but because of the positioning of the tank it gets direct sunlight for a few hours in the morning. The only way I can compensate/cover this direct light and be able to see my fish when I return from work is to split the period like this. I cannot drop the blinds as the light is through the french doors and we are smokers, have kids and a dog so the blinds are always up to allow all the traffic 😉 I time to CO2 to coincide with these on/off times of the lighting also.

I dose both Micro and Macro Nutrients in the way of dry ferts. However, I have a few minor issues in the tank which I'm trying to address.

- The Echinodorus has some older leaves which appear to be thinning and have a few holes in the leaves! There doesn't appear to be any yellowing or dying off of edges/around holes etc
- The Microsorum has a few bits of Staghorn algae, not much but nonetheless undesirable.
- The Cryptocoryne has hard green algae on it's leaves
- The Vallisneria seems to harbour quite a bit of Oedogonium algae.

Neither are, by any stretch of the imagination, out of control but I'm finding it difficult to really work out what requires changing in the tank in the way of fertilising. Can't get my head round what is maybe lacking or being provided in abundance.

Lastly, I have the following fish in the tank (240l);

-13 Black Neon Tetra
- 13 Male Guppy
- 6 SAE
- 5 Ghost Glass Catfish
- 4 Albino Cory
- BN PLec

So, it's a relatively high amount of fish.

So, I suppose, I'm basically asking which of the micro/macro nutrients will be supplied by the detritus meaning I should perhaps lower the amounts I'm dosing. And of course, any idea's on whether the very same could have a connection to the different types of algae I'm having.

I'd like to make mention that since splitting the photoperiod, I'm having far less algae issues than I was before. I'd had a nasty outbreak of BBA prior to this.....hasn't returned, thankfully.

If you're still with me, thanks for reading 🙂

 

[zozo]

All plants you have do not need a massive amount of light, the only one realy in need of some extra co2 is the HC and can do very well in medium light.

If the tank gets direct sunlight it is best to just turn the tank lights completely off during this periode.. For the rest splitting up the photoperiod i do not have experience with, but also does not make much sence to me.. I can not believe plant benefit from it.. In my humble opinion you would be better of investing in a dimmer and just give it a proper photo periode with less intensity. Then you still can see what is going on and it will help to reduce the algae growth and keep the plants growing. How much you should reduce it, depends on you HC if you want to keep it hard to say in number of watts, this is something you have to find out yourself by observation. But i grew it very good with co2 under relative low light.

And if you have a good husbandry schedule of weekly cleaning session with a 25 to 50% water change you can keep up with the micro macro schedule as is. As they say with EI and RR fert schedules, you seldomly have to much if you reset the tank weekly with a water change.. 🙂

My self i have an open top low tech tank, standing under a ceiling window, it is all day long lit by natural day light like a pond outside.. I had to trun all lights completely off in the early summer to get the staghorn algae out. At the time it is 95% algae free, non on the plant leaves but a little bit green spot on the anubias, staghorn is completely gone. So it gets all day natural day light from above at the time still more than 12 hours which was 17 hours at the longest day. Also no need for light i see everything very clear.. Only at very cloudy days i turn on the tank lights only with 50% capacity. And i'm fertilizing this tank with Potasium Nitrate, Potasium Phosphate and Trace elements. Next to the clay root tabs i give to the root feeders.. And this is all low tech where co2 is barely 0.10 ppm at the start of the day..

In the high tech tank i also give roottabs, and echinodorus realy loving it.. 🙂