Thought I would post the progression of my planted tank journeys here. I started out 18 months ago with no idea of what I was doing or getting myself into.
I started with dosing excel and PPS pro ferts. I started with massive amounts of lighting (160par at substrate) no preasurised co2. I grew every type of algae u can get, staghorn, hair algae, diatoms, BBA, blue green etc etc.
I ventured into preasurised co2 as I thought this was my problem. Algae grew faster than every BBA became a nightmare. I thought it was the PPS pro dosing (looking for something to blame) so I switched to EI dosing. Things seemed to stabilise abit but I always had algae here and there.
I later realised I was blasting my tank with far too much light. I dimmed my lighting to 50% (about 50-60par at substrate. Things improved massively. However I then ran into issues with EI dosing as the excess nutrients were building up far too much and causing issues with my plants.
I'm back on PPS pro with preasurised co2 set to 35ppm and life is good. I've had major speed bumps to get where I am today and couldn't have done it without the help and advise of people on this forum and also ALOT of Google searching.
Don't get disheartened if your tank isn't going well, look for what is going on in the tank. Assess the plants. Look for anything that doesn't seem correct and google it.
The key to success is read read read and when u think u have covered all bases, read again.
I came into this hobby with no idea on how plants grow or the chemistry of fertilisers etc. I've destroyed hundreds of $$ worth of plants and rebuilt my tanks many times over. Only now do I have some idea of what I'm actually doing.
Things take time, don't rush and learn from your mistakes. Start low and work your way up.
Here's a collection of photos of the tanks I've destroyed and remade over the last 18 months. I think I've come along way since the first days of the 30g lol my eye for detail has certainly taken a massive turn.
Hope you enjoy the photos of my progression! [emoji106]
http://pho.to/Akykg