Catfish Lover
Aquarium Advice Freak
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2013
- Messages
- 287
In a planted tank? Could I do a 4 hour on 2 hour off 3 hour on cycle. Would that be the same growth as 7 hours on straight? I'm wanting to do this to control algae growth.
In a planted tank? Could I do a 4 hour on 2 hour off 3 hour on cycle. Would that be the same growth as 7 hours on straight? I'm wanting to do this to control algae growth.
I think I need to just cut back on my fertilizer dosing from once a week to once every other week. I have mostly anubias,crypts, some floating pennywort and wisteria. Those plants typically don't need a lot of liquid fertilizer. I'm running almost the are minimum lighting on a 55g, one 48' T8 6700k bulb for 8 hrs a day right now, so I know the issue is not too much lightHello Cat...
Aquarium plants are tropical and used to long hours of daylight. I put my tank lights on a timer and set it between 10-14 hours daily depending on how well the plants grow.
If your tank hasn't been running long, then it needs time to make the water chemistry stable. My tanks usually run 6 months or so before the algae is under control.
Anacharis is a good algae controlling plant. It puts out an antibiotic that prevents the growth of certain kinds of algae. I have it in all my tanks.
Keep up with your water changes. They remove added nutrients. Snails will help. Ramshorn remove all types of algae. I don't feed much flaked fish food. It's typically high in phosphate, something that algae really thrives on.
Just some observations from keeping planted tanks for a few years.
B