I am new to keeping a planted tank

[MBR78]

Any help would be great ! I have a 48" 54watt T5 on a 75gallon and Eheim ecco 2236 filter . Every thing is doing pretty well except my lilies and I have that red algae! I am using flourish excel till my Hagan unit comes in.

Do I need more filters or light?
What a good fert ?

 

[BigJim]

Welcome to AA!

Is that a T5HO light or just a regular T5? Either way, you're a little low on the lighting.

Dry fertilizers are the way to go for a comprehensive regimen. Flourish is a decent fertilizer, but the dry ferts are cheaper.

 

[MBR78]

It's a T5 HO. What abt the filter is that enough it say up to 80 gallons ? I was running an over the back filter with biowheels but someone told me all my co2 would gasoff ? Any suggestions on which dry ferts R the best ?

 

[BigJim]

I've got all HOB filters, so I'm not really familiar with canisters. With HOBs, I generally use a filter rated for double the volume of tank I'm using it on. I'd like to see a higher flowrate for a 75g, but for a planted tank, it's probably ok.

Biowheels do off-gas a lot of CO2. You're better off with the canister on a filter tank.

I'm just getting into dry ferts myself. Try asking Fort384 where he gets his stuff.

 

[fort384]

Planted Aquarium Fertilizer - Home is reliable and has decent prices.

Based on your current lighting though, I doubt there will be much of need to dose much of anything. What plants are you attempting to grow, and what are your goals? If you want to get into some good medium light plants, you could safely double your lighting. Much more than that and you would have to start looking into a pressurized CO2 injection system.

 

[MBR78]

I've got java moss,java fern,Amazon swords ,water sprites and some red lilies. Ten tetras,Angel,farlowila catfish and and a mystery snail. I am wanting to learn more so I will know what I'm doing when I set a bigger tank up. I have had fresh and saltwater fish but never done much with plants. So any suggestions r greatly appreciated!!!

 

[MBR78]

So maybe a stronger light or another one like my T5 HO