Need help dry ferts or seachem liquid ferts

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Islander009

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
May 2, 2012
Messages
128
Hi all new guy here I have been dosing liquid ferts for the last year and have been losing this algae battle. Recently I read somewhere some people saying that liquid ferts are one of the main causes of algae specifically BBA. Can anyone provide me some insight? 37 gallon tank with two 24watt t5ho lights and running pressurized co2. Was thinking that going into either pps pro or EI dosing would help solve some problems with algae as seachem a dosing does not work for me. Anyway any insight would be great!
 
What size tank do you have? Also how long do you leave lights on daily? Most algae issue IMO stem from too much light left on too long. Can you provide a picture of the tank so we can see how heavily planted it is and the extent of the algae problem. In planted tanks photoperiod generally needs to be 6-8 hours. When algae is an issue cutting lighting down to 6 hours a day will help alot.

As for liquid ferts... I don't think they really attribute to most algae problems unless they are being grossly overdosed. But honestly with your light and running CO2 you really should be dosing dry ferts. Here is a good thread to read, but only read the openning post not all the comments.... Newbie Guide to PPS-Pro - PPS Analysis and Feedback - Aquatic Plant Central.

I use PPS-Pro in my tanks and like it because I can custom dose my ferts to the needs of my tanks. My 220g 100% planted tank I run low nitrate- high phosphate due to the amount of non-green plants I use. You can view pic's of this tank in the link in my signature at the bottom of the post. I've had very good luck with they dosing system.

Also BBA can be spot treated with Excel or Hydrogen Peroxide.
 
The only way that liquid ferts would be causing algae is if you are under-dosing, which is extremely likely in a high light/pressurized CO2 tank. BBA, on the other hand, is mostly caused by imbalances between CO2 and light.
 
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