Hello, in my 20 Gallon Long planted tank i have some Bacopa caroliniana and some Hygrophilia compacta. They are planted in sand and have a few root tabs scattered among them in a few inch increments and the tank is dosed once a week with a fertilizer known as ThriveC. My light is a Nicrew Plus LED light that is full spectrum. It measures 72 PAR at a depth of 12" but i have the light dimmed down to 60% via a dimmer switch/timer, and they are on for 7 and a half hours a day. I also dose API Co2 Booster DAILY. However, the plants do not seem to be doing the best... The roots of the plants are very well established however but the bacopa is covered in all sorts of brown and green algae, and the compacta seems to be doing "alright" but still not looking as good as it could be. I have no money for actual co2 injection but is there any other way i can help the plants? Perhaps i need to start dosing my ferts every 3 or 4 days rather than once every 1(once a week)? Or maybe i need to keep my lights in for 8 instead of 7 and a half hours every day and also dose ferts twice a week? The plants in my other lowtech setups are THRIVING, so i have little idea as to why this tank is giving me some trouble... I have no green algae problems on my other plants in other tanks, just very minimal brown algae (but the tanks are also less than a year old). i also do around 50-60% water changes every week. Anyone got any advice? I am open to try anything!!
(It is also worth mentioning that my 20 Long is currently being treated for a small amount of Cyanobacteria that suddenly erupted after i moved the brightness to 70% and was not dosing the tank with co2 for a few days because i was away. I am currently treating with chemiclean but after it clears up in the next few days i would love to implement a new dosing schedule or anything else that helps the plants.)
(It is also worth mentioning that my 20 Long is currently being treated for a small amount of Cyanobacteria that suddenly erupted after i moved the brightness to 70% and was not dosing the tank with co2 for a few days because i was away. I am currently treating with chemiclean but after it clears up in the next few days i would love to implement a new dosing schedule or anything else that helps the plants.)
