Quote:
Originally Posted by paronaram
Dmaaaaax, how do you "fight" the algae?
Do you use tap water? or it's filtered RO etc...
Thanks
Aram
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I still us just tap unlike a lot of high tech planted tanks. The key to algae control is to know what your tap has in it and to keep that in mind when trying to balance the 3 key elements for a high tech tank:
1.) Lights (photoperiod, wpg, bulb type)
2.) CO2
3.) Nutrients (Macro, micro)
Even then, you have to be able to see signs in your plants like growth, dying, melting, and when to trim....and adjust your nutrients accordingly. Lights are the number one factor in algae control. If you increase your lights, you need to increase your CO2 and nutrients or you will get algae. My tap water has phosphates, my fish produce nitrates, so I basically just need to add Potassium for macros. For micros, I use Flourish from Seachem and chelated iron.
If plants are healthy then most algae does not stand a chance. You will always have some algae, this is normal, but leaves can be pruned, and algae eaters can keep it under control (SAE, shrimp, snails, bristlenose, banjo). And yes the ocassional scaping of the glass does happen.;)
My low tech tank is algae free, and that consists of just watching the lighting and doing regular water changes. No chemicals added here, however, it only has low-medium light requiring plants.