Reducing Power/Light and adding CO2 Question
 

I have a 75 gallon lightly planted tank and have had issues with brown hair algae. I run my lights directly on the tank and do so for 12 hours. Clearly this is an amateur move and I need to correct this. While rethinking my plan, I wanted to upgrade my filtration and lighting and add CO2 to my tank.

I have a Neptune Systems controller so I have a lot of flexibility in which light I choose. Right now I am running a Coralife Freshwater Power Compact fixture with 4x65 Watt bulbs in it.

For substrate I have 2.5" of Eco-Complete.

My question is, how should I prioritize the upgrade?

- I was thinking of raising up the lights, running only two out of the four bulbs.

- Then add CO2 (more research needs to be done here, recommendations welcome).

- Then finally switch to LED lighting, trying to save some money on the power bill.

Thoughts?

Thanks again for the help!

Are you just looking to save money by switching from your PC fixtures to LEDs? You may not save that much money in the end, since LEDs are also a sizable investment.

Your photoperiod seems a bit long; I would reduce it to 8 hours.

For CO2, I would recommend pressurized CO2 for an aquarium your size. For more information, please take a look at my pressurized CO2 article that I wrote (linked in my signature).

Thank you for the info! I am doing some research on getting a CO2 system online. Does anyone have experience using the AquaticLife Regulator with Solenoid? I plan on hooking that up to my Apex Jr. to ensure CO2 levels stay in a safe range.

Tank is coming along nicely, going to throw up some pictures soon.
CO2 System will be online soon.

Photo period reduced to 8 hours.
Havent raised up the lights yet.

2x Eheim 2217 filters online.
Fluval G6 decommissioned.