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My current 55 gallon aquarium is a second attempt to 'get it right' after an algae and plant jungle resulted during the first planted set up.
The aquarium has been up and running several weeks now and consists of a Cascade canister filter with only mechanical (floss) and biological media in the filter, 2 - 54 watt lights (Ultra Sun and Flora Sun by Zoo Media) mounted at the highest level of the bracket attached to the tank with the lights on for 9 hours a day. I also have a 20 lb CO2 tank running through a bubble counter (at least 3 bps) to a regular air stone under the filter intake so almost none of the CO2 reaches the surface - CO2 is on the same timer as the lights (9 hours a day). I also just started dosing the tank using the EI method - macro and micro nutrients (along with Flourish Excel) on alternate days with a 50% water change on Sundays. As before, some bba on plants attached to the driftwood and green algae on glass and stones keep appearing. The tank has a number of fish including 6 Otos and 5 Cory cats for cleanup duty.
I recently read that this algae situation in aquariums with high lighting and CO2 injection could be caused by low CO2 levels and lack of water flow. I was wondering if I should add a power head for better water flow as the Cascade canister filter does not really appear to be stirring the entire tank and should I up the bubbles per second count on my CO2 injection?
Thanks for your time and assistance.:fish:
The aquarium has been up and running several weeks now and consists of a Cascade canister filter with only mechanical (floss) and biological media in the filter, 2 - 54 watt lights (Ultra Sun and Flora Sun by Zoo Media) mounted at the highest level of the bracket attached to the tank with the lights on for 9 hours a day. I also have a 20 lb CO2 tank running through a bubble counter (at least 3 bps) to a regular air stone under the filter intake so almost none of the CO2 reaches the surface - CO2 is on the same timer as the lights (9 hours a day). I also just started dosing the tank using the EI method - macro and micro nutrients (along with Flourish Excel) on alternate days with a 50% water change on Sundays. As before, some bba on plants attached to the driftwood and green algae on glass and stones keep appearing. The tank has a number of fish including 6 Otos and 5 Cory cats for cleanup duty.
I recently read that this algae situation in aquariums with high lighting and CO2 injection could be caused by low CO2 levels and lack of water flow. I was wondering if I should add a power head for better water flow as the Cascade canister filter does not really appear to be stirring the entire tank and should I up the bubbles per second count on my CO2 injection?
Thanks for your time and assistance.:fish: