Fert recommendation no co2

Aqua99 said:

I used NilocG liquid ferts (EI ferts at a reduced dosage) to get me started with ease (call me lazy for not wanting to measure, but his liquids in a pump bottle are simple and not outrageous $$ if it's just a small tank). Over time I've picked up the dry components to tweak my dosages so I use those now.

I think glut really works well for me too (plant growth as well as "algicide") in both CO2/non-CO2 tanks I have running. I'd recommend the DIY Glut (Metricide 14 or 28- whatever you find cheaper) to save a fortune. I can pay $8.99/bottle for Excel, or refill it for 70¢.

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Yes that was one of them recommended metracide, so that's just the cheap version of glut? Or the dyi version might I say, I was actually going to make my own root tabs as well with osmocote, I know I would save money in the long run by going to co2, but I can afford $30.00 here and $30.00 there I cannot afford $400.00 in one sitting and again I say I honestly wouldn't know how to set it up and regulate it properly, then comes upgrading the light yikes lol

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Okay I have taken a video of my plants, they have Demetrius in them I believe that's what it is anyways, it's also on my Texas holey rock, plus pants have holes in them etc etc, I have a picture chart of my light but I have way more pods in mine than what it comes with View attachment 725650 , if you go by watts each pod is 1 watt I have 24 pods which would = 24 watts, if you go by lumens I would guesstimate around 3000 I don't really know how to measure lighting

So the brown stuff does come off if I rub it lightly I was told to use gauze to remove it or buy oto cats but I'm not fond of them, so I'm assuming I have my lights on for way to long or my ferts are not balanced or not correct, I use Seachem comprehensive, and Seachem root tabs


I was told on here I needed to add some form of carbon like excel but It gets expensive but I know you can change to metracide I think takes the place of excel not 100% sure if I'm correct on that.

My tank is 55 gallon
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Ph 7.4
Nitrate 25
Water temp 78

Light cycle is 10 on 14 off with no light break (going full dark to break the 10 hours of on time)

I never go full dark as when it's night time I have my Lunar blues in I don't know if that's considered a light cycle?

Here's the video don't mind the breathing I have a sinus infection lol
https://youtu.be/DbUbyP3S3VY

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Nice tank and fish!

I'm sure other more informed people here can diagnose the brown algae/diatoms or whatever it is. When I had similar issues, I would rub off what I could and go from there. My tank also began to look much better (as a whole) when I cut my light period from 9hrs to 6.5-7hrs.

Excel, Metricide, Cidex,... are all essentially glutaraldehyde in various percentages. You can usually buy metricide (14 or 28) for $16-25/gal and have "Excel" cheaply. You can either add water to it and dose at the Excel recommendations, or dose less at the strength out of bottle. Either way, if you dose this... you are dosing what people refer to as "liquid carbon". Whatever you do, be sure you throw out the bottle of activator that comes with Metricide. It is not needed (and will kill your fish).

Don't let the price tag of pressurized CO2 scare you off if you really would like to do it some day. If you're handy and into DIY, you can put together a nice pressurized setup for well under $400 including the tank. I keep meaning to do a little build log on a budget dual stage reg setup with selonoid that I have for under $100 invested. If you're patient and enjoy watching for deals, tosssing an odd $20 here and $40 there on eBay will get it done. Glutaraldehyde still compliments pressurized CO2 so you can keep that going with it if you believe it's working for you.

Using Osmocote (or Dynamite or whatever brand) in place of root tabs is a great idea too!

p0tluck said:

I never go full dark as when it's night time I have my Lunar blues in I don't know if that's considered a light cycle?

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Not sure, but if you google "blue leds brown algae", you can read for days. All my lights go off at night, but like I said, there are much more informed people on here than me!

Edit: interesting excerpt from some of the google reading...

"Test one:
Changed lighting scheduled to a 4-2-4 (4 hours on - 2 hours off - 4 hours on – Blue lights on).
Results: Small decrease in brown algae growth

Test Two:
Normal Light schedule but blue lights off
Results: Large decrease in brown algae

Test three:
Normal Lights on 8 hours – Blue Lights on
Results: Large INCREASE in brown algae

Test four:
Normal Lights on (no dim) 8 hours – No Blue Lights
Results: Unable to find any brown algae in my tank."

When you say go without them do you mean only use whites, green, red, color enhancing during my light on time and go fully dark when lights off here's what I mean

I can have track 1 which is whites, color enhancing , plant only be on
Track 2 is infrared and lunars I can either have them on with track 1 or totally off

I've always had both tracks running for light cycle

Should I leave track 2 off?

When I go night cycle I turn Off track 1 and turn on track 2 (lunars, infrared)

Should I go full dark and keep both tracks off?

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