Don’t stop dosing your fertilizers. DO decrease your light intensity. No offense but your tank from those photos does not look heavily stocked with plants at all. Post a full tank shot when you get the chance. 100% your main issue is your light... so if you dont address that than it’s going to be more of the same. There are plenty of aftermarket dimmers out there for your twinstar light all you need to do is do a google search. They start at like $10. Buy one and cut the intensity in half...do some water changes each week and things will start to turn around. These algae require light to grow...and people often think that because brown algae isn't green that it doesn't photosynthesize, but they are wrong. Now, if your tank water is high in silicates you may be more susceptible to diatom blooms further down the line, but if you reduce your lighting you will be able to control it.
It’s funny, in this hobby when people get algae or poor plant growth, especially in the beginning, they scramble to analyze their fert regime and start testing and over analyzing their water...adding a ppm of nitrate here or there or some extra mg on top of what they are dosing...or stop dosing ferts all together because they saw some video on youtube or some crackpot with no experience is pouring out advice on forums like these...and then sometimes hobbyists often say that they have adequate co2 when it’s clear that they do not etc...but a lot of hobbyists (myself included) never want to examine their lighting in the beginning...and I think this must have something to do with the amount of money we shell out for these products....but the majority of the time the problem IS the light AND the CO2. Be aware that the majority of plants that are available for mass purchase in this hobby are low light to begin with in the wild...so if we are blasting these plants with 100% intensity with our super duper LEDs we will immediately start to see problems in the form of algae or chlorosis. Dialing in your lighting is always a task, but it is essential. A lot of the Amano tanks that you see are run with low light but they have been setup for a long period of time in the photos that you see of them. But a lot of hobbyists want results instantly and lose patience when their slow growing plants don't flourish or flower or turn red or behave the way they want them to on their schedule. I'm rambling here. But this is the fun part of the hobby but also the frustrating part...it takes time and patience for our little glass cubes of water to thrive.
So, IMHO- buy an aftermarket dimmer. Cut you light intensity in half. Keep fertilizing, but just dose the recommended amount and don't overdose or limit any macros or micros. Find out how much co2 your plants are actually getting (what's your method of injection btw? diffuser? atomizer? reactor? chopstick
) and dial in your co2. You can also remove the algae that is on the plants and do a larger water change and then do a three day blackout of your tank if you want to really get at it. In my 60p tank I run my lights at less than 50% intensity with a 1 hour ramp up and down and a 6 hour photoperiod with my co2 coming on 2 hours before peak and shutting off one hour before ramp down and am happy with the growth and am on top of the algae blooms. It’s only when I start limiting ferts or increasing light intensity do I start to see plant health issues arise. Good luck. Here’s my tank with the above lighting schedule and have no problem growing anything in there. My H’RA stays red and my foreground stays low and carpets the way it’s expected to...and this is my Chihiros WRGB2 at 40% intensity.
Best, el g
it
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Good luck.
