Hi MMacG1167,
Welcome to TPT!
Green water is an indication of too much light, it doesn't necessarily mean an imbalance of nutrients although that could be an issue. I can tell you with that amount of light and only dosing 2ml of Seachem Flourish weekly that the likely reason you lost those plants is they starved for lack of available nutrients. The Fugeray Planted + puts out about [email protected] at a 12" depth. Your 20 long is about 12" deep but with substrate more like 10" +/-. Typically with that amount of light the tank would be considered 'high tech' dosing a full complement of nutrients and CO2 would be required.
Typically to resolve green water would be recommended to shorten the photoperiod but since this a 'work tank' lets try this. Here is my recommendation. Do your weekly water change (50% is good). Add a lot more plants to the tank to absorb the light and add more nutrients so the plants grow and thrive. Add a layer (maybe 2) of plastic window screen between the light and the tank to cut down on the amount of light and/or add some 'floaters' like water lettuce, red root floaters, or even duckweed to cut down the amount of light.
Three are also mechanical means to deal with green water, a Diatom Filter which uses diatomaceous earth can actually filter out the microscopic algae particles and keep the water clear, but diatom filters aren't cheap and not the easiest to use. Another option would be to use a UV Sterilizer to your filtration system that will kill off the algae that is in solution. Keep us posted on how it goes.
Welcome to TPT!
Green water is an indication of too much light, it doesn't necessarily mean an imbalance of nutrients although that could be an issue. I can tell you with that amount of light and only dosing 2ml of Seachem Flourish weekly that the likely reason you lost those plants is they starved for lack of available nutrients. The Fugeray Planted + puts out about [email protected] at a 12" depth. Your 20 long is about 12" deep but with substrate more like 10" +/-. Typically with that amount of light the tank would be considered 'high tech' dosing a full complement of nutrients and CO2 would be required.
Typically to resolve green water would be recommended to shorten the photoperiod but since this a 'work tank' lets try this. Here is my recommendation. Do your weekly water change (50% is good). Add a lot more plants to the tank to absorb the light and add more nutrients so the plants grow and thrive. Add a layer (maybe 2) of plastic window screen between the light and the tank to cut down on the amount of light and/or add some 'floaters' like water lettuce, red root floaters, or even duckweed to cut down the amount of light.
Three are also mechanical means to deal with green water, a Diatom Filter which uses diatomaceous earth can actually filter out the microscopic algae particles and keep the water clear, but diatom filters aren't cheap and not the easiest to use. Another option would be to use a UV Sterilizer to your filtration system that will kill off the algae that is in solution. Keep us posted on how it goes.
