I make no claim to expertise in this area but I'd do the following if it were my tank;
- firstly rule out pleco damage (maybe you don't have any so this is easy for you)
- do several major WC's
- clean your tank, filters, etc
- manually clean up as much of the algae as you reasonably can, you might consider the use of hydrogen peroxide and/or Excel directly or in dips
- remove most of the damaged leaves
- go back to dosing 1/4 tsp of KNO3 & 1/16 tsp of KH2PO4 3 times a week
- not sure about the use of Plantex for the micro's as this is not normally for use in an aquarium so I would try Flourish 3 times a week
- consider use of Flourish Iron to rule that out as a deficiency
- Excel at 1/2 the recommended dose 3 times a week same time as the macro's to supplement the CO2 and to help with the algae
- use the drop checker again and bring your BPS back to 1-1/2 to 2
- lower your lights to 2" to 3" above the tank and make sure the bulbs are no more than 6 mths old and make your light period 6 to 8 hours a day to start
Basically what I'd be trying for is to restart by going back to what is recommended by folks who know a lot more than I do. I suspect if you can get your plants healthy and growing well the algae problem will for the most part be cured so I would concentrate most of my efforts on the plants.
Good luck with it.
- firstly rule out pleco damage (maybe you don't have any so this is easy for you)
- do several major WC's
- clean your tank, filters, etc
- manually clean up as much of the algae as you reasonably can, you might consider the use of hydrogen peroxide and/or Excel directly or in dips
- remove most of the damaged leaves
- go back to dosing 1/4 tsp of KNO3 & 1/16 tsp of KH2PO4 3 times a week
- not sure about the use of Plantex for the micro's as this is not normally for use in an aquarium so I would try Flourish 3 times a week
- consider use of Flourish Iron to rule that out as a deficiency
- Excel at 1/2 the recommended dose 3 times a week same time as the macro's to supplement the CO2 and to help with the algae
- use the drop checker again and bring your BPS back to 1-1/2 to 2
- lower your lights to 2" to 3" above the tank and make sure the bulbs are no more than 6 mths old and make your light period 6 to 8 hours a day to start
Basically what I'd be trying for is to restart by going back to what is recommended by folks who know a lot more than I do. I suspect if you can get your plants healthy and growing well the algae problem will for the most part be cured so I would concentrate most of my efforts on the plants.
Good luck with it.
