Just revamped my planted tank...wanted to conclude my fight against Algae in my planted tank...in my last 2 years of expermintation with my 45 gallon planted tank. I have to say that i have controlled algae atleast 85% ..my phosphates level have come down to 0.50mg ..the standard range need to be kept is upto 1 mg..otherwise it might lead to algae outbreak....its always good for a beginner to stock with plants at the beginning specially while dosing with nutrients.
I feel there are 3 important steps...
1) FIRST AND FOREMOST DECIDE ON WHAT TYPE OF TANK YOU NEED( high tech or low tech) And the LIGHT for photosynthesis...it all depends on what type of plant you will go with whether low lit or light plants..for a beginner its advisable to go with medium light plants and no red plants at the start..invest in proper planted led lights...save on power and also invest in full spectrum plants.
2)Maintenance and Filtration : its good to have a good filteration..good aeration is necessary to circulate around the tank...so that there are no dead spots, which will lead to algae and other problems...weekly maintenance is necessary to take out dead leaves if any...or any fish that might die...non maintenance of the tank leads to ammonia, nitrite levels to spike up...phosphate, nitrite levels will also go up that will cause harm to fish and also plants in some cases. .
3) co2 and digital timer : i strongly recommend pressurised co2 ...start half an hour before the lights and get switched off half an hour before the li ghts switch off and let it run for 5 hours...plants grow well under pressurised co2...for low tech tank you can make use off organic carbon in liquid form like
. With Digital timer you can time the operations automatically and precisely. Even when you are travelling , it should not be a problem...
Importantly dose the micro and macro nutrients as per the instructions..what we dose is after water change we add macro nutrients and next day we dose with micro nutrients , i also dose with Iron...
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