Reply With QuoteI am about to start up a new tank as well and have some experience over the years. Besides the fertilizer regime that you have listed, I think you are missing two very important components - CO2 and lighting.
Plants that were grown exposed to terrestrial atmosphere have easy access to CO2. Plants in submerged have not. So a slightly more liberally injection of CO2 will be needed to help the plants convert. During this period if you do not give sufficient CO2, then high light intensity plus long light duration will induce algae such as GSA or something nastier such as BBA/BGA.
Hence the 2nd key component is lighting. You have not shared your lighting regime. For me, I usually go on the cautious side and do 6 hours photo period instead of 8 hours. Unfortunately, I did not invest in a light metering system but I have done planted tanks for the last 10 years so I usually observe my tank when I get home every evening to check out.
If I spot GSA, I asked myself a few questions - how soon did the GSA turn up? If it turned up within 2 to 3 days in my 60cm x 30cm x 30cm tank, it means the lighting is too strong. I will reduce the intensity. Then I clean the glass and observe again.
After adjusting, if the GSA again appear within 2 to 3 days, it means two things - either the intensity is still too strong or the photo period is too long. At this stage, I usually adjust the photo period. My favourite period to use to control algae and still maintain reasonable plant growth is between 4 and 6 hours.
After adjusting, I will observe again. If I reduce light by too much, I will start to see brown algae. Usually, I will then up the intensity but maintain photo period. As a rule of thumb, so long as the area of GSA is no larger than a 50 cent coin and only appear very visible at the end of 1 week (when I do water change and maintenance), it means I have got the lighting setting correct. I also allow for natural sunlight falling onto my fish tank as a potential cause of GSA. Since I cannot prevent the sunlight, I accept a little bit of GSA. But I cannot accept BBA/BGA as their presence usually mean water quality problems.
Personally, I don't like to overdose Iron as I find that I do get algae. So I usually dose as per the bottle instructions twice a week. That's usually enough for my tiger lotus.
Finally, the most important thing in this hobby is - patience. Plants don't talk back. But they do show whether the conditions are correct or not through their physical appearances. The trouble is - these symptoms take time to appear. So I usually don't like to adjust too many parameters at the same time because then I don't know what work and what did not.
I hope this helps.
Originally Posted by Realcaster
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