# Help with ferts



## Borohands8593 (Apr 9, 2011)

Hey guys I am somewhat of a novice when it comes to planted aquariums. I do not want anything too complicated but want my plants to live and grow, even if slowly. I really DO NOT want to do CO2 and hope I am not headed towards a disaster for not doing so.

Tank- 26gallon 24X15X21

Substrate- approx 20lbs black eco-complete and 20 lbs black sand mixed

Light- was not to successful with the 15watt T8, just purchased a 48watt T5HO by Zoomed fixture. Have no decided yet on bulbs but was thinking the Flora sun 5k and either ultrasun 6500 or ocean sun 10k (which one??)Im thinking a 5K and a 10K would be good?

Algae crew- 1 male BN pleco and 3 Zebra Nerite snails. Also stocked very heavily with other tetras and plant safe cichlids

pH- 8.0 kH 9ppm, ammonia and nitrite zero, unsure about gH, nitrate, or phosphate

And the msot important factor!
Plants:
Microsorum pteropus-
Microsorum pteropus Philippine 
Microsorum pteropus windelov
anubias nana petite
anubias barteri
anubias coffeefoila
Crinum natans-crinkled onion
Cryptocoryne wendtii
Hygrophilia angustifolia
Echinodirus "ozelot"
Echinodorus Parviflorus 
Cryptocoryne lutea
Cyrptocoryne spiralis
Taxiphyllum barbieri -Java moss
Vesicularia dubyana-Singapore moss



















Right now with the T8 fixture I leave it on about 16hours a day and dose twice a week with seachem flourish. I have minimal algae.

With the new system Im thinking 16hours a day will overrun my tank with algae. The new light does have dual switches but only one cord. Im thinking of putting the 6500 or 10000 24watt HO bulb on for about 8-10 hours per day and the 5000k bulb for 4 hours in the middle of that.

Should I just keep both bulbs on 8-10 hours as long as algae growth is minimal?
Should I stock up some more snails or add some otos for algae control?
Should I dose more flourish? every other day maybe?
I have heard bad things about excel causign a drop in pH, bad for my african cichlids, and also causing plants to discolor and wither, do I need to use excel if I dont use CO2?
Am I headed for a disaster with this much light? I know all my javas and anubias are slow growers and I do not want to kill them with to much light.


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## NeonFlux (May 15, 2008)

Hi Boro, I would say go for 6 hours, if algae still goes rampant, tone down to 5 and half, and so on. 

You would want to dose Flourish comprehensive about once every week or 2, however I think the fish in the tank may be enough to provide the waste needed by your plants. 

The plants you have are low-medium light plants, they don't need a lot of intense light or co2 to thrive. 

In my experience, I have never experienced a problem with Flourish Excel having an effect on pH at all; it should be safe if you dose the recommended amount daily as your alternate carbon source.

Greatest luck.


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