I have an update! So, I made some changes to my tank. I didn't completely gut it, but it was a pretty major overhaul. I carefully took all the residents out, and then proceeded to take out a large portion of the substrate. A lot of the plants (all the val and hairgrass) were a goner and I ended up taking them out. I hung onto a few plants, and propagated some from my 5gal. Ordered some new stuff too, some scarlet temple, windelov, a crypt wendtii, and a banana plant for fun 🙂
I also capped the substrate with some gravel. I've been dosing easy green much more lightly recently, and have the light dimmer cutting my lighting way down. So far down that I ended up losing my red root floaters lol. I feel good about the changes and like the new look...but I'm starting to get hair algae again. On the glass, the sponge filter, and now the plants again. My water parameters haven't changed, except that I'm keeping the nitrates closer to 0 (they've been pretty stable at ~20ppm).
I'm just wondering what I'm doing wrong. I know I'm 100% the stereotype Cory talks about, resetting things etc etc but I don't know how to keep the algae from taking over. Do I not have enough plants in the tank? I'm afraid if I take the light down much further, they'll start to die back. I'm trying to find some low light floaters to add, but otherwise I'm at a loss once again. Any advice?