I cannot for the life of me figure out why I am cursed with the ability to grow every algae under the sun and not a single plant.
My new 29g (yes, it is new, which will mean algae… but I think we have other issues going on) already has BGA or Cyanobacteria. I feel like this is not normal for a new tank.
My other 10g recently ish had a major outbreak of BGA as well.
Along with that, I’ve got diatom on all of my plant leaves, green hair algae on the glass and the beginnings of BBA on the gravel (just the purpley flat looking stuff so far).
My goal is just a simple, low tech tank. I just want to have a jungle!😂
I dose Easy Green once a week after I water change (and manually remove as much algae as I can) so my Nitrates reach 20ppm.
I have a Nicrew SkyLED at 30% for 6 and a half hours each day. Inert gravel with root tabs
The thing I think might be a sign of the problem is by the end of the week, my nitrates never reach 0. In fact, they barely dip below 20. To me this tells me that my plants are not utilizing the fertilizer, but I don’t know if it’s because they’re not getting enough light/not a long enough light period/too much light etc.
I am looking for guidance from someone who knows more about this than me and can help me decide what to do going forward.
FTS - it’s a 29 so maybe not enough light is getting to the plants at the bottom?
BGA on the sponge filter ^Hygrophila angustifolia getting it’s fair share of algae🙈
BGA starting to creep onto the gravel
Thank you for any thoughts