Mmiller2001

Things continue improve and I'm finally happy with the tank from a maintenance standpoint. I guess I feel like I can relax and not worry. Noticing a bit of GSA but I haven't cleaned the glass in 3 weeks. I will go ahead and increase PO4 a smidge. I also bumped the light up 3% and will continue to do so every few weeks. Let's see what happens.

Have you kept that Myrio before? I had to get rid of it. It became so much work do to the speed it grows. Beautiful though!

This is a yes and no answer. If you are dosing to specific totals you can divide that dose out as much as you want throughout the week. You could literally divide that total by 50 and dose 50 times a week. But you can certainly over dose the total.

I have one, best addition I've added to my tank to be honest. Ah, okay. I would try manual removal but water changes are always beneficial. You could try spot dosing H202 as well.

Did you add a substrate?

https://www.2hraquarist.com/blogs/fertilize-planted-tank/does-adding-more-iron-make-my-red-plants-redder

I've recently went away from heavy gravel vacuuming and now just hover the vacuum over the substrate. Try not to do deep gravel vacuum. Let the plants handle the deep stuff. I'd also look at tracking your dosing and how much of each is being dosed. Usually, when injecting CO2, all in one fertilizers have limitations. Also know, that inert substrates don't limit you on good plant growth and limited algae. Here's an older shot of my Eco Complete tank (inert substrate). I also use a chart to track dosing. Here's how dosing EG looks also.

CO2 injected tanks with high light and nutrients.

Honestly, I'm ready to sell my 2 20 gallons. I love working in the tanks but I have a few other projects that are just not allowing to keep aquariums in the "hobby" category. I would be perfectly happy just having the 40 and 75. Luckily my wife helps on water change day and we can complete 50% water changes on all within about an hour and half. Dropping the 2 tanks honestly sounds really good to me.

If it's green, you're probably low. I would take a water sample and set it out for 24 hours. Test the pH. That will be the degassed pH. You want a 1 to 1.5pH drop. If I run a drop checker, it's almost yellow and only a tiny amount of green. Looks like Gator Aid. What are you dosing weekly?

Good stuff, keeps the tank crystal clear.

Spot dose H202 at 15ml per 10gallons. Turn off everything that causes water movement. Wait a few minutes for the water to become still. Paint the BBA with the H202. Wait 20 minutes and then return all pumps to operation. Repeat every 24 hours. Then correct the underlying problem. If you are not injecting CO2, excessive organics is most likely causing the problem.

You can for sure. One plant I recommend is Hygrophila Polysperma. It's a fast growing stem that works well in low energy or high energy tanks.

Ah okay. Good to know.

The trick to this plants is low pH. 6, and lower is better.

It's a bit expensive, but his plants arrive like they look in the pictures. FYI https://www.etsy.com/listing/727333915/3-stems-syngonanthus-belem-live-aquarium?click_key=7cb962f8819d99081a5f7000d5a7fd224a4da14e%3A727333915&click_sum=0100af84&ref=shop_home_active_3&frs=1&crt=1

If you have the EDTA+DPTA micro mix, use Micro Mix. But I think they are the same.

Bulk Buy: Darice DIY Crafts #7 Mesh Plastic Canvas Black 10.5 x 13.5 (12-Pack) 33900-20 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KHAYGJO/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_CR4832G3A1365QWEENX2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

I feel like not doing the gravel vacuuming played a huge roll in getting this under control. S. Belem

The cause was the ammonia spikes from the soil. I got lazy on water changes. The reactor was noisy, underpowered by the weaker 2215 and inconsistent results while the filter slows down over time between cleanings.

I wanted to wait a bit to confirm and I can confidently say this tank is 100% cured of the massive algae outbreak. Here's what I did: I want to mention that I was pulling handfuls of string algae out of the tank every 7 days. I initially was spot dosing H202@15ml per 10gal and it kind of worked but just came back by weeks end. I removed the Eheim 2215 and replaced it with an Eheim 2217. I added an Eheim spray bar pushing back to front. I removed the CO2 reactor and went back to an inline diffuser. I dropped light to about 50% but still ran it for 8 hours. I lowered dosing to NO3 8.34ppm, PO4 3.15ppm, K 12.63ppm and .4Fe Proxy (weekly dose). I stopped gravel vacuuming. Only hovered over the substrate. I saw a small improvement and so I cut the tank down to almost no plant mass to remove most of the final amounts of string algae. All dust algae is gone as well. I have not cleaned the glass in 2 weeks. All the shrimp I added died and I also added 1 SAE. The SAE initially couldn't help, but now I think he/she is doing a great job. Thank you @Seattle_Aquarist and @gjcarew for the multiple pieces of advice. This tank will now become a plant repository.

I don't want to sound too negative, but have you looked to better light options? At the price you will pay for 2x48 inch fluval's, your price point puts you into the lower upper end of lights that are superior to 3.0's in almost every way. With direct experience, buying the 3.0's was one of my biggest/costly mistakes I made. To answer your question, a smart plug is the route I would go as they will correct time when power outages occur. That said, the 3.0's will not correct for a power outage until you have opened the app and resynced the lights (yet another negative). 2x3.0's is plenty, but they will always cast a yellow tone over the tank as they use white diodes and do not have true reds 660nm diodes. At this point, paying a premium price for a light without true reds and truly RGB is a scam in my opinion. If you want to push CO2 hard, have the CO2 turn on 2 hours before lights on and off 1 hour before lights off. Here is just one example of a single light that will out perform 2x3.0's in every way. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XM6XFPN/ref=twister_B08XLRT4MD?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

I believe that's just the source that's used to derive K. Ideally, and dependent on live stock, softer and lower KH water is better for most plants. But you can certainly have a nice planted tank with higher numbers. It might take longer as the plants adapt. I use GLA KNO3, KH2PO4 and KSO4 For building GH, CaSO4 and MgSO4.

Completely fine. In fact, copper free fertilize are just a selling gimmick.