Thread Algae And Cycling

[jakester42]

I have a 20 gallon long tank that i am trying to achieve a Dwarf hairgrass carpet in. I have a DIY Co2 set up and a nutrafin one. I have 5 wpg lighting as well and have been doing the npk and trace fertilizers. The nutrafin co2 kit I got had silicone tubing and has given me an outbreak of thread algae that I have heard will go away after i cycle the tank but the problem is the algae gets on my DHG and literally sucks the nutrients right out of it then spreads to another patch after killing it and its everywhere. I have been trying to cycle the tank fast enough to get rid of the algae but even using dr tims bacteria and ammonia solution I'm not quite cycled yet. In a last ditch effort to save the grass I turned off the filter then put hydrogen peroxide in a spray bottle and sprayed the grass and also separated some grass and sprayed it and am keeping it by the light in a cup of chlorinated water and moved so grass close to the filter so the algae cannot stay put. I'm leaving on vacation and im thinking ill just try cycling when I get back and take out the nutrafin and silicone for new tubing and 2 2 liters of DIY CO2. 
 
Should I do what im planning or what future moves should I take im getting lost

 

[TwoTankAmin]

That sort of planted tank should not need to be cycled. After adding the planting and the Dr Tims you should be adding fish. I think no matter what you do in that tank you will have to work had not to have algae. I feel you have too much light. For sure throwing ammonia in there will make algae to some extent.
 
May I ask how many other planted tanks have you had before this one?
 
Long story short. You should have planted the tank, let it grow in and establish doing what the plants needed. Once the plants were doing fine,, you should have done one of two things. One is to have added no more than 2 ppm of ammonia to the tank, waited 24 hours and tested for ammonia and nitrite. Based on the results then you would have been able to stock the tank to some extent and then continue to do so over time. If you got 0/0 results you could have stocked the tank completely right away. The other thing you could have done was to post some pictures of the tank here and a list of the plants to be sure we knew them all and somebody could have given a pretty good estimate of how much you could likely stock.
 
And to make you feel less bad on your vacation, here is a good starting point on planting etc. when you return. They also have a great vid on how to plant a tank. etc.
http/www.tropica.com/en/tropica-abc/basic-knowledge.aspx

 

[jakester42]

alright I cut the lighting down to 2.5 

I can wait on the cycling because but how do I save the grass because its turning yellow. 50% pwc then fert?