Recent content by levahe

You could place something on top of the tank to diffuse the light a bit, something like a piece of thin paper or some greaseproof paper. Or some opaque plastic or similar, it would tale a bit of trial and error and might not look nice but would certainly help with the algae I'm sure.

Low nitrates definitely isn't a good thing in a planted tank, if you have nitrates in your tap water you can just do more water changes to increase the level otherwise look at products for planted tanks that contain nitrates. If you have bba caused by low co2, you need to add more

BBA = low co2 or fluctuating co2, and/or low flow   BGA = low nitrates, and/or dirty substrate or filter

The drop checker is only a rough guide, you will probably find that you can increase the co2 more than you think before the fish look like they are not enjoying the level of co2. If your fish are acting normal then you are not at the maximum level of co2 and you have a bit of headroom to play...

If the algae is still there it can only mean one thing, the levels aren't sorted! You may need to bump up the co2 a bit and increase circulation. From James planted tank guide "Check CO2 levels and make sure you have good water circulation. Reduce feeding, vacuum the substrate and remove...

http://www.co2supermarket.co.uk/ co2 supermarket do all the stuff you need for a soda stream setup, it costs bout £150 including the sodastream bottle which you can get from Argos or asda or somewhere like that, and then about £10 for refills

This brand of aquarium is good, but the filter really let's it down. Its a hob with cartridge type media that they recommend you change out at regular intervals. The filter has a very weak flow as well. You would almost certainly want to change the filter for a good internal or external.

Without seeing pics its difficult to be accurate, but it seems like bba from your description. Does it match any of these? http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm If its bba you might meed to increase the amount of co2 you are dosing, or improve on co2 distribution and perhaps timing as...

This type of algae is caused by lights that that are too bright, the biggest clue is when the algae appears on the top of the rocks and not on the sides which are more shaded. Just like the first pic. You have already taken steps to reduce your lighting intensity so you should see an...

Fish don't mind fluctuating pH levels, as long as its not a very dramatic sudden change afaik. If you were to inject co2 its actually easier to move the pH with a lower kh. The higher you go with kh the more resistance you have to pH swing. If you did inject co2 you would end up with the pH...

I don't think there is any benefit in altering water parameters, fish can live happily in quite varied water chemistries with out any bother. Your ro water at ph 7.6 and kh 4 is good for any fish to be honest. Do you re mineralise the water? Trying to change water chemistry is just going to be a...

Is it a new piece of wood? It looks more like the stuff that grows on new wood to me, don't know what its called but its a type of mould I think. bba looks darker in colour usually. Does it wipe off easily? If so its not bba. If it is that new wood mould just wash it off under the tap if you can...

The Tropica web site is a good resource centre, here is a link to their list of easy plants http://www.tropica.com/en/plants/difficulty/easy.aspx You need to make sure your lights arent too bright, and you need to dose fertilisers, tropica premium or specialised ferts aare good, but there is...

  Its good to see you are getting positive results

Did you try clean the filter media to allow the water to flow through faster? This can happen if the media is full of crud