Lighting Advice

[Fintastic!]

Hi guys,
My tank is a Juwel Rio 180, lots of plants and unfortunately, lots of algae. I have bba and green stuff (?).
My lights are 2 x T5's, 45 watts each. I suspect they might be my problem. I dose a capful of Flourish Excel twice a week. My plants all look healthy and seem to be growing well, though most have algae on them.
Can anyone advise me on what ferts I should be using? I'm using random stuff from the lfs.
Also my lights. Should I take one of the bulbs out and just use one 45 watt or should I change both my bulbs?
Thanks!

 

[FishFanatic04]

I was recently told that dosing excel should be done daily. Your algae is probably caused by the fluctuating carbon.

 

[SO19Firearms]

If the random ferts aren't Tropica's TPN+ I'd guess they don't contain Nitrate and Phosphate which is usually bad if you're using Carbon too. As above, you really should be adding it everyday to avoid fluctuations (another algae trigger)

IMO - Dose carbon daily and make sure your fert has nitrate and phosphate, if not swap it out for TPN+

 

[ZoddyZod]

how long are the lights on each day?

 

[Fintastic!]

Thanks for the pointers on the ferts and carbon guys. I think I need to start looking at a different method for the carbon as I'd need a lot of bottles if I'm gonna dose daily.
My lights are on 6 hours a day Zoddyzod.

 

[ZoddyZod]

well it's not an over-lighting issue then!

 

[Fintastic!]

Do you reckon it's the wrong ferts and co2? I'll switch the ferts and see how it goes and I'll take it from there then. Thanks!