My tank is a 20gal long, dirted and planted with no co2, overfiltered and understocked according to Aqadvisor, and gets ~50% weekly water changes, and I just can't quite seem to shake the green dust algae and cyanobacteria. I've tried reducing the light cycle, but my first floor is 90% window, and pretty much any part of the house gets 10-12 hours of strong indirect light on at least one side of the tank. I've managed to defeat the worst of the dust algae with diligent scraping and a pair of amano shrimp and leaving my snail infestation to flourish, but the tank looks pretty terrible and ratty. The pond snails are destroying my plants instead of eating the algae on them, and I'm about at my wits end.
Is there anything I can do to control the algae without reducing the photoperiod? even if I cut the light early, the sunlight through the windows is bright enough we can't tell the difference between having the light in the tank on or off.
Would a CO2 system help? I've been avoiding them because they're either expensive or messy, but I'd be willing to screw around with a diy yeast contraption if it'll help the plants crowd out the alae
Would a larger volume of water help? since it's a 20 long, and I have two 20gal filters running(the heater is also too large and would work on a larger tank), I think I could conceivably get a 30 gal tank and still use most of the same equipment, if the larger water volume would mean easier to control algae.
Is there anything I can do to control the algae without reducing the photoperiod? even if I cut the light early, the sunlight through the windows is bright enough we can't tell the difference between having the light in the tank on or off.
Would a CO2 system help? I've been avoiding them because they're either expensive or messy, but I'd be willing to screw around with a diy yeast contraption if it'll help the plants crowd out the alae
Would a larger volume of water help? since it's a 20 long, and I have two 20gal filters running(the heater is also too large and would work on a larger tank), I think I could conceivably get a 30 gal tank and still use most of the same equipment, if the larger water volume would mean easier to control algae.