Right. I set up my Juwel Vision 180 about 3 months ago and all is well. Except for my plants. Since I planted them, most have been gradually disintegrating meaning the tank is full of dead leaves and annoying mulch. I also get brown algae quite a lot and black furry algae.
I'm using the normal Juwel lighting - two 25W tubes. One is the original Daylite Juwel tube, the other is an Arcadia Tropical.
Question is, what can I do to make the plants grow well and hopefully stop the algae? I can't put a new substrate in because of taking everything else out. I was thinking I should:
1. Upgrade the lighting to three 25W tubes by fixing another on myself (I've seen it done)
2. Maybe add reflectors to my existing tubes? Or is this not important?
3. Add CO2
Could anyone advise me? I want to grow fairly basic plants like hygrophilia polysperma, amazon sword, java fern, vallis, etc... I looked at the Nutrafin CO2 system online (about £20) but its suitable for tanks up to 75l - would I need two for my tank? I don't want to spend too much money, but any suggestions would be really helpful cause all this decaying organic mess is making my tank look ugly, and driving me mad!
If someone could explain everything to me and suggest something, I would be really grateful!
I'm using the normal Juwel lighting - two 25W tubes. One is the original Daylite Juwel tube, the other is an Arcadia Tropical.
Question is, what can I do to make the plants grow well and hopefully stop the algae? I can't put a new substrate in because of taking everything else out. I was thinking I should:
1. Upgrade the lighting to three 25W tubes by fixing another on myself (I've seen it done)
2. Maybe add reflectors to my existing tubes? Or is this not important?
3. Add CO2
Could anyone advise me? I want to grow fairly basic plants like hygrophilia polysperma, amazon sword, java fern, vallis, etc... I looked at the Nutrafin CO2 system online (about £20) but its suitable for tanks up to 75l - would I need two for my tank? I don't want to spend too much money, but any suggestions would be really helpful cause all this decaying organic mess is making my tank look ugly, and driving me mad!
If someone could explain everything to me and suggest something, I would be really grateful!