Great video. I used to get problems with BBA and green algae. I have been using this method for the past 2 months and now have a tank completely clear of algae and full of vibrant plants. It works!! 👍
I found another solution just with tissue paper. No need of UV light and no frequent water change. It works well for me for last 3 months. If interested, you may watch video
Ever since I used organic dirt in my substrate, I eliminated 99% of any algae. Never dose or add anything into the water. I use this on a high tech tank with co2 and a low tech nano with no co2. Both are algae free and I do a 30% water change every four weeks or so. Old guy many years ago…before planted tanks were the rage, told me plants take most of their nutrients through their roots. I never dosed the water, but used fertilizer tabs in the substrate for years, until I switched to dirt in the substrate, and now it’s even easier for me to maintain. Just look up “dirted tanks” and you will see others results. Good luck 👍
I'm beginner, excellent info. My 20 gallon has no algae problem yet :) I do use live plants planted from bulbs or seed. My Gourami like to nibble at the plants. I need to learn the names of plants. I'm enjoying the hobby. Thanks 👍😊
Careful w/ Micro’s around shrimp (especially copper). Also, in my experience in lawn care and listening to some of the most knowledgable fertilizer specialists, plants rarely need micros in turf and most products are marketing with almost no demonstrated benefit in many of the chemical forms. I’m not confident that translates to the aquarium hobby as a newbie, but, for what it’s worth In turf the NPK ratio is around 8-1-4 that the green leaves will actually use in tissue testing from clippings. Quality frozen fish foods have little phosphorus and likely roughly zero potassium. I make my own fertilizer for the fish tank from urea, monoamonium phosphate, and sulphate of potash and do it at about a 4-1-4 ratio NPK by weight (urea is 46% nitrogen, MAP is about 61% phosphorus, and potassium sulphate/SOP is about 53% potassium by weight). Annual N for my lightly planted tank in the water column might only be about a gram of urea per year… I estimate annual needs based on turf knowledge and premix a bottle. Still learning. I have a Siamese algea eater, so no green algae in the tank at all (I have to turn the lights up to try to get algae), and some brown algae during cycling that brushed right off. Newbie, but I’m optimistic that my fairly competent knowledge of fertilizer might translate to the aquarium… for now, 4:1:4 ratio… overall, trying to apply little and use tabs for stems.
Great advice here and yes I would like the video on how to get plants red, I have ludwigia palustrus that I got red thru and thru and now it's only green.
I second this as well.. I know there are many videos online about lean dosing and all.. but it would be nice to have a comparison between tanks with the leaner dosing vs tanks with E.I dosing. Esp the reds, purples, and also the shade of green on the green plants.. not many people actually do a side by side one which would be good if you are up for it!
Here's Filipe Oliveira sharing his home tank fertilization routine. I took this dosing routine and adjusted it to my tanks dimensions, plant density and tap water parameters. Indeed, like MJ says I can confirm LEAN dosing leads to less/no algae, far less trimming and other maintenance and far, far more and more vibrant reds in the plants. Just keep doing your weekly 50% water changes. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wtH44vCjW2Y.html
As a subscriber, I like almost all of your videos. They are rich in content and stay focused on the topic. In the future, I would like to hear more about your experience working with moss. Your moss work really stands out among all the great tanks I've seen online.
Much appreciated about sharing your knowledge. Being trying to understand what im doing wrong. Always I'm coming to see if you'd done a video for that. Keep up the good work. Love this channel ❤️
I had GDA, GSA and BBA in my 5 gallon tank during the first month of setup. The GDA was all over the place and returned quite often. I started adding more plants (including floating plants) to help eat any excess nutrients. The floating plants helped a lot in lowering my light output in the tank. Maintenance-wise, I kept up the usual water changes (50% 2x a week) and started leaning out my dosage of ferts (also 2x a week right after each water change). Lighting periods are down to 4 days a week for 6 hours each time. On the days my tank LED light is not on, ambient room lighting is provided. Over the course of about 1.5 months, the results have been quite positive. None of the algae types I mentioned have returned, or have come back enough to be noticeable at all. I can say for now, this is how it's working out for me. Thanks for all your awesome videos!
Some soils have lots of tanins in them which may require a lot of carbon at first to get rid of. I use soil for growing taro and the water is deep brown. Very different setups and basically no filtration but the water is crazy brown from the tanins
@@nyimakgan no sorry, they need to sprout their leaves out of the water. The root needs to be a few inches under the water. They like really low flow, and high light.
My friend has a new set up and the algae started growing all she does is buy the Chinese algae eaters like six of them and within a few days all the algae is cleaned.
Another great detailed video grounded in useful knowledge rather than popular opinion. I love the thought gone into your work. And thanks for debunking that iron myth for red plants! You're the first RU-vidr so far I've seen mention that.
Great tips Mark! I too have been using this method most of my plants are algae free in low tech setups and I no longer dose excel which I’m happy about and things look better then ever! Love your videos!
U relate to an average plated tank user who want to keep trying and not give up on the hobby...appreciate it.keep up the good work.we as planted tank aquarist like to see more of how to fix videos thank picture perfect tanks ...thank you for your effort
I thought less nitrate makes red plants more vibrant ...ammonium is another type of nitrogen thats another thing you can use in small quantities if limiting nitrates to get vibrant reds.
Love your videos! While I'm sure most people follow you because of your incredible planted tanks it would be fun to hear you talk about livestock a bit as well. Maybe a shrimp caring guide? Some nano fish recommendations or suggestions on algae eaters?
I switched to a lean version of Filipe Oliveira’s Seachem regiment. It’s helped a ton getting my BBA under control. He also recommended dosing most of the nutrients through tabs.
@@MJAquascaping even if it's just a small but specific part of a larger video for us low tank people that place greater emphasis on the community fish (rather than the true scrapers) ... but like that splash of red to cut through all those beautiful green tones and textures. 💚❤️💚
Don’t use liquid fertilizer, never had, just substrate made for live plants, and thats it. But I’ve still had issues with green spot algae and hair algae for years, it’s not near a window or anything, so I don’t know 🤷♀️
I think the key here is the substrate, I used Neo Soil Shrimp for my shrimp tank, and only added half cup of monte carlo on 30 cubes, and in 3 months the monte goes crazy with 0 liquid fertilization (It's shrimp tank) and my Rotala H'ra is really compact but not red, because of rare water change, 1-2 months once (again it's shrimp tank so frequent water change is not necessary)
Nice video! Would you say lean dosing is even better, regarding only algae issues, than no dosing at all? I only do weekly 40% water changes and all my plants seems pretty OK except the bucephalandras, which has green spot algae on them. That is my only issue, maybe I should start lean dosing every 2 to 3 days... Thanks in advance! NOOH
Useful topic, thanks. I tried following Felipe Oliveira’s method which is lean fertilisation with Seachem products and it was a complete disaster for me. My plants started struggling and algae popped up immediately. Then I increased the ferts and everything went back to normal. So I believe that he was missing something in his tutorial.
I do not add any fertilizer to the tank. I have a sand substrate but it was an established tank when I added the plants, most of which I grew from bulbs. The fish waste seems to be enough to grow healthy plants. My plants have done great thus far. As to algae, I added 2 snails and within a week or so they were controlling the algae and I had no more algae bloom issues. I opted to not add an anti-algae agent as I did not want to take the chance with my plant health. I think snails have gotten a bad wrap for whatever reason but in my case they have been amazing. I call them our little vacuum cleaners.
I love your scapes, they're beautiful! In addition to what you said - if that's not sufficient, test your tap water, people! My tap is cursed, gives me cyanobacteria without fail XD
Me too. I realized that I had issues with the liquid fertilizer. I add liquid carbon from a famous vendor. Most important I add balls in the substrate. And Corona snails. Best snails. Something else, I don't use carbon dioxide system. I adore lowtech aquascaping. This is not my only hobby and...
Hi.. can you advice me on how much should I use APT ZERO from 2hr. I got black brush algae into java Fern, and green spot algae on anubias and some bucep. Appreciate your comment. Thanks.
Great video as always, love your work. Just wondered if lean dosing would be ok for ephiphite plants which don't root in the soil? e.g. moss, anubias, ferns, pinnatafida, buce. I am dosing AIO and have healthy plant growth but some BBA and green spot as you described so I would like to give this method a try.
I saw "Chapters cuz uncle MJ cares about your time" on another video of yours which is why I subscribed. I still watched the full video because it's full of useful information (I want to try lean dosing with my new tank) and to help boost it in the algorithm, but thank you for being considerate. Keep up the good work!
@@MJAquascaping I actually subbed a few weeks ago! I have a low-tech 20 gallon long with two old tetras that will probably pass away soon, and it's filled with anubias, java ferns, and cryptocoryne (almost time for a rescape). I'm just doing some research to take things to the next level in a way that doesn't require too much extra effort or expense, so I love the idea of lean dosing, especially since I want to do no CO2 if possible. I'll be sure to comment if I have any questions/suggestions!
@@HeyItsJA I just subbed due to the chapters + the subtitles. I have a couple of Walstad tanks, and some Walstad inspired tanks. I need low tech, low maintenance, and still vibrant and healthy for my fish and inverts. Sending folks from a local aquarium club this way because lots of people with CO2 and newly scaped tanks seem to struggle with algae.
@@HeyItsJA currently, my dirt is still supplying nutrients via the roots and minimal in the water column. Most dirted tanks take 5 to 7 years before depletion starts requiring supplementation. Dr Diana Walstad encourages a biotope framework of thinking and planning. The biggest thing I struggle with is getting reds to really pop. I have kept tanks since 1974, and before Walstad's "Treatise on the Planted Aquarium" I followed a German book on old school fish keeping. Similar principles: plant in dirt, plant thick enough to supply fish with oxygen, and to also filter the aquarium. It's my favorite method, tbh
Very interesting; thanks for making this video. I had a blackbeard algae problem in my planted tank, along with the spotted algae you had. I was using non-fertilizer aquarium gravel and I didn't fertilize at all. Dosing with Seachem Excel helped a bit, but ultimately, the solution was cutting back on the hours of artificial lighting, from about 12 to 8 hours per day. I don't know where the nutrients come from in my water. I test it every other week. Ammonia and nitrite levels are zero, and nitrates about 5 ppm. Most of the plants grow slowly if at all, and some have to be trimmed occasionally. But they don't seem to be suffering.
One important thing you haven’t mentioned is the heater. I struggled for some time with algae. One day I decided to lower the heater down two degrees (or to room temp) and all my algae disappeared!!! And my betta doesn’t seem to mind the colder water. Secondly, direction of water flow. I noticed algae grow when the plants where in front of the outflow Lilly pipe. Moved it to the front and algae gone. I’m even considering taking out the heater and just keeping it at room temp. Unless it gets extremely cold in you area then keep it. Just something to consider.
I read somewhere that you shouldn't because the substrate release a lot of ammonia at early stages and that will spike your algae growth. I also learned from experience lol
@@j.ricardo5256Thanks for your answer sir. I heard some argue that dosing fertiliser at the early stage promote plant growth to fight off algae which make me very confused.
Lots to agree with in your latest video. Adding Nitrate and Phosphate to the water column has always been controversial in the hobby - runoff from agriculture causes algae blooms in lakes and rivers and even the ocean, a well established scientific phenomenon. Those using the Estimated Index Method (Tom Barr) have to undertake huge and regular water changes to stop their tanks becoming polluted. Potassium seems the one macro that can be usefully added to the water column. Certainly if there are lots of fish and the fish are well fed, hard to see how there could be insufficient Nitrate in the water column in an aquarium. If water is very hard in my experience you must add Iron generously, but as you say, not to make plants red (simplistic to think red Iron = red plants) but to keep plants green and healthy, a yellowing lawn is turned green with a good feed of Iron. I use a good balanced trace element mix and some extra Iron. But, if I let Nitrate levels build-up there will be green spot algae and even blue green algae (on surface plants) within weeks despite high CO2 levels - partly because aquarium water is warm and we who grow plants use intense light. Heat, light and Nitrate creates favourable conditions for algae blooms. My own view is that specialist aquarium baked/pelleted soil based substrate is not necessary, though it is convenient. A good potting mixture (John Innes 1 mix, I add extra washed river bed sand) used under horticultural grit works well, expensive slow release tablets can be added but aren't strictly necessary - see Diana Walstad's book about how to use soil. Diana Walstad's so called 'dirt' tanks do work, but plants grow slowly, she admits adding injected CO2 works a treat - and interestingly commercial tomato producers enrich the atmosphere in their glasshouses with CO2 but of course tomato plants aren't growing in water, in water algae can soak up Nitrate and smother the leaves of plants in days. A final point, many plant lighting systems, certainly until the RBG lights became fashionable, used too blue a light, which when combined with Nitrate in the water column lead inevitably to algae blooms, Dennerle always favoured a more red based light spectrum. Keep up the good work.
You've got really elegant, beautiful tanks. I'm getting ready to try my first tank and your videos have been great for learning. Thank you for making them
Great video. Thanks. Question about the root tabs though. If I will cut the amount of liquid ferts by half, and add root tabs instead, how often will I need to add new root tabs to the substrate?
I’m gonna try this method! I’m having the same issue! Healthy beautiful plants but still some algae here and there. How will epiphyte plants do with the method?
Great tip. I have always suffered from the same algae issues you mentioned: green spot and bb. I have here the Tropica fertilizers, both the premium and advanced. Do you think I should just use less of the advanced? Thanks!
I found another solution just with tissue paper. No need of UV light and no frequent water change. It works well for me for last 3 months. If interested, you may watch video
Hello Mark... really good information... currently my tank is suffering staghorn algea. Tank is one month old with hightech. I am treating it with easy-carbo double the recommended dose daily. Today is the fourthday. most of the Algea is now off-white. Please let me know how many days should I need to continue the dosing and when can I need to do the water change. Need your help urgently
Hi, are you Dutch? I am and I think I hear a Dutch accent. Just discovered your channel and subscribed immediately. Like the info👍! I struggle with my plants all the time. Even after buying a CO2 set. My bb algae has stopped since using it, but my plants just don't thrive. They do well for a while, but new growth doesn't and the plants turn brown. The green colour just goes away. I don't know why. I keep my nitrate at around 10 and phosphate at 1, iron between 0.25-0.50. I supplement pottasium according to the information on the bottle. I use root tabs. I don't use aquasoil anymore. I really didn't like the mess it gave when I took out plants and replanted them. It's black dust everywhere.! My PH is 7.1, KH 10 and GH 6. I have a Fluval Flex 34 litres with the standard led lights. What could be the problem? I always chose easy plants. Do you have any idea? I look forward to seeing all your videos 🤗.
Hey! Yep Dutch indeed! Thanks for the sub 😊 I read your story and it seems like you are doing everything right, so I'm not sure what the problem is. The only thing I can think of right now is that the standard LED light of the Fluval is just not enough to grow healthy plants. But then again I have seen some decent planted Fluvals in the past.
Even though we are both Dutch, I'll answer in English so everyone can understand it. Thanks for taking the time to answer👍. It's a pity you don't know a solution. I thought about the lights too, bus as you say there are Fluval tanks with decent plants so it should be possible 🤷🏻♀️.
There can be lean dosing only if you know what is the nutrient consumption of your tank compared to the quantity you are putting in the tank. Otherwise you are just fertilizing randomly or overdosing systematically.
Thanks to your videos I learned a lot in a short time. Your explanation is very clear, without secrets and eager to help the aquarist. I spent months watching ADA and Green Aqua videos, but I could not find the solution to my algae problems, they think about it a lot and end up confusing. Instead, you are direct. Thank you very much keep going.
