Home depot bulb or lfs bulb?

[ktrom13]

Mommy wouldn't let me put the tanks in the living room lol, I'm 19 by the way, just so no one thinks I'm that old guy living in mommy's basement lol. I can probably do that. Last night I stayed up kinda late, so I left the lamp across the room on. It's a soft light, but still bright enough to see into the tanks a little.

I feel your pain when it comes to parents. Im 19 too and my mom wouldnt let me setup a big tank in the TV room... Let alone my room LOL. As for the lighting i agree with Byron. Its a trial and error thing and you just have to keep working on it until you get the right amount of everything ( lights, ferts and CO2). Ive had a small battle with algae in my 40 gallon but as soon as i hit the sweet spot i didnt fiddle with anything. Best of luck on your lighting issues

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[Jemi39]

I'm 18 and my dad get mad when I do weekly water changes... I had to shift the scheduling of tank maintenance for times when he isn't home. xD

 

[M00n3at3r]

Glad to know I ain't the only younger guy on here. So what should I expect to see when I do hit that sweet spot. Like How am I going to know when I have?

 

[ktrom13]

Your plants should start to grow better and the algae should start to decrease or show signs of not spreading.

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[M00n3at3r]

Your plants should start to grow better and the algae should start to decrease or show signs of not spreading.

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I have a feeling that's one of those case by case basis. Should I clean all the algae off everything so I can monitor regrowth?

 

[ktrom13]

Getting rid of algae would be helpful because your plants could then use any of the nutrients the algae was soaking up.

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[Byron Amazonas]

If you can fairly easily remove it, fine. Some algae is difficult to remove, like brush algae, so this I would leave on plant leaves. The goal is to not see algae on new leaf growth. What is already present will not go away on its own.

 

[M00n3at3r]

Getting rid of algae would be helpful because your plants could then use any of the nutrients the algae was soaking up.

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Alright. All of the algae is fairly easily removed, I'm assuming when cleaning the glass of algae, do it before I do the water change so I totally remove it?

 

[Byron Amazonas]

Alright. All of the algae is fairly easily removed, I'm assuming when cleaning the glass of algae, do it before I do the water change so I totally remove it?

Yes.

For the future, I always use a sponge scraper on the inside front glass at every water change. Algae is impossible to see when it first starts, and doing this I have found will keep it off the glass. Sometimes missing a week means that by the next (second) week, I can see some algae. You can do the side and back glass too, where it is visible. I don't normally do the back glass as algae is not a problem.

 

[M00n3at3r]

Yes.

For the future, I always use a sponge scraper on the inside front glass at every water change. Algae is impossible to see when it first starts, and doing this I have found will keep it off the glass. Sometimes missing a week means that by the next (second) week, I can see some algae. You can do the side and back glass too, where it is visible. I don't normally do the back glass as algae is not a problem.

That's doable. There is algae on everything, but Saturday (water change day) I will scrub down everything as much as possible. And just so we are up to date, I just changed the light bulb to a zoo med 6500k bulb in the 30 gallon. It looks really nice. I also removed the carbon cartridges and put in foam and ceramic. I need to replace one of the impellers as its getting really loud as compared to its twin, but that's simple and can wait for a little bit.