First of all is a planted tank your goal?
Second, find out exactly what type of lighting you have.
You aren't going to be able to remove all of the cynobacteria so cleaning things is only going to make it better for you, for a little while, not fix the problem. You don't want to do a total break down, mainly because it's a pain in the butt and isn't needed. If you want to clean the rocks just put them in a bucket, fill with hot water and a little bleach. Rinse the rocks, refill bucket with water and add some Prime. Then rinse them again and put them back in the tank.
I run mostly low tech planted tanks with very few ferts other than fish waste with med/low lighting. The key is to not have too much or too little light for the tank and choose plants that work well for your situation.
If you have just a regular florescent strip go ahead and pull the plants you have out except of for the sword and even it is iffy. Unless of course you want to upgrade to power compact or T5 which I would recommend. What you are going for is 2 or so watts per gallon but a 48" power compact fixture will allow you to grow some cool plants. Make sure you are using 6700-10,000 daylight bulbs and not actinic or "cool white" bulbs.
You did yourself a disservice by fertilizing so soon. I don't normally start fertilizing tanks until they reach a peak at 6-8 months or the plants start lagging. Then all I use is home made clay balls that have had liquid ferts/iron added. I just push them into the roots. Alot of people dose every day, check levels, all kinds of stuff. Personally I don't have time and I'm not interested in pearling or making a killing off of selling cuttings.
Most of my (over 30) tanks belong to clients and are in Dr's offices, law offices, ect. I set up a tank for a client who just HAD to have a planted tank in the middle of the waiting room where it was exposed to sunlight all day plus they were open for 12 hours which meant a 12 hour light cycle. I fought cyno for a little while until I finally got smart and just added duckweed to the tank. I blacked it out over a holiday and added the duckweed then doubled the number of bristlenose I had in the tank. 2 weeks later the cyno was gone and has never been back. They don't notice the duckweed nearly as much as the "algae" The duckweed soaked up the ferts/nitrates in the tank before the cyno could make use of it so the cyno disappeared. That's what you need to do, add enough plants to soak up the ferts (which I think is your problem).
Do the blackout. Just leave the plants and fish in the tank. Don't feed your fish and don't worry. Just cover the whole tank and forget it for a week. Your fish won't starve and your plants won't die. Go on-line and order a bunch of low light plants, find Baylee's fish on aquabid and tell him what you're working with. He sells good plants and will help you. Next do a water change and syphon off all of the dead cyno. Add your new light. Now plant your tank with the plants you bought and put your lights on a timer so they get 8-10 hours of light per day.
Plants I recommend and have had good luck with using medium light and low ferts are:
Rotala indica
water sprite
wisteria
vallisneria
anubias (any kind)
java fern
mosses
crypts
You are going to want a bunch of the top 4 plants on the list above. They are what is going to grow fast and soak up ferts.
I'd stop with the excel for now. You're just wasting money and don't have enough light to make use of the carbon. It will also melt some of the plants I listed above. As a side note your water changes seem excessive. That would be a great schedule if you were raising discus but it isn't needed with what you have and the population of the tank. Cut it back to 10% per week or 20% every 2 weeks. If you feel antsy you can do 50% once in a while. That will raise your nitrates a little which is good for your plants and won't hurt the fish.
You didn't say what kind of pleco you have. If you've got just a regular pleco I'd return it or give it away and get a bristlenose or 3. I've seen them do amazing things with algae.
Hope this helps and sorry it is so long. It's 1:00am and I can't sleep so I tend to ramble...
Second, find out exactly what type of lighting you have.
You aren't going to be able to remove all of the cynobacteria so cleaning things is only going to make it better for you, for a little while, not fix the problem. You don't want to do a total break down, mainly because it's a pain in the butt and isn't needed. If you want to clean the rocks just put them in a bucket, fill with hot water and a little bleach. Rinse the rocks, refill bucket with water and add some Prime. Then rinse them again and put them back in the tank.
I run mostly low tech planted tanks with very few ferts other than fish waste with med/low lighting. The key is to not have too much or too little light for the tank and choose plants that work well for your situation.
If you have just a regular florescent strip go ahead and pull the plants you have out except of for the sword and even it is iffy. Unless of course you want to upgrade to power compact or T5 which I would recommend. What you are going for is 2 or so watts per gallon but a 48" power compact fixture will allow you to grow some cool plants. Make sure you are using 6700-10,000 daylight bulbs and not actinic or "cool white" bulbs.
You did yourself a disservice by fertilizing so soon. I don't normally start fertilizing tanks until they reach a peak at 6-8 months or the plants start lagging. Then all I use is home made clay balls that have had liquid ferts/iron added. I just push them into the roots. Alot of people dose every day, check levels, all kinds of stuff. Personally I don't have time and I'm not interested in pearling or making a killing off of selling cuttings.
Most of my (over 30) tanks belong to clients and are in Dr's offices, law offices, ect. I set up a tank for a client who just HAD to have a planted tank in the middle of the waiting room where it was exposed to sunlight all day plus they were open for 12 hours which meant a 12 hour light cycle. I fought cyno for a little while until I finally got smart and just added duckweed to the tank. I blacked it out over a holiday and added the duckweed then doubled the number of bristlenose I had in the tank. 2 weeks later the cyno was gone and has never been back. They don't notice the duckweed nearly as much as the "algae" The duckweed soaked up the ferts/nitrates in the tank before the cyno could make use of it so the cyno disappeared. That's what you need to do, add enough plants to soak up the ferts (which I think is your problem).
Do the blackout. Just leave the plants and fish in the tank. Don't feed your fish and don't worry. Just cover the whole tank and forget it for a week. Your fish won't starve and your plants won't die. Go on-line and order a bunch of low light plants, find Baylee's fish on aquabid and tell him what you're working with. He sells good plants and will help you. Next do a water change and syphon off all of the dead cyno. Add your new light. Now plant your tank with the plants you bought and put your lights on a timer so they get 8-10 hours of light per day.
Plants I recommend and have had good luck with using medium light and low ferts are:
Rotala indica
water sprite
wisteria
vallisneria
anubias (any kind)
java fern
mosses
crypts
You are going to want a bunch of the top 4 plants on the list above. They are what is going to grow fast and soak up ferts.
I'd stop with the excel for now. You're just wasting money and don't have enough light to make use of the carbon. It will also melt some of the plants I listed above. As a side note your water changes seem excessive. That would be a great schedule if you were raising discus but it isn't needed with what you have and the population of the tank. Cut it back to 10% per week or 20% every 2 weeks. If you feel antsy you can do 50% once in a while. That will raise your nitrates a little which is good for your plants and won't hurt the fish.
You didn't say what kind of pleco you have. If you've got just a regular pleco I'd return it or give it away and get a bristlenose or 3. I've seen them do amazing things with algae.
Hope this helps and sorry it is so long. It's 1:00am and I can't sleep so I tend to ramble...
silly cichlids and rainbows loooove algae wafers.
