Fluval Edge 12g - noobie seeking advice/suggestion

[Bvosays]

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Fishy:
7 cardinal tetras
4 rummy nose
2 Vietnamese white cloud
9 crystal red shrimp
1 galaxy rasboras
1 ranger pleco
1 dwarf looking pleco?
1 kuhli loach

Plants:
I bum off my friends plants and stopped buying from the lfs cause they would do horrible under my old lighting!

Setup:
-*The Twist* Kessil amazon sun LED (custom mount under the hood an inch above the water)
-Co2 disposable cartridge (dissolver mounted below filter waterfall outtake to dispurse co2 evenly from flow of current)
-50watt mini aquarium heater (thinking to hide this inside the filter for aesthetic purposes, but concern if it will mess with temperature readings and what not. Right now it's also place under the filter waterfall outtake to dispurse into the tank evenly
-water source from local water shop that has ro? No water treatment, fish seems happy

Issues so far:
1) green-blue algae patch in the corner. I had this before the co2/lighting. It went away, but reappear recently.
a) hoping co2 and planting wayy more plants will starve it.
2) black beared algae looks under control, just appears on leaves and little on rocks and plants.
a) same as above.
3) I borrowed my friend's coralife 16watt + stock light, but plants didn't flourish. (Perhaps the depth of my tank was so high?)
a) upgrade to kessil
4) Christmas moss turning brown.
a) I moved it under the shade, let see if that solves it?

Before I did water changes every month and sometimes every 2 weeks. Currently, 30% every week, every single time. Started co2 dose @ 1bps and the new light fixture a few days ago. This tank has been running for about 6 months, just upgraded co2/light. Plan on running the light for 6 hours to test the waters. Fish seem happy, you guys probably wondering why one galaxy? Well his friend's (2) died, so he's by himself for now.

Future projects:
Remove all boring plants and rescaping the tank massively. This time, plant the entire tank, no soil showing! High chance I will remove that big rock tanking up way too much space. Thinking to use the middle area of the tank to grow my carpet plants, maybe something like HC. The reason behind this is the kessil light focus point is right in the middle, so might as well make that area the magic carpet area where all the magic happens =) Hopefully with all the plants I plan to plant, my algae problems will balance out!

I would appreciate any advice, critique, ideas, or questions!

 

[jerrybforl]

Some suggestions.

1. I would push the rock and back pointing it down. This will give you a little more depth.

2. Find a good carpeting plant.

3. BBA is a CO2 and flow problem. Maybe add a small koralia in there for more flow.

4. It would look a lot more organized (fish wish) if you had one skoaling species. Having several species in a small tank doesn't look very good.

5. RO has to be treated with minerals. All minerals are removed during the process. This can hurt your fish without those minerals.

6. Invest in pressurized CO2!!!

7. A lot of your fish you have just ONE. Most of them are skoaling fish!

8. See if you know someone with a PAR meter to measure your light intensity. You may not have enough light my friend.

Hope this helps you a bit.

 

[puopg]

I agree with more fish of a fewer species. Small tanks look better with 1 species IMO.