Nano Cube 24G Advise

Canadian007

Junior Poster
Jun 2, 2009
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1
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I have a 24G Nano Cube. Stock lighting is (2) 36 watt combo bulbs. I think they are 10,000K, or 6700K/10,000K combo.

I was having many problems. Algae was taking over. Plants were stunted. So I started reading, and that brought me here.

I have since started dosing Excel, along with other ferts. Sort of doing the EI method, but dosing by what Seachem suggests for their product line. I saw great improvement in both plant growth and algae reduction. However Algae has slowly started making a comeback, even with Excel spot treatments, and some of the new growth of my Amazon Swords went limp.

I had the feeling that my lighting was too strong, plus the fert dosing was too weak. Just yesterday I removed one of the two 36 watt combo bulbs. This brings the tank down to 1.5 WPG compared to 3 WPG. I tested Nitrates (about 7 mg/l), Phosphates (0.25 mg/l), and ammonia 0). So I dosed the tank again, this time by the bottle suggested dosing with a slight overdose on some since they were quite low.

Now I have a few questions.

1) Should I continue to dose daily by Seachems suggested dosing schedule? Or by what the bottle says, 1-3 times a week in signs of deficiency.
2) Keep the tank at 1.5 WPG since the tank is an Excel tank, and non-Co2?
3) To convert nitrates to nitrogen I divide by 4.4 to get my mg/l (ppm)? So in my case 7mg/l divide by 4.4 = 1.6 mg/l (ppm) of Nitrogen. This is really low, but I'm hesitant to dump 3-5 capfuls on Flourish Nitrogen into my tank. Am I caluclating this correct?
 

shoggoth43

Lifetime Charter Member
Lifetime Member
Jan 15, 2009
1,092
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It seems most of the manufacturers suggested dosings are based on low light, no CO2. I would start with their recommended doses and go up from there given that you don't have CO2 and you now have "normal" or low light. Your current light level should suffice and let you get ahead of the algae.

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