Red/BBA & Experimental Fertilizing

AKA Lots of Issues and Wondering If I Should Start Over Fresh

I've had an ongoing problem with what I believe is Red algae/Black Beard algae.
It is definitely a dark red, attaches to the edges of my plant leaves, the intake tube of my filter, and coats the open areas of substrate in colors of black, green, and red. It does not grow long, but is more like a slime coat that adheres so well to the point that I have to use my fingernail to scrape it off of the filter intake tube. If I turn over the substrate it comes back within a week.

I'm wondering what I'm doing wrong – though I have a few guesses. Please let me know if my hypothesis and proposed answers are headed in the right direction.

For several months now I've been trying a lot of things with my tank to find a way to fertilize that is inexpensive and works. I've placed Osmocote 14-14-14 pellets, Jobes plant spikes for ferns, and Highland Rim pond tablets in the substrate – all have had some sort of result in boosting and sustaining growth, but I think certain kinds of nitrogen in the ferts are undesirable and can cause algae blooms if I kick up the substrate – so I try not to. However, when I placed the pond ferts in the tank, I kicked up a lot of crap and had an ammonia and nitrate spike and crazy growth from my plants (plus a small red/brown-algae bloom for the first week). The whole spike lasted about two and a half weeks.

I loved the growth I got and that got me interested in dosing individual ferts – so now I'm playing with EI. The earlier spike and plant growth had me thinking KNO3 was my limiter, so last week I dosed a ½ tsp and the nitrates went up but plant growth wasn't what I got after the pond-fert accident. By the end of the week I had a slight bloom of GDA on the tank walls. I'm planning on getting KH2PO4 now and dosing EI to create a constant among the 7-billion variables of aquarium keeping.

I do weekly 40% water changes. GH has been consistent at 8°, and after the water change KH is up at 5°. Unfortunately I have not been testing to see what the KH is at the end of the week before the water change.

I do not add Excel as of right now. I used to in the past but never saw a difference in growth.

Questions:
Since the ferts are in the substrate, I was wondering: Is the reason I get the red algae because of my high-lighting low-CO2 setup? And/Or the lack of consistency in fertilizing my water?

I'm concerned about all the stuff I've put in my substrate, and what it could screw up if I decide to re-arrange my tank. At this point should I tear down my tank and start over clean with EI dosing and making my own substrate fert tabs?

 

Okay, so I've been doing reading all day on CO2 and I've been thinking.

What if I tear down my tank, clean out all the algae and ferts in the substrate and...
#1. Set-up a DIY CO2 yeast-injection hooked up to barr's venturi reactor
AND
#2. Dose with EI and my own hand-rolled ferts?

Good Plan?
(Tearing down the tank sounds really drastic though...)

 

I read these articles (see links below) and thought it might be possible to make substrate tabs. That's what I meant by hand-rolled. If I'm wrong I'm wrong but if it's possible I still think it would be cool to make them.

Practical PMDD Information

How To Dose Plantex CSM + B

Anyway, I think I'm going to order the rest of the ferts and clean out the tank when they come in and start dosing EI. Tomorrow I'll get some Excel...it's just too d*mn cold today.

 

The algae is not really bad. Just annoying. Like I said it covers the edges of leaves and the open areas of substrate enough for me to not like looking at those things and regretting pulling out some otherwise fine leaves.

I do have a birhday coming up and have been dreaming about a pressurized CO2 system since August...I've read that the cost is generally around $100 right?