[Wet Thumb Forum]-Staghorn Alage :(

[swannee]

Have had this tank setup for about a month, it's a 48x18x18 (has been set up for a year as a Angel Fish growout tank) so I added enough gravel/sand (2-3mm) to give me about 2 in. and am using 2 2-litre pepsi bottles for CO2 because Seachem Onyx is $214.24 + shiping for a 21kg bag and 2 bags would leave me a tad shy of 2 in. and press...CO2 is just far to much money here!!!! and 4 38w Phillips Aqua-relle t-8 tubes for about 2.26w/G

PH 6.8 to 7.2
KH 5 to 10 it's the DIY CO2
GH 5
NO3 5ppm
PO4 5ppm (was 10+ still working on getting it down)
and at this point I have not been adding any ferts mostly fast growing stem plants but even they are starting to pick up some algae, the plants are all growing rather fast, and my Anubias nana has flowered but since pressurized CO2 is outa the question for now anyway! would I be better off going the natural route?