[dawntwister]

Here are links for diy Co2:
http://www.qsl.net/w2wdx/aquaria/diyco2.html#3
http://www.youtube.com/user/slntsteve

I have found that when dealing with plants it is best to first decide on the lighting and then the plants. Some people use shop lights with daylight bulbs. Daylight is around 5500K, thus light bulbs between 5000K and 7000K are best. A lot of people make a big deal about the watts per gallon (wpg), which is based on T12 bulbs. The T12 bulbs don't reflect light to the bottom of the tank very well. Aaronnorth helped me to see that plants can grow with any light but how they grow depends on the photons they receive. If you can't get the plants to grow how you want them to you add ferts. For example adding Flourish helps bring the pink out of Hygro Sunset.

http://www.barrreport.com/general-plant-topics/4768-k-rating-bulbs-plants-2.html
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/journals/56524-50gal-ugly-tank.html

 

[dawntwister]

I have seen some tanks, 20 gallon long, use clip on lights with daylight bulbs and diy Co2 have great growth with out ferts. It just depends on how you want your plants to grow and if you have fussy plants.

Some suggest filling the tank with cheap plants, like hornwort which can be planted, to give favorite plants a chance to fill out.

 

[dawntwister]

I am having the same problem. My tap water is very soft and alkaline. Adding potassium nitrate along with excel is killing it. Also reduced light period.

Lights are the engine. Flourish excel kills many variations of algae. It won't keep it from coming back. You must correct the imbalance.

Tom Barr suggest increasing Co2 to 30ppm for BBA, which is similar to hair algae.

Causes and treatments of algae at this link by Naja002:
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/showthread.php?p=435558#post435558