Algae decreasing

• pH: 6.7 (morning), 6.8 (evening)
• Temp:
• KH:
• GH:
• NH4:
• NO2:
• NO3:
• PO4: 0.75
• Iron:
• Dosing:
• NO3:PO4 Cumulative Dosing Ratio: 15:2.4 = 6.25

Notes:
The tank today looks better today in terms of algae. The "brown sludge" algae is almost gone, although the green water is still as cloudy as ever. The little bits of BBA growing on the rock seem to have completely disappeared. There's still green dust algae growing on the tank walls, but I will keep the phosphate levels up more consistently next week to see if that gets rid of the green dust. It's hard to pinpoint exactly what is making the difference. I've increased phosphates (0.75-1.25 ppm) and nitrates (10-15 ppm), which have helped plant growth, especially with the addition of extra phosphate. I can see that when adding phosphates in approx. doses of at least 0.5 ppm, the plants seem to have noticeable growth spurts as a result. Over the past day or two, I've also upped the CO2 levels from approx 19-24 ppm to 24-30 ppm and increased the flow rate of one of the filters. Overall, some or all of these changes seem to encourage increased plant growth and suppress algae growth. Everyone seems to have a theory as to why algae grows or doesn't grow, which I don't attempt to do. I can only report the changes I make and the results. The plants, though, need pruning, and I'm afraid of whether reducing the extra plant matter will again result in an algae increase. We'll see what happens after the pruning.

Tonight, several hours after the lights were out, I saw the larger angelfish (Bully) repeatedly gulping air. The CO2 levels were about 30 ppm. Worried, I reduced the CO2 rate a bit from 2 b/s to 1.7-8 b/s. In the future, I might run an air pump at night to help oxygenate the water. We'll see.