First of all ill start with the tank specs.

27G Long
100W of NO lighting
PH between 7.2-6.9
DIY CO2 injected into my filter
GH 14
KH 7
PMDD dosed daily
NO3 dosed every 3 days because it is depleted quickly in about 2 days
about 5ppm dosed
PO4 dosed when I remember which usually ends up being once a week dose
about 1 little bead of triple super phosphate mixed with water...not
quite sure how much it adds...probally should but I cant imagine it very
much
KCL dosed when I remember which usually is about twice a week at about
2-3ppm
Very heavy planted it my opinion but see alt.binaries.aquaria for the
pic if you want to see.
Mostly with water wisteria and jungle val.
I started out stupid and didnt have the money to fill it with plants so
i planted the cuttings when they grew..and from this i developed an
algae problem..BBA and such.
The plant has been planted heavy for at least 2 months but I cant seem
to keep the algae at bay..I trim all the algae off the leaves at least
twice a week. I want to get some slower growing plants but im afriad
they will be coated in algae in no time if i trim back and plant them..
Should i be leting the NO3 drop to zero or should i keep it at a stable
5ppm or so...should i dose more PO4? or is that my problem?..i dont
think it is excess PO4 that is my problem..maybe not enough?
Or maybe im just impatient and i should give it more time?

Any suggestions would be great.
Thanks
Ryan Wilson

27G Long
100W of NO lighting
PH between 7.2-6.9
DIY CO2 injected into my filter

I'm sure quite a few people will disagree with me, but 100W on a 27G long is
a good amount of light; I would be using a compressed system. DIY is great
for lower light tanks but I was personally very unsuccessful maintaing CO2
levels near 25-30ppm with DIY and high light.

Should i be leting the NO3 drop to zero or should i keep it at a stable
5ppm or so...should i dose more PO4? or is that my problem?..i dont
think it is excess PO4 that is my problem..maybe not enough?
Or maybe im just impatient and i should give it more time?

Here's my technique for dosing, which is mostly inspired from Tom Barr's
method with a few changes that make sense to me... I think it's important to
develop a "hybrid" technique that suites you the best, this isn't the only
way to do it. I add NO3 and PO4 three times a week, traces three times a
week, K at water change... remember you need ~20ppm K+ I would prolly bump
up your dosing... anyhow it goes something like this:

day 1. Water change, traces, K, PO4
day 2. NO3 dosed
day 3.
day 4. traces, NO3, PO4
day 5.
day 6. traces, NO3, PO4
day 7.

I start with enough NO3 and PO4 per dose to bring the tank to 5ppm and
0.2ppm... I test before the water change, I like to see zero levels of NO3
and PO4 before the change... if they are zero I start upping the N and P
dosing but don't exceed 10ppm N and 1ppm PO4... so assuming a zero-order
nutrient uptake, you get a saw-t0oth pattern 3 times a week. You could keep
N levels a bit higher I'm keeping them low trying to trigger good color in
r. wallichii.

Cheers,
Jeff Ludwig