1) bulbs don't go bad in three months; your strobing is either caused by a bad contact with your bulb (something wrong with your end cap, or a bad contact in the bulb itself, or a bad ballast. To check it, but your good bulb in the same fixture. If it also strobes, then it's either the end cap or the ballast. If it quits strobing, replace the bulb--it's bad. If it keeps strobing, first check to see if you have an old fashioned magnetic ballast. If you do, there will be a small metal can starter somewhere on your unit. This starter can be replaced, and may be causing your strobing. If there is no starter, then it could be an electronic ballast, and it could be bad. No easy way to check this without a voltmeter, so you may have to take it to somewhere that can check and fix it if you're not handy with a voltmeter.WC 3x wk 35%-40%. For the last two weeks I have been adding 1 cap prime, 1 cap Excel, 1 cap flourish, and 1 cap nitrogen.
THese last two days (before adding the sprite, amazons, moneywort and melon sword) I was getting green water and an egg size spot of green algae on my top glass. I did a 50% WC the first day with no ferts. The second day I did 95% Wc again no ferts. Then I added those extra plants.
So, am I right in assuming it was the excel or nitrogen that caused this? or was it the lesser lighting? (do I need a new bulb after 3 months?)
PH 7.8 temp 85 ammonia 0 nitrIte 0 nitrAte 0 (tho now I doubt the test is right) Phosphorus 1.0 KH 9 GH 6
Please help?
2) are you adding all those ferts every day? Every week? With each water change?
You don't seem to be adding phophates, yet your PO4 levels are 1? and you are adding nitrates, but your nitrate levels are 0? Seems unlikely, unless your tap water has a fair amount of PO4 in it. Test it to see. Are your nitrates always 0, or only after a water change?
To test your test kit, determine how much that 1 cap of nitrogen is supposed to add to your tank (should be some information on the bottle). Add this much to, say, a bucket of water (3 gallons or so). Multiply by the number of times your tank is greater than your bucket (for example, if your tank is 30 gallons, mutiply by 10). So if that capful was supposed to add 10 ppm nitrates, then you would have 100 ppm nitrates in your bucket. Use your kit to measure the nitrates in the bucket. You should read the amount you calculate would be in the bucket. You can also use this method to calibrate your test kit. Say you want to target 10 ppm nitrates in your tank. Mix a bucket of water to have 10 ppm nitrates in it from your fertilizer stock. Use your test kit to measure the bucket water. As long as you have some color change--you can use this tube (cap it and keep it--should be OK for at least 2 weeks) and compare a tube of water tested with your test kit from your tank with the color of the tube tested from the bucket. When they are the same color, you have 10 ppm. If more color, more than 10, if less, less than 10 ppm. Same goes for calibrating your PO4 test kit.
As to the green water, I guessing you have just too much fertilizer for the number of plants and the amount of light you have in your tank--balance is everything! Yes, diatom filters will take it out, but balance will prevent it.
Of course, who am I to speak, with my hair and thread algae debacle, still not quite solved! LOL