Hi VaughnH,
thanks for your compliment and advice. I'm aware that i'm having too much lights, but it seems that without that much light, my foreground plants cannot survive. Previously I was using a set of 36w X2 PL light, and the HC and glosso patches were growing nicely. After the lightset broke down, I changed to a Solite 24WX2 T5HO set. After just one week with that set, the glosso patches stopped growing, and the HC patches started turning brown. I then added another one of the 24wX2 set, and within an hour, the HC started pearling, and in 3 days, new green leaves started appearing on the patches. It seems pretty strong evidence that the second light set is crucial for the survival of the HC and glosso up front. That's why I decided to keep all 4 lights and try something else. Is there something else that I can do to keep the HC alive and growing using just one lightset? Does the light spectrum play a part in this? I'm using 3 10000k tubes and 1 6500k tube.

As for the soil, I'm using GEX soil (green packaging). It has been there for almost 3 months, before I rescaped recently. Thus, I think that's not the problem.

For bioload, does that mean I can stop dosing Seachem Flourish Nitrogen? It's a rather expensive substitue for KNO3. lol.

I do have a Serra drop checker, but its filled with tank water. I've been procrastinating in getting some KH4 deionised water. I guess I'll get it ASAP.

Lastly, for CO2 issues, I'm deciding between adding a 600l/h pump in between my filter and the reactor to aid the filter overcome clogging (and thus up the flowrate), and removing the reactor and adding a CO2 diffuser into the tank for CO2 injection. Any advice on this? Adding the pump would increase circulation in the tank and also the efficiency of the reactor. Replacing the reactor with a simple diffuser will also increase the flowrate of the filter by a little, and I can freely turn up the bps without worrying about a build up.

Hi Tom,
thanks a lot for your reply too. Why do you say that my tank's CO2 issues all over?

Also, as mentioned above, the foreground HC and glossostigma seems to be doing badly under just 24WX2 of T5HO lights. Do you have any solution for this?

I'll do the blackout. But do I need to wrap anything around the tank to shut out all sources of light? Or does the weak ambient light not matter?

As for excel dosing, maybe I can wait a little while before I try it. The Amtra Algenmaster I've dosed seems to be starting to take its effect. The BBA and hair algae are slowly disappearing (I assume they were eaten up by the SAEs and Otocinclus and the lone Amano shrimp), and no new ones are growing to fill up the gaps. However, the entire patch of mini taiwan moss on the driftwood is still covered with thread algae, and this algae doesn't seem to be going away.

Do you suggest I up the circulation of the tank by adding a pump, or would you suggest I switch the reactor with a diffuser instead (see above).