Velvet
July 20th 03, 10:35 PM
"Racf" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Tom J. Pappas" > wrote in message
> om...
> > I have a question about my freshwater aquarium, that I'm hoping
> > someone can answer. I've had it up and going for 10 years. The last 3
> > or 4 months, I've had a problem with a slimy green algae. It grows on
> > the artificial plants, driftwood, rocks, and gravel. I have no real
> > plants.
> >
> > I clean the tank once per month. I remove about 30% of the water. Then
> > I stir up the gravel and vacuum it. After that I wipe the glass. I
> > empty and clean the carbon container, add fresh charcoal, and replace
> > the foam sleeve. Water temp is a constant 78 degrees.
> >
> > I just did all of the above 3 days ago and algae is already forming
> > again!!!
> >
> > Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
> >
> > Tom
>
> Sounds like cynobacyeria (I probably misspelled that) or BGA. Search
> google for that or perhaps someone with expertise can comment on it from
> the plant guys...so I will crosspost for you..... Its a nutrient issue.
>
> PS. I would do a lot more water changes than you are to get the
> build-up out of there.......Just 25% at a time about 6 times over a few
> days......thats me though....
>
>
I've had this. The solution seemed to be a few days of total blackout to
knock back the BGA, repeated every week if it reappeared. Coupled with
that, I planted more plants, and let the duckweed cover more surface,
cutting down a bit of light. I have CO2 but not regular or high-volumes of
it (its manually injected into a bellchamber on a daily/as I remember
basis). Initially saw BGA a few weeks into tank life, lasted a couple of
months, been free of it ever since. It seems to dislike the exits of
filters, and to that end I ditched my (lovely) internal 3-stage filters (2
of) and moved to an external canister, but didn't see a recurrance down the
far end of the tank away from the filter exit.
Tank is fairly heavily stocked both fish and plant wise, but seems to be in
equilibrium - only get very occasional bit of black/green hair algae near
the filter exit.
Velvet
...
>
> "Tom J. Pappas" > wrote in message
> om...
> > I have a question about my freshwater aquarium, that I'm hoping
> > someone can answer. I've had it up and going for 10 years. The last 3
> > or 4 months, I've had a problem with a slimy green algae. It grows on
> > the artificial plants, driftwood, rocks, and gravel. I have no real
> > plants.
> >
> > I clean the tank once per month. I remove about 30% of the water. Then
> > I stir up the gravel and vacuum it. After that I wipe the glass. I
> > empty and clean the carbon container, add fresh charcoal, and replace
> > the foam sleeve. Water temp is a constant 78 degrees.
> >
> > I just did all of the above 3 days ago and algae is already forming
> > again!!!
> >
> > Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
> >
> > Tom
>
> Sounds like cynobacyeria (I probably misspelled that) or BGA. Search
> google for that or perhaps someone with expertise can comment on it from
> the plant guys...so I will crosspost for you..... Its a nutrient issue.
>
> PS. I would do a lot more water changes than you are to get the
> build-up out of there.......Just 25% at a time about 6 times over a few
> days......thats me though....
>
>
I've had this. The solution seemed to be a few days of total blackout to
knock back the BGA, repeated every week if it reappeared. Coupled with
that, I planted more plants, and let the duckweed cover more surface,
cutting down a bit of light. I have CO2 but not regular or high-volumes of
it (its manually injected into a bellchamber on a daily/as I remember
basis). Initially saw BGA a few weeks into tank life, lasted a couple of
months, been free of it ever since. It seems to dislike the exits of
filters, and to that end I ditched my (lovely) internal 3-stage filters (2
of) and moved to an external canister, but didn't see a recurrance down the
far end of the tank away from the filter exit.
Tank is fairly heavily stocked both fish and plant wise, but seems to be in
equilibrium - only get very occasional bit of black/green hair algae near
the filter exit.
Velvet