Adding nitrates to combat BGA...so far so good

Well, I seem to have the BGA under control in the Betta's tank for the
time being. I did a few things Saturday.

1. Blocked off the sunlight so the tank is now running completely on the
14 watt fluorescent light. I don't think this alone would make much
difference.

2. Added even more plants to use up any non-nitrate nutrients.

3. Completely removed the unhappy Mayaca that had the BGA growing on it
and replaced it with fresh, removing most of the BGA from the tank in
the process. Vacuumed the patch of BGA off of the substrate.

4. Added a few Amano shrimp for housekeeping. Interestingly, their
stomachs looked blue-green at first. Has anyone seen these fellows eat
cyanobacter?

5. Dosed nitrate to bring the tank up from below 2ppm to 8ppm.

There has been no new growth of BGA in the tank. I dosed again with
nitrate today (along with regular Fe, Excel and K fertilization regime)
and will test again Saturday to see how much nitrate is left in the
water after a week of dosing.

If plants continue to grow well this way, I'll probably mix all my
various Kent Tropica ferts in the right proprotions for daily dosing
like PMDD until I use them up.

--
__ Elaine T __
__' http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__