That's it, I've had it - Blue Green Algae

Hey, I am fighting with the same stuff. I had small patches at 30w of
light. Now that I run 150W I can hardly keep ahead of the stuff, I am
going to try to control phosphates first. I'll let you know haow that
turns out.

my aquarium page, info and pics at:
www.geocities.com/spiral_72/Spirals_page.html

In article .com,
spiral_72 wrote:
Hey, I am fighting with the same stuff. I had small patches at 30w of
light. Now that I run 150W I can hardly keep ahead of the stuff, I am
going to try to control phosphates first. I'll let you know haow that
turns out.

If you eradicate all phosphates you'll have alage problems of a different
nature - green spot alage only thrives with low or no phosphates. You
want to keep a nominal phosphate level - plants absolutely need it and
if they run out they'll stop growing and only the algae will then use
the available light and remaining nbutrients.

Change a LOT of water, this will cause the alage to wesken and release
spores to try to stay alive. Change a lkot of wate the next day and you'll
get rid of most of it. Keep doing it and each day you'll have less and
you'll feel much happier about it. In a few days it'll be gone.

Blue green thrives when the plants used up all the nitrates. Just
don't run out of NO3 again and it won't come back.

--
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"Shawn" Spaketh Thusly:

I can't take it any more. I simply cannot beat or keep up with the
blue-green algae outbreak I've had now for about 5 months.
....

Thanks about it. Any other thoughts/advice would be well appreciated.
I haven't seen any in any of my tanks for a while, but a few years ago I would
get it periodically. Now, I was fighting spots of it and not a whole tank, but
this cured mine for good:
1. Make sure your C02 levels don't fluctuate - keep it as steady as possible.
2. Never skip your water changes - ever (traveling out of state on business
caused me problems).
3. Hydrogen Peroxide - the 3% drugstore brand. 1/4 oz. (that's one quarter of
an ounce of the 3% type) in a 29G tank every two or three days. Apply with a
turkey baster (I got to keep it, my wife didn't want it back, now it's a
permanent part of my aquarium supplies) DIRECTLY on the worst spot. Do the
happy dance as you see it bubble and listen for the BGA screaming in pain :-)
You'll see results the next day. In a bigger tank you can do more, in a
smaller do less. I was very conservative - this amount didn't hurt any fish
and didn't even seem to hurt any bacteria - all my levels stayed the same.
I was able to totally clear out an infestation about the size of a fist in a
week.

I got all the above info here on r.a.f.p, but it was several (3 or 4) years
ago and I can't pin down the time frame close enough to find the thread. I
remember that one person had used at least twice as much as I did and more
often with only very minor problems, but I didn't want to take a chance so I
went very easy with it. If there's no fish in the tank you can use more.

Important: if conditions in the tank are right for it, it WILL come back. Find
and fix the underlying problem while you're clearing it out, or you'll just
have to do it again. And again.

Good luck. Sorry I can't locate the original thread, it had lots of details on
doses and other people's experiences. If you're patient you might be able to
google it up.


--
Bill H. [my "reply to" address is real]
www.necka.net
Molon Labe!

Hey, I think I just found out last night why I am growing so much BGA.
I stopped by the LFS on the way home from work and bought a phosphate
test kit. From what I have read it should be 0-1mg/L..... The test kit
measured 0-5mg/L....... clear to blue. Mine registered off the
scale..... It was a deep purple. Guess I need to take some steps to fix
that ASAP. I figure I can buy those phosphate absorbing pills or add A
LOT more plants...... or both.

What do y'all think?

my aquarium page, info and pics at:
www.geocities.com/spiral_72/Spirals_page.html

spiral_72 wrote:
Hey, I think I just found out last night why I am growing so much BGA.
I stopped by the LFS on the way home from work and bought a phosphate
test kit. From what I have read it should be 0-1mg/L..... The test kit
measured 0-5mg/L....... clear to blue. Mine registered off the
scale..... It was a deep purple. Guess I need to take some steps to fix
that ASAP. I figure I can buy those phosphate absorbing pills or add A
LOT more plants...... or both.

What do y'all think?

my aquarium page, info and pics at:
www.geocities.com/spiral_72/Spirals_page.html

50% weekly water changes will help a lot.

Bob

"Bob Alston" wrote in message
news:9poQd.13251$Zr.10304@okepread03...
50% weekly water changes will help a lot.

Bob


unless there is phosphate in the replacement water or the dechlorinator

spiral, check the phosphates in your tap water if that is what you use.
Also, do you use anything like neutral regulator or ph right, etc...?

--

Margolis
http://web.archive.org/web/200302152...qs/AGQ2FAQ.htm
http://www.unrealtower.org/faq

No actually I quit using pH 7.0 about 6 months ago. I saw a post about
phosphate buffers and sure enough.... the stuff was a phosphate buffer.
Currently I use NO chemicals at all and about 1 teaspoon of phosphate
free carbon (Black Diamond) in only one of the filters. I am doing a
30% water change with a vacuum every Saturday just to stay ahead of the
BGA while I try different things. I am going to test my tap (well)
water tonight, thank you. I have tried blackout... it works but only
temporarily. My problem is pretty advanced. In 3-4 days I have a good
covering, primarily on the right side of the tank. This is the side
with only two java ferns and the whisper filter. My plants are
primarily on the left. I would say my tank maintenence is pretty good
although I am still learning. I will NOT start the tank over. What will
I learn from that? It may very well be coming from my tap water....
that'll be great.

my aquarium page, info and pics at:
www.geocities.com/spiral_72/Spirals_page.html

Margolis wrote:
"Bob Alston" wrote in message
news:9poQd.13251$Zr.10304@okepread03...

50% weekly water changes will help a lot.

Bob



unless there is phosphate in the replacement water or the dechlorinator

spiral, check the phosphates in your tap water if that is what you use.
Also, do you use anything like neutral regulator or ph right, etc...?

Agree it is possible. But in my experience more likely from the flake
food and overfeeding.

Bob

"Bob Alston" wrote in message
news:yvqQd.13255$Zr.12796@okepread03...
Agree it is possible. But in my experience more likely from the flake
food and overfeeding.




I can't see how overfeeding could get it to go off the scale. Even a whole
can of flake with a high phosphorous content wouldn't get it that high I
wouldn't think.

--

Margolis
http://web.archive.org/web/200302152...qs/AGQ2FAQ.htm
http://www.unrealtower.org/faq

In article .com,
spiral_72 wrote:
Hey, I think I just found out last night why I am growing so much BGA.
I stopped by the LFS on the way home from work and bought a phosphate
test kit. From what I have read it should be 0-1mg/L..... The test kit
measured 0-5mg/L....... clear to blue. Mine registered off the
scale..... It was a deep purple. Guess I need to take some steps to fix
that ASAP. I figure I can buy those phosphate absorbing pills or add A
LOT more plants...... or both.

What do y'all think?

I think you havn't been changing water enough. The absorbing pillow will
take longer than you want to wait to work. Change 80% of the weater
till it's gone then doweekly 50% changes. Test your tapwatrer for
phosphatre.

What do you fed? (some foods are higher in PO4 than others)

Do you use carbon? (It can leech phosphate)


--
Need Mercedes parts ? - http://parts.mbz.org
http://www.mbz.org | Mercedes Mailing lists: http://lists.mbz.org
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | Killies, killi.net, Crypts, aquaria.net
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Old wris****ches http://watches.list.mbz.org