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

Um, my algae condition has not improved. I am going to give it a bit
before I change anything more. I expect it would be foolish to add
more
plants if the plants I have are running idle. As soon as I find out
what causes my current plants to grow I will add more, which should
take care of the algae problem, right?
There, now I'm following the original post. Right?
my aquarium page, info and pics at:
www.geocities.com/spiral_72/Spirals_page.html

Try doing a 3 day blackout, that will kill the BGA as will antibiotics.

But if you want prevention and removal over the long term, address the
plant's needs.

Remove as much BGA as you can. Clean filter, prune any thing overgrown
that's draping across the surface of the water.
Do 50% water change, add KNO3 at 1/4 teaspoon per 25 gal of tank.
Wait 3 days, turn off CO2, cover with trashbags, (2 so that no light at
all gets in), remove after 3 days, add the same amount of KNO3 back,
hook up CO2, make sure you have enough CO2, then add that much KNO3
2-3x a week there after and do good sized water changes(say 50%)
weekly.

Your plants will grow if you give them what they need, K+, NO3, CO2,
light, traces, GH, and PO4 etc.

This will prevent any algae, not just BGA, from infecting your tank in
the future for many years.

When you neglect the tank and the plant's needs, the plants slow down
their growth and then if severe enough, the algae appear.

So always focus on the plant's needs, then you have no algae issues to
speak of.

This concept is both simple and effective.

Regards,
Tom Barr

I added 1/2 a teaspoon about 4 days ago without much (if any) change in
nitrates. Last night after my tank maintenance I added another 1/2
teaspoon. Wednesday and Saturday I cleaned very, very well with the
gravel vac. About 30% water each time. I don't think the phosphate
levels have changed much but my nitrates have increased slightly. Next
weekend it's time for another round of substrate fertilizer.

I'm not real sure the algae is growing any slower. Maybe a little.

Tom, I've noted your proceedure. Currently I don't have a way to add
CO2. I will work on that this week if possible. I am considering
setting up a yeast reactor for now..... Never did that un' before.

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

Blackout works on non CO2 tanks, but you still need to address the
plant's need and have enough plant density. Growrh rate is slower but
is still there.
Cut the KNO3 down afterward and feed your fish more.

Add SeaChem Equilibrium and stop doing water changes.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Add about 1/4 teaspoon of the SeaChem EQ once every 1-2 weeks per 25
gal.

Regards,
Tom Barr

wrote:
Add about 1/4 teaspoon of the SeaChem EQ once every 1-2 weeks per 25
gal.

Regards,
Tom Barr

I see that it's mostly plant nutrients, but where does all the calcium
go if you're not doing water changes?

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

the only thing I never understood is if it's a problem with low
nitrates why change the water then?

if you're getting rid of spores, that's futile because of the high
turnover of the bacteria anyway.

as i understand it old water=more nitrates, as long as you feed the
fish more, and got a well-cycled tank to convert ammonia.

been dealing with this problem, the whole time with my 4 year old
planted. the funny thing is when I stopped changing water as
frequently, the bga change from the dense black mat, to a more
manageable brown scum (still smells the same with that swampy odor), it
never goes away completely with maramycin.

realistically, your goal has to be to achieve some acceptable balance
with removeable or mimimal amounts. the high phos that drives it is
largely from the tap water anyway (if you do frequent changes), so the
only way to get low phos without using chems is to move to a different
town.

you just got to work with the cards you've been dealt.

______
http://www.indiecookbooks.com
nothing but reviews of independent cookbooks from churches, community
groups, and self-published authors.

In article .com,
wrote:
the only thing I never understood is if it's a problem with low
nitrates why change the water then?

I've never seen BGA in newly setup tanks even with plants moved to
it that are BGA infected. I'm wondering if it's a buildup or
something like organics that is a prerequisite.


--
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633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | Killies, killi.net, Crypts, aquaria.net
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Richard Sexton wrote:
In article .com,
wrote:

the only thing I never understood is if it's a problem with low
nitrates why change the water then?


I've never seen BGA in newly setup tanks even with plants moved to
it that are BGA infected. I'm wondering if it's a buildup or
something like organics that is a prerequisite.


Pasteur Institute's defined Cyanobacter culture medium used for
freshwater, soil, and thermal strains.

g/l mM
NaNO3 1.5 17.65
(replaced with 10 mM NaHCO3 for nitrogen-fixing strains)
K2HPO4.3H20 0.04 0.18
MgSO4.7H2O 0.075 0.30
CaCl2.2H2O 0.036 0.25
Citric acid 0.006 0.03
Ferric ammonium citrate 0.006 0.03
EDTA (disodium magnesium) 0.001 0.003
Na2CO3 0.02 0.19

Trace metal mix A5+Co 1 ml
Deionized water to 1 l
pH after autoclaving and cooling: 7.4

Trace metals A5+Co
Ingredient g/l
H3BO3 2.86
MnCl2.4H2O 1.81
ZnSO4.7H2O 0.222
Na2MoO4.2H2O 0.390
CuSO4.5H2O 0.079
Co(NO3)2.6H2O 0.049

See anything that could build up over time? I think maybe it's the
phosphate, since that's at 40 ppm. New tanks don't usually have that
generous an amount of phosphate. Of course, a defined medium at a
culture collection is designed to support long-term growth so that much
phosphate probably isn't necessary in the short term.

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

I'm not real sure what I have learned from this whole BGA thing. I have
learned many things it is NOT.

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

Plant tissue.

Over a 3-9 month peroid, large amounts of cuttings are removed from the
tank.

Just like a CO2 enriched tank, except slower...........hence smaller
amounts dosed less frequently.
Higher Ca is less of an issue, K+ also helps and can become limiting,
we can add CaCO3 etc for Ca and KH to the gravel(eg Onyx sand).

The two box model:
Nutrients (Fish food, organic or inorganic KNO3 etc) in = plant
biomass/filter cleaning out.

As more nutrients are needed to maintain growth rates with CO2 and more
light, the bacteria can not process and break down the organic nutrient
waste fast enough and build up occurs.
Then you get algae.

So we add inorganic nutrients like KNO3 and other inorganic readily
bioavailable nutrients.
While slower growth rates in non CO2 tanks are slow enough to supply
many plants, fish food is hardly balanced for plant health and needs in
many species. It'll do okay, but a few small dosing changes will
greatly improve a non CO2 tank.

Adding SeaChem Equilbrium of a mix of MgSO4/CaCl2/K2SO4 etc and some
traces can help if added 1-2x a week at small amounts.

Try it and see. It takes more time than CO2 enriched tanks to see it,
but it will help and you should be able to see an improvement soon.

Regards,
Tom Barr