Cyanobacteria - Blue-Green Algae (BGA)

[spiffymeister]

Sorry if you had to keep reminding me and all that. I just think that the allelopathy you are talking about won't show up until about months of no water changes.

It's just a shame that you had to start from scratch all over again. This is also another reason why I don't like hightech tanks! too much variable and a little screw up can mess up the whole system.

If the tank is still up and running, I would suggest another radical method in combatting the bacteria. Convert it to a low-tech system temporarilly. Remove a few light bulbs and the Co2 source. Stop with the macronutrients. Let the mature tank sort itself out. Just don't tear it apart

You might wanna remove the less hardy fishes and transfer them somewhere else. Then put your systems back up in place slowly but surely. Cyanos are surprisinlgy easy to eradicate compared to real algeas. Once the thing starts dying, the whole "colony" follows.


Yes, I do keep two low-tech tanks. A 75g(soil substrate and 160 watts of daylight bulbs, heater. No filters and other equipment) and a 15g(40 watts of widespectrum and daylight bulbs, same setup as above, only I dont have any substrate with this one). The 75 is being maintained by a mass of pennyworts at the moment since I'm just too busy to maintain it, but it used to be a show tank(more than 15 species of plants, including a few species of crypts). I am planning to transform it into an Amazon biotope soon. The 15g is a new set-up and actually sparked my interest back into keeping a planted aquaria.

I wouldnt necesarilly call the plant growth as "slow." The ambulias in my 15g(still cycling) are especially prolific(some of the stems that were about 8 inches a week ago have reached the surface. Tank is about 15 inches tall) under 2.6 wpg of lighting with no co2 and no added ferts. Other plants are on thier way. But then again, ambulias are not exactly a challenging plant to grow(My aim is an aesthetically pleasing tank anyway, not wether or not I can grow a particular plant).

I should excuse myself and stop rambling now Good luck with your tank and you reminded me I have to replace the subtrate in my 75g, too! Agh!

 

[konrad05]

Hey gf225, I know what you've been through. My tank recently had a huge invasion of BGA as well, it was so depressing to see my tank go to hell. I'm sure you have things under control by now, but what I did was I increased water changes to 50% weekly, added the X-PHOS phosphate remover bag to my filter, and put a blackout period during the day for an hour. I also hooked up a strong powerhead to get water moving since I read that the BGA doesn't like current. Anyways, good luck and I hope it gets better! Nice change by the water, you have my envy of the carpeting hair grass

 

[Yenko]

Blue-green alage fixes atmospheric nitrogen, making an aquarium with almost no nitrates but plenty of other nutrients, light and CO2 an ideal habitat for the alage.

Increase your KNO3 dosage; that may help your plants absorb other nutrients in the water.

You can also use Erythromiacin Phosphate to kill BGA, it works VERY well.

 

[George Farmer]

I've been real busy lately so excuse the recent inactivity.

Thanks for all the advice and support guys but I have already done a complete stripdown and substrate change. I've kept my Java fern/bogwood but thrown out everything else. Check out my journal for updates and pics soon, I think you'll be impressed by the speedy turn-around.

I'm dosing KNO3 every other day to give me a constant 10 to 20 mg/l nitrate, the plants are growing quicker than I have ever known. I'm also using Dennerle A1 fert which is dosed daily to ensure I don't get any micro deficiencies. I'm keeping CO2 at 30 mg/l too. It all adds up to no algae and very rapid growth - I'm not taking that for granted though!