Ammonia Spike During Blackout.

[Shaddex]

2 tanks suffering from alge. 1 has bga and other has green alge.

Started blackout on friday, only putting on light for 5 mins in the evening so I can see progress.

Tested water this evening and I have 1-2ppm in both tanks.

Water change and vac sorted out ammonia spike for now but could the degrading alge cause an ammonia spike ?

Both tanks are mature and show no nitrite and nitrate at 10ppm above my tap water.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Yes- read algae becomes ammonia. BGA should be manually removed as best as possible before starting a blackout or dosing an antibiotic to kill it.
 
Water changes are your friend here, vacuum the tanks as well.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

oops- read = dead

 

[Shaddex]

2 days of 50% water changes day and night and Im all back to normal.
Couldnt believe how much dead BGA I had in the tank ...