Bga - Got Rid Of It...

[-cAtFiSh-]

I had a bit of an outbreak of Blue-green algae and used the 3 day black out method to get rid of it as i didnt want to use any chemicals. It worked surprisingly well! As far as i can see there isnt a trace of BGA left.

But i'm worried about it coming back. What can i do to stop this from happening?

 

[soritan]

Depends on how you got it. My reading around basically said, "If you've got a planted tank, it's probably caused by low nitrAtes. If you've an UNplanted tank, too many nitrAtes." As I had a planted tank, and nitrAtes at 5ppm, my reading up stopped at that. Maybe someone else knows better than I do.

 

[-cAtFiSh-]

oooohhh that could be it. My tank is planted and has low nitrates, about 5ppm last time i checked. It's odd 'cos i have never had this problem before, and i have had my tank for around two years

 

[Katchan]

I doubt its the low nitrates, as my tanks average 0 due to plant uptake, last time (and only time) I had it I was told over feeding/rotting food is the main cause, I dropped the amount of food and invested in some apple snails (great cleaner uppers), havnt seen it since

 

[-cAtFiSh-]

Ah ok i might look into getting an apple snail then

I also heard that too much light and not enough movement in the water flow is another cause. Is this correct?

 

[soritan]

Yeah, but healthy plants using up all available nutrients generally means no algae. If there's an imbalance, it's possible to have 'too few nitrates'. I know that's the case with my tank. I started water changing a lower volume of water per week, cleaned off all visable BGA, and my problem began to dissapear, literally. (of course, now I have staghorn algae. I can't figure what's causing that, but casual study claims it's probably got something to do with iron... whatever that means.)

 

[modernhamlet]

BGA generally thrives in areas with low water flow. For example, I have a problem with it right now at the front of the tank, where the substrate meets the glass. It procedes to cover the HC foreground from there...

Keeping nitrates above 10ppm and increasing circulation seem to be the best two ways to handle it from my understanding.

 

[Teelie]

I can't figure what's causing that, but casual study claims it's probably got something to do with iron... whatever that means.)

This isn't exactly all the details but iron submerged into water becomes iron-oxide (rust) which is a nutrient for some kinds of algae. In saltwater, this usually translates into a lot of red algae. Saw this first hand when the LFS manager where I used to work left a razor used for ironically, scraping algae, on top of the lid and it fell in. It took only a few days to fuel the algae bloom. In freshwater, I gues you get this kind instead.