Blue/green Algae Help

[Whitey_144]

Hi,

I started a 30G tank early this year, some plants di very well, vallis/java fern, others not so well! Amazon sword.

I have FLourite substrate and was dosing TPN+ 1.75ml and 2ml of liquid carbon. The tank has 5 angelfish, trio of apistos and 20 cardinals, so overstocked a bit.

Most of the fish will be moving to a bigger tank in a month, but ever since the beginningi've had regular slow growing algae on slow growing leaves, ive scrubbed most of, but is there anotehr way to stop this?

http/s1080.photobu...nt=DSC01846.jpg

and over the last month i think I have started getting bluegreen algae which is exponaitially covering items near the front substrate.

http/s1080.photobucket.com/albums/j323/Whitey_144/Algae/?action=view&current=DSC01846.jpg#!oZZ3QQcurrentZZhttp%3A%2F%2Fs1080.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fj323%2FWhitey_144%2FAlgae%2F%3Faction%3Dview%26current%3DDSC01842.jpg

http/s1080.photobu...%3DDSC01845.jpg

http/s1080.photobu...%3DDSC01841.jpg

A couple of weeks ago a person on here said as it was overstocked i shouldn't be using TPN+, so i stopped, and continued the carbon.

My bedroom isnt bright at all, most of the day there is a black blind and lights are on the tank for 8hrs. Ammonia and nitrite at 0, nitrate is 40 or 80, PH i have noticed has increased very slowly to about 7.8 from 7 since i first started. Is this partly the cause?

last weekend i gravel vaced the entire tank and did a 50% water change, manually removing what i could and scrubbed leaves of the had algae kind. Yet today already the Bluegreen algae is back!

what should i do next? according to PARC i should blackout for 3/4days? anyone done this before? not sure my anglefish would be too pleased about not eating that long!

thanks,
adam

ps, ill attach a photo in a min

 

[RadaR]

The pictures show some decaying plants and detritus. Prime conditions for BGA.
Hoover up as much BGA, decaying matter as you can. Make sure the filter isn't bunged up with gunk either.

BGA raises it's head for a few possible reasons:

Low nitrates (dont trust your test kit).
Dirty filter/substrate results in organic waste and ammonia
Lack of flow/circulation

Black outs work well in the sense that it aids manual removal. The underlying cause must be addressed though.
pH is irrelevant.

Look at the link in my sig on how to battle the BGA.

When you've sorted the BGA........On a 30gallon you're looking at dosing 5ml of Excel a day and depending on stock (you have quite a lot), up to 5ml of TPN+ per day.
Water changes should be 50% weekly.

 

[Whitey_144]

The pictures show some decaying plants and detritus. Prime conditions for BGA.
Hoover up as much BGA, decaying matter as you can. Make sure the filter isn't bunged up with gunk either.

BGA raises it's head for a few possible reasons:

Low nitrates (dont trust your test kit).
Dirty filter/substrate results in organic waste and ammonia
Lack of flow/circulation

Black outs work well in the sense that it aids manual removal. The underlying cause must be addressed though.
pH is irrelevant.

Look at the link in my sig on how to battle the BGA.

When you've sorted the BGA........On a 30gallon you're looking at dosing 5ml of Excel a day and depending on stock (you have quite a lot), up to 5ml of TPN+ per day.
Water changes should be 50% weekly.

Thanks James, I'm happy that the substrate and dying plants have been removed last week and the filter has never been clogged. But there is a bit of slow moving water, although I don't think this is the main reason.

how many hours should i keep the lights on? and should i increase to 5ml of carbon a day and start TPN+ again at 5ml a day straight away? Or straight after the next water change and BGA purge? does the carbon or TPN help BGA? I assuma if theres low nitrate which helps BGA added TPN now should help, and at the same time help the plants?

cheers!
Adam

 

[RadaR]

James was a memeber on here and on UKAPS. I'd hate to take credit for his work

Once you've manually removed the BGA and followed up with a big water change then start dosing with TPN+ and Excel. 5ml daily for both of them.

does the carbon or TPN help BGA?

Not if you've removed as much as possible. The key is achieveing a system of healthy plants.

I assuma if theres low nitrate which helps BGA added TPN now should help, and at the same time help the plants

Thats how we are getting rid of the algae. By giving the plants everything that they want. Healthy plants = no algae.
All this nutrients and CO2 that people put in their tanks is solely for the benefit of the plants (fish will benefit from the oxygen too) and if the plants are healthy then you wont see any algae.

 

[Whitey_144]

James was a memeber on here and on UKAPS. I'd hate to take credit for his work

Once you've manually removed the BGA and followed up with a big water change then start dosing with TPN+ and Excel. 5ml daily for both of them.

does the carbon or TPN help BGA?

Not if you've removed as much as possible. The key is achieveing a system of healthy plants.

I assuma if theres low nitrate which helps BGA added TPN now should help, and at the same time help the plants

Thats how we are getting rid of the algae. By giving the plants everything that they want. Healthy plants = no algae.
All this nutrients and CO2 that people put in their tanks is solely for the benefit of the plants (fish will benefit from the oxygen too) and if the plants are healthy then you wont see any algae.

Thanks Radar! not sure why i called you james lol.

I've been on holiday so not had a chance to fight the BGA, but yesterday i did a 40% water change and manually took out all i could see, i'm going to do a blackout for the next 3 days and then another large water change/filter/gravel clean then dose 5ml of liquid carbon and 5ml of TPN+ daily afterwards to see the effects. i hope this works!

Is 3 days enough of a blackout...i'm more worried of putting a towel over the hood and it overheating or something...so ill keep an eye on the temp stats.

the fish are all very happy, in fact one angel was protecting her first batch of eggs the other day!

 

[RadaR]

James was a memeber on here and on UKAPS. I'd hate to take credit for his work

Once you've manually removed the BGA and followed up with a big water change then start dosing with TPN+ and Excel. 5ml daily for both of them.

does the carbon or TPN help BGA?

Not if you've removed as much as possible. The key is achieveing a system of healthy plants.

I assuma if theres low nitrate which helps BGA added TPN now should help, and at the same time help the plants

Thats how we are getting rid of the algae. By giving the plants everything that they want. Healthy plants = no algae.
All this nutrients and CO2 that people put in their tanks is solely for the benefit of the plants (fish will benefit from the oxygen too) and if the plants are healthy then you wont see any algae.

Is 3 days enough of a blackout...i'm more worried of putting a towel over the hood and it overheating or something...so ill keep an eye on the temp stats.

Yes, 3 days is enough. The key is to prevent any light from getting in. I used black bin bags but sometimes just one layer isn't enough (so true when using cheap black bin bags) so I doubled it up. Seal any lose, flappy areas with some tape. Some folks reccomend running an airstone during black outs. Not really sure why. Perhaps the decomposition of the BGA will use a substantial amount of oxygen...

 

[Whitey_144]

it worked, have put the lights on thoday and i cant see any BGA, I've dosed 5ml of carbon and pn + and will continue to do so to see what happens.

what size water changes should i do weekly?
would 30% be ok, or does it have to be bigger to dilute the ferts?

 

[RadaR]

Larger would be better. Or 30% twice a week.
The purpose of the water changes isnt to dilute the ferts. Its to reduce organic waste, ammonia and algae spores.