Green Slime Algae

[Ob1]

Woke up thjis morning and most of the algae has gone - for real

It must have been the active carbon?


ob1

 

[iggy01]

Woke up thjis morning and most of the algae has gone - for real

It must have been the active carbon?


ob1

How long have you had blue/green algae in your tank? Is your phosphate/nitrate ratio still the same? Have you made any other changes apart from adding carbon?

 

[Ob1]

within 4hours the algea is back - not as much as before - but who knows by tonight it may be fully back -

I know fish are not suppose to eat this stuff - but why else would it have gone and then come back?

my phoshate and nitates are the same 0.25 and 5mg/l. I need turn up the heating a little average temp was rasied to 30c from 28. I did add the active carbon last night.

I have been raising my kh with baking soda - currently at 6.03 - But I think the problem started when I added the Co2 and planted a load of new plants and then without waiting for the plant to start rooting I added fertiliser

I've had the problem for about 10 days
ob1

 

[iggy01]

Sorry to hear the algae has come back . I thought maybe your nitrates had gone up. According to the redfield ratio with phosphates of 0.25 mg/l and nitrates of around 14, you should have little chance of getting algae. Don't know how accurate it is though!

 

[donkey]

well the three days are up and i have just put the lights back on. and it dose seem to be all dead now .all of the slime has gone from the glass and the plants the sand is looking very clean and the plants look a lot better now .even the swamp smell has gone .all the fish are ok as well .will do another 50% water change later on tonight . how long this will last i just dont no .

 

[Sanj]

I think Rowaphos is like a super activated acarbon also.

Ob1 lets us know in a few days aswell to see if it is kept at bay.

Thanks.

 

[Ob1]

hi Sanj

I have Rowaphos in one of my filters, I also added some good eheim active carbon to my second Filter. In the last 24 hours I have also redirected one of my outlet to force water around the bottom of the tank. I understand this blue green algea does'nt like water movement, major water change and no additional iron added for over two weeks all failed

Donkey, I think I'll be doing the same very soon - ill let you know in the next 3 to 4 days.

Do you think I should reduce my Co2 input - due to the lack of plant growth while the lights are out?



cheers

Ob1

 

[donkey]

Hi Ob1 i turned my co2 off when i did the 3 day blackout . if i were you i would do the same

 

[Ob1]

24hrs update

most of the algae gone - and the plants actual look better :

There are a couple of areas where the blue green algea is still hanging in. I had left the Co2 on and reduced the BPM to below 40.

this seems to hae kepted the PH at around 7.0. Tank temp dropped to 26.00.

ps the my pelco love the dark - never seen them so happy - I will be building a large cave very soon

 

[donkey]

its back

 

[iggy01]

Sorry to hear that Donkey. The same thing happened to me about a week after finishing a blackout. Don't want to alarm you but...... it seemed to grow at a faster rate once it got a hold again!

I dosed my tank with a 5 day course of Maracyn about a fortnight ago and it seems to have done the job

Good luck!

 

[Ob1]

Hi All

Mine has come back to, but not as bad. carrying out water change today

all reading low inc Phoshate..

I think there must be a link to the level of lighting - I blacked out the tank for over 3 days - then put all the lights on full - now the the stuff is coming back. will reduce the number of tubes to see what effect it has on the slime

 

[iggy01]

A blackout does seem to have a positive effect on cyanobacteria, but many people report it returning shortly afterwards. I've heard that you should dose KNo3 after the blackout to stop nitrates from falling too low. My nitrates are always in the 10-12mg/l range so I didn't bother.

 

[Bangin]

As someone previously mentioned, increased water circulation can have a dramatic effect on bga. I once had a case of bga, so I increased my filtration and it went away.

 

[donkey]

i have increased water circulation but its still come back