algae problem continues
Posted by trojannemo
Quote:
hey man. been a while. i dont know if you remember my last algae thread, but my tank was basically being invaded by some hair-like, gray algae ALL OVER the plants and filters, rocks, etc, just not the gravel or the glass. first thing i did was to reduced my light time. it was originally set to 1.5 hours in the morning (when i woke up for school) and then 8 hours in the afternoon. then i reduced to just the 8 hours in the afternoon. nothing changed. so then down to 6 hours in the afternoon. when that didn't help, then i decided to finally try that blackout thing. so from sunday at 11am to today at a little after 12pm, that's over 73 hours of no light whatosever. i fed them beforehand, then covered them with a dark bed comforter and make sure to unplug the light from the timer (duh!). when i took it off, it seems some of the algae diminished but it didnt get rid of most of it. i'd say i still have 80% of the original algae left!
i did a big water change, scrubbed and cleaned my filters, removed a couple of plants that were dead or about to die, trimmed the rest, added the correct amount of LeafZone (i saw somewhere lack of nutrients could also boost algae growth?).
after having done the blackout and properly cleaning the tank, should i expect the algae to go away soon?
any other ideas as to what i can do?
my 3 snails, chinese algae eater and clown loach seem to not be doing much to get rid of the algae either
i'm frustrated!
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My 38G Tank
A picture would really help but I'm almost 100% sure this is a red algae if the blackout did not kill it.
Let's get the bad news on the table up front. BBA is induced in planted tanks by insufficient or inconsistent CO2 primarily and bottoming out of PO4 can exacerbate it.
Once established in the tank it is extremely difficult to get rid of. Chemical algaecides will begin to kill fish and plants before it kills the algae.
Your tank is well infected and you are beyond initial response strategies.
Here is what you are left with...extreme measures
You could start to over dose Seachem Excel daily for 10 days or so. That's twice the recommended dose every day. If after day five, the algae does not show stress by turning a lighter color, then go to 3x overdose. Be cautious and observe your fish, it is possible to kill some fish by doing this.
Start pruning every infected leaf out of the tank. The Excel overdose will hurt it and slow it down, but it will not wipe it out.
Bleach Dip... Your hearty substantial plants like swords, Anubis etc. will often withstand a dip in a bath of 19 parts water to one part bleach for 30 seconds. You need to immediately rinse them and then put them in a water bath containing 10x dechlorinator. NO ROOTS - JUST LEAVES.
That will kill BBA. Unfortunately some plants will not survive this.
Bottom line is you need to get it out of the tank. Your decorations can be dipped and all of your equipment can be sterilized as well.
Once you beat it back, you are going to need to be diligent with your pruning and preening until all of it is gone.
You will need to be sure your CO2 remains high, if you are not injecting, the Excel will be of benefit there.
I'm sorry we did not jump on this in the early stages, as you are in for a lot of work.
Let us know how it goes.
Jay
