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Do I have BGA?

Ruskie

Member
Joined
28 Apr 2020
Messages
87
Location
Sheffield
Forgive my newbie ignorance. I’ve been reading about but just confused myself into whether I need to do anything about this or just let it run it’s course.
I’m not 100% sure if this is blue-green algae or just some symptoms of a newly developing tank. It appears to be mostly appearing on mosses and covering the wood. I’ve kinda convinced myself it is BGA as there seems to be a slightly earthy smell to the tank (normal

Tank has been running 3 and a bit weeks.
Tropica soil, nutrition capsules and topped with powder.
Non Co2.
Lights 6 hours a day.
No ferts for the first 2 weeks then 1 pump of Tropica specialised nutrition every couple of days after (too much?).

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Any advice/comments welcome.
 
Thanks for the clarification :(

Do you think this has been brought on by something I have done wrong or something that is wrong in my setup? Or is it just one of those things?
 
Thanks for the clarification :(

Do you think this has been brought on by something I have done wrong or something that is wrong in my setup? Or is it just one of those things?

Lighting is often a factor. I see you are running for six hours a day, which seems very reasonable.

What lighting fixture are you using?

What power setting do you have it on?
 
Do you think this has been brought on by something I have done wrong or something that is wrong in my setup? Or is it just one of those things?

Hi @Ruskie

Yes, there is little doubt that your tank is being taken over by the blue-green menace. As suggested by @MirandaB, please take a look at the thread I started a few weeks ago. Here is the link for convenience:

https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/cyanobacteria-identification-at-last.60496/

I'll return later but I want to see what's going on at the ISS (NASA).

JPC
 
Lighting is often a factor. I see you are running for six hours a day, which seems very reasonable.

What lighting fixture are you using?

What power setting do you have it on?

It is just an unbranded 18w led jobby. It doesn’t have the option to dim unfortunately.

Led light
 
It is just an unbranded 18w led jobby. It doesn’t have the option to dim unfortunately.

Led light

OK.

The key factors for algae are lighting, organic waste / nutrients, filtration & flow, water changes and maintenance.

Can you expand on the above and include a photo of the entire tank.
 
Just for reference, as I’ve also read it can appear thru neglect, I was doing daily 50% water changes for the first week and then 50% every other day for the 2nd week. 3 rd week was every 2 or 3 days.
I haven’t trimmed much as it’s a low tech tank I just wanted the plants to grow out.

edit. Seachem stability added with every water change
 
Last edited:
Hi all,
Picture taken just this second.
Plant growth looks pretty good.
Does look like Cyano (BGA) to me
Filter is an Oase filtosmart 100 external
Definitely cyanobacteria, bit of a strange question but what media do you have in your filter? and have you cleaned the pre-filter at all?
UK and antibiotics are not available over the counter here
There is an almost <"perfect correlation"> between <"antibiotic sales and bacterial resistance">.

cheers Darrel
 
Nice scape.

Sounds like you are keeping up with the maintenance.

Tank looks clean. You've got good growth.

You may just be getting a nutrient surge from the new aqua soil.

I would manually remove the algae, including taking the wood out and scrubbing it. Removing any leaves or stems effected.

Perhaps go down to one dose of fertiliser per week for the next couple of weeks (but keep an eye on the plants - if the suffer go back to two doses).

Try cutting the lighting to five hours a day.

That's about all I can think of.
 
@dw1305 Thanks, I was quite surprised by the amount of growth in the 3 and a bit weeks the tank has been running and thought I was doing ok so I am a little miffed by all this.

In the filter I use the default sponges supplied by Oase but I’ve put in Matrix, in filter bags, instead of the standard ceramic tubes supplied. I had a 500ml tub and still have some left so I estimate about 400ml in there split between 2 filter bags. I used bags figuring it would be easier to remove and rinse once required.
Pre filter has been rinsed once since setup. Rinsed in tank water just to be safe?!?
 
@Nick72 Thanks. As said above, thought I was doing ok so this is a bit of kick in the teeth. As a newbie your never sure if it’s something that you’ve done.
 
I was always under the impression that excess phosphates promote BGA. It’s also associated with poor maintenance, although in your case that doesn’t seem to be the cause. Do you d9 water change with straight tap water? Have you checked your tap water for phosphates. Often, during dry periods, phosphates run high, and when it does rain there is run off from agricultural fertilisation.
 
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