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Hi john, Interesting read as I've also had a similar problem with, what I assume is diatoms, for all my aquarium owning time. Its particularly strong on hard scape however I'm having a bit of success at the moment where plants are seemingly growing better than ever. I also get it a little on...

I've done a small video to help show the issues.

Thanks for the replies guys. I understand old leafs start to look rusty but in my case its very much different as pretty new groth is getting a light dusting of algae as you can see in my photos. It's interesting that your angels don't eat the shrimp. I might add one or 2 to see how they all...

Hi Rebel. I do have some Ottos in there however the smaller leafs on some stems dont get touched. I did think about getting some shrimp also however I have Angel Fish which are likely to eat them.

Hi All, I've ran planted tanks for years and something always seems to cause me a problem where the old leafs of some plants get diatoms. This is predominant in stem plants more than anything and really looks ugly. My plants seem to be growing fine and I don't think I have any sign of...

Nothing has changed on the lighting front and I dose EI every day for 5 days alternating between Macros (x3) and Micros (x2). speaking of leeching I did see a slimy substance on the water surface when i changed the water which isnt normally there. This week so far I have double dosed to be...

Well i cleared the glass last night after what was 3 weeks and it had seemed to have slowed compared to the last water change. I guess we'll see what happens over the next few weeks. It is still on my hardscape so I think i'm going to take the hardscape out over the next 2 weeks and scrub it...

I can't see how that could be though as my filter is massive compared to the tank size. Unless if course I have masses of ammonia being produced?

Must admit, I'm not fully sure but i would expect it to be about 2 months or so. Thats not a lot of light, do you think that it would affect my other plants which are doing well?

Hi Ady, Yes, its at least lime green for lights on. CO2 comes on 3 hours before lights on so should be saturated. To be sure, i upped the co2 yesterday morning and by the time i got home i had some fish gasping at the surface so i know i'm pretty close. I'm only running 3 t8s at the moment as...

The plants called Ranunculus inundatus. The heads on most fell off however the stems are still fine and I have some leafs but it's doing nothing.

It's certainly dust but if spot is present I can't see it. I'm already using a new up atomiser and dispersion is all over the tank. Lighting is running at 7 hours currently. I have some clean up crew in there but nothing getting rid of it at present. My problem is not really so much getting...

Hello experts. I'm at my wits end with this stuff. I have a 180l tank with 4 x 30 watt t8s over it and a eheim pro 3 which turns over 1700 LPH. Since I built the tank I seem to be slowly getting more and more gda on glass and plants. I'm dosing EI. I first thought it was due to low co2 so...

Hi guys I've always had a slight problem with diatoms in my setup. Can anyone offer any reason as to why that might be? I thought it was only something that happens in a new setup? It's only very light but is really annoying as it never goes fully. Any ideas.

Hello All, I've got a light sprinkling of GDA on my hardscape which I assume came form not having CO2 for a week due to an atomizer incident! Anyhow, the CO2 is back on and being dissolved better than ever before so I'm hoping I can ramp it up to almost a yellow drop checker. The unsightly...

Didn't realise there was one in Rutland! Nice one! Are they something they usually have in stock?

Hi Clive! I didn't want to go down that route because of the cost. It could be quite expensive on a 180L tank. I've seen that SAE's will devour the stuff in no time but I cant find any of them for sale near Leicester anywhere!

Hi Guys, Just a quick question really. I've stemmed the growth of BBA but because I was so heavily infested its taking forever to die back. SAE's seem to be in short supply around my way to eat it all so I was concidering a blackout. Does anyone know if BBA will die off in a blackout?

Hello Guys! Its been a while since I've been on here and as such I've had a pretty major infestation of BBA in my 180L I understand the reasons why its occured and am working to correct these problems but I dont know how to rid of the existing algae. I dont wish to use excel as I have shrimp...

Hi guys, As the title suggests, is it possible? I am always getting GSA on my large leaf varieties and its really annoying! Any tips on keeping them pristine?

Thanks for that. Im a little stumped as the substrate seems ok, as does the filter. Circulation is good but I didnt try the nitrate part of it. Is that alone likely to be the case? It seem that article is more to do with EI based dosing.

Hi Guys, MY low tech tank is suffering from blue green algae. Im not really sure where to start looking for the problem. THeres once a week ferting going on and none of the plant are showing signs of deficiencies. Any pointers as to where i should start looking?

Do you think this may help with the diatoms? the diatoms are more visable on the stems of plants wso I'm pretty sure there is some in there. The GSA is only on the leafs. Thanks for your help Clive.

Well, I'm dosing EI with the amounts made into a solution as per james website. I'd be interested to see how my nano does which I'll be dosing leaner with TPN

Hi Guys, My large tanks coming along slowly but one thing i've always had problems with is the old leafs. On spem plants a lof of them start to look tired and its only the very new growth which makes them look half decent. I'm at a pretty good level of CO2 and have been dosing easycarbo as...

Thanks guys! James, I've just added a hydor Koralia last friday so flow before this was not up to the 10x turnover needed. Now it should be in excess of this. I wasnt aware it could be CO2 as well. I'm just waiting for my new drop checker having smased the last one while cleaning it so I'll...

Hi Guys, I've reverted back to EI to try and revive my fortunes and after about 2 weeks I've started to see GSA. I've made solutions as per James' website: And dose 30ml and 18ml respectivly. I also added some potasium sulphate to be sure on the potassium side of things. I'm aware one cause...

Right'o. I'll have a fiddle with the CO2 then. Its a real pain to adjust because the needle valve is so sensative!

Thanks for that James. Yes, its the PPMD + PO4. Is there any theory as to why this happens? I thought that GSA was caused by low phosphate so I'm slightly confused now. I couldnt really spot clean the algae as some is exposed when doing a water change and others are not. Its mainly my anubias...

Hi Guys, I've recently upped the dosing of PO4 in an attempt to stop the gsa that I have on my anubias. I've doubled the amount of PO4 from the recipie on James' website but it looks like it could be getting worse. Do you think I am lacking in some other area or do i need to add even more PO4...

Clive, I've decided to go with the inert substrate and stick to my ferns. What would you suggest I dose. I'm using James PPMD+PO4 in my main tank. Can I use this formula here as well but doing once a week for the stated 2ml per 40l of water?

Hey Clive, The tank is planted with 2 large Java ferns so they are really only slow growing. I only have 3 goldfish in there, and 5 borneo suckerfish who do munch their way through the stuff. Filter has more than enough flow (cant remember off the top of my head exactly how much) but we're...

Hi guys, I thought i'd give my goldfish tank a bit of attention as its sits in the dining room gettin pretty neglected at the moment. I know newly set up aquariums generally suffer from diatoms however this has been going on for over 2 years now. I thought it was something to do with the black...

Update for you guys, heres what i posted on aquaessentials: So, the tank is well metured again after its strip down and after a small burst of green spot, the old brown stuff is back again and making the tank look unpleasent. I have more of an issue on my coldwater tank but symptoms are the...

My tap water is the same. I looked at that type of thing but its not for use in phosphate buffered water (i.e dosing phosphate. Perhaps its worht running it for a week then doing as normal. I coudl really do with a silicate test kit. Is there such a thing?

Yes i know. I'm referring to getting the bubble rate right so that i dont have to rey on the soleniod to switch off the co2 when it gets too much.

Well I can only assume I have high silicates in the tap water so water changes will only replace the old with new silicates. I do actually have some otto's. I did have six at one time but i few have dies and obviously been eaten. I have a blue gourami which is very likely to be eating the...

I thought it could be the tap water so that made me concider an RO unit but the added labour is really offputting. I read about some silicate removal resin a while back. Does anyone know anything about it?

Well, its newly setup t the moment.. i stripped it down and started again but still used the onxy gravel i already had. I've had this problem in setups thats 2 years old so i really am struggling to shift it. When this was going on I was dosing EI and had what looked like 30ppm using the drop...

If you have a new setup then yes. My problems different though as I've had this all the tome whether the tank was new or old it was always about. SOmeone on APC has offered diatoms as the issue. It fts the bill but i've never been inundated with the stuff like i was in my cold water tank. That...

Hi Guys, Every since i've had a planted tank I've laways had this issue with old growth on plants. The growth doesnt have to be old and the plants only get a slight dusting but its enough to make it look horrible and not as clean as most of the other healthy tanks i've seen. Can anyone tell me...