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Hi Tom - When you dose Copper sulphate do you have to consider the ecological impact that will have on invertebrates? We spend alot of the thinking about algae & nutrients but what about the relationship between algae & ammonia/O2 levels in the water column and substrate? Also as Darrel...

I used erythromycin back in the mid 90's to treat a tank with a bad infestation of BGA. I followed the instructions from the the Krib http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Algae/cyanobacteria.html It was a total disaster. Initially the BGA was killed off totally but the erythromycin must have...

You have the perfect ingredients for algae, light and ammonia added during the fishless cycling. See this discussion on the subject http://www.ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=18200 If it were me I would stop any further additions of ammonia and physically remove as much algae as possible...

Most if not all new tanks go through a phase where they have a brown algae diatom bloom but doesn't usually last and clears up by itself. If this is the 1st time this has happened in this tank then I would not worry its just part of the final maturation phase of the tank. Sometimes you see...

Can you tell us what kind of algae the tank has? See http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm for a guide. Depending on the type the problems may not be CO2 related although most are. Can you also say what kind of lights you are using and how much/how long etc. I personally would not bother...

I wonder who wrote the article- there's no name? I wonder if they have followed this advice themselves?

I remember back in the 90's when I used to read PFK they looked at a product to clear ponds of green water algae. It was a clear canister that you pumped pond water through containing daphnia. The idea was that the daphnia ate the green algae and were protected from the fish in the canister.

Your algae problems are due to a lack of CO2 so adding more TPN+ which is NPK plus trace elements won't affect the CO2 levels in your tank. If you have solved the underlying problem you should see a halt in algae growth almost immediately. Your observation that you are getting more algae growth...

When I see this situation in my low tech tank its is a cue for me to prune. The swords you have look nice and healthy with only the outer leaves having algae growing on them. Sword plants I find are greedy feeders and can dominate other plants when they get growing. I am often quite brutal...

Is there enough Ca/Mg for the shrimps - maybe the water is too soft for them?. You say you mix RO/tap water, is your tap water already very soft? If it is a mineral problem you might get a clue from how well snails survive in your tank. A lack of Ca/Mg may cause ph buffering problems making CO2...

450 l is about 118 US gallons and your total wattage is 144W so your wpg with the 4 tubes is 1.22wpg. This is quite low light already, although I'm not sure how the wpg rule applies on large tanks. I would try to reduce the photo period first and see if things improve then start to reduce the...

I had a quick look at your journal - great nano setup :thumbup: . I would say your problem is lack of CO2 or unstable CO2 levels. How close is the tank to the window atm? It looks from your picture you posted this morning in your journal...

Couldn't you just add some blanched lettuce leaves for your snails? Remove any uneaten scraps.

Can you ensure that your RO equipment is algae spore free and that the ADA substrate has not been contaminated with algae spores between the time it was heat treated and you buying it? You can try a simpler experiment, get a glass jar fill it with boiling water and leave it on a windowsill for...

The abstract mentions exposure of COLEOCHAETE SCUTATA to 20c for one to several days. I think in a heated tropical fishtank it would take a matter of hours not days for the water to return to 'tropical' temps even if you did a 50% W/C with cold water. Might be more relevant if you are...

I used erythromycin (a macrolide antibiotic with a similar antimicrobial sprectrum to penicillin) way back in the 90's to kill a severe infestation of BGA. I got the dosage instructions from the Krib. It worked very well in killing the BGA - it was all gone within a day or two. Unfortunately it...

I have in the past removed algae covered hard scape and scalded it with boiling water. The fish seem to devour the algae from the hard scape after its been scalded - the same algae that they wouldn't otherwise touch when its alive. Its just an option that I have found easier than trying to...

For me its not about high nutrients - I run (or attempt to) an NPT ie a low nutrient low maintenance tank. I don't want algae and find the best way to avoid it is to provide my plants with all the nutrients/CO2 they need (for me this comes from food + soil). The point is unless you balance the...

I don't see a contradiction between what ceg4048 is saying and the observations from the abstract quoted by dw1305 above. If you remove phosphates from an aquatic system the overall productivity will go down be it plant growth or algae growth. If there is insufficient or no aquatic plants then...

The limiting phosphate idea fell out of favour a while ago see what Tom Barr has to say on the subject in this thread:- http://ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=7031&hilit=sears

Good observation it does look more like staghorn from the pictures.

That is indeed BBA see James Planted tank site - the site also has useful info about dosing ferts. http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm. Reducing the photoperiod will take some of the pressure off the demand for ferts including CO2 which BBA is thought to be caused by. When I start to get...

Interesting comment - is glutaraldehyde an algaecide or does it help suppress algae by promoting good plant growth? I have no idea myself but i kinda got the impression that it was the latter.

I've just googled it and there's lots of warnings about its use - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glutaraldehyde and http://www.tedpella.com/msds_html/18411msd.htm but i suppose this applies more to the concentrated stuff than to the ready made stuff like excel.

You can scald plastic plants and decor to kill the BBA then place them back into the tank. The 'cooked' algae will provide a treat for any snails or algae eating fish. You may also want to turn off the air stone as your plants, providing they are growing well, will oxygenate the water - ideally...

So to sum up ammonia is the cause of smelly algae infested tanks and smelly armpits! That evil ammonia :twisted:

Your probably right. Its just my experience that when I added shells to my tank battling algae became alot harder. Also when I set up a tanganikan shell dweller tank with lots of sea shells and tufa rock it was almost impossible to grow plants (I used java moss, java fern and anubias nana) - i...

Hi Dusko, What does your CO2 drop checker tell you, is the CO2 very low or only slightly lower than when you are using additional CO2?

In the past I have had on going problems with algae, especially hair algae but it was at manageable levels until I added some sea shells to the tank for decorations. My tap water was already moderately hard with a ph of 7.0 - 7.5 but soon after the addition of the shells the hair algae went into...

I notice in your tank set up that you have an air stone - is that for decoration or for extra aeration of the water? If I were you I would get rid of this as the extra turbulance it creates drives off CO2 from the water and probably negates the effect of additional CO2 from your DIY yeast...