Algae after vacation ! Need to revive

[MMonis]

Hey folks,

Before going on a month long vacation, I had trimmed my plants and had reduced the lighting intensity to 25%. During the vacation pressurised CO2 was still running but it wasn’t possible to fertilise during this time. No water changes were done, but only evaporated water was topped off by a friend and the fish were fed.
When I came back I hadn’t lost any fish so that was a positive. However, my stem plants took a hit. Most were covered in BBA and also some rocks. There is also some green dust algae on the side and back of the glass wall.
After coming back I started following the regular regime that I had and also spot treated the BBA with Easy Carbo.
I changed from the standard oase spray bar to an aquario neo flow v2 in/out. I also switched from an AIO fertiliser to full EI dosing macro and micro based on my recipe from IFC fert calculator. The light intensity is now at 60% and regular weekly water changes.
It’s been a month now post vacation, but my stem plants still have BBA on them and the glass has GDA.

At this point I am wondering if I should just remove all the stem plants and replant new ones instead or should I just continue and wait till the new growth is better and then trim and replant the tops ? Is there any way to get rid of the BBA on the stem plants and what should I do about the GDA.

Here are some pictures of the tank.

Tank details:
54 litres, oase biomaster 250, pressurised co2 inline (3 hrs before lights on and 1 hr before lights off), Full EI dosing (5 ml macro and micro each alternate days), Fluval aquasky lights (6 hrs - 60% intensity)

 

[Andy Pierce]

I haven't found a way to remove established BBA on plants other than to remove the plants. For me, monolinuron was ineffective. Let me know if you find something less drastic that actually works.

 

[MMonis]

I have only tried easy carbo but I can’t overdose as it then affects the bolbitus.

 

[MMonis]

I have uprooted most of the stem plants since they had BBA on them. I have reduced the light intensity to 30% for now. So the only plants remaining are epiphytes, bolbitis, a partial carpet of monte carlo, some buces and two stems of ludwigia palustris.

I was thinking would it make sense to do a blackout and turn off the co2 for a week to maybe help reduce the bba and gda?
What other technique could I use to reduce gda and bba before I buy new stems plants and plant them after a week ?

 

[hypnogogia]

I’d start by removing that thick covering of algae on the glass towards the bottom of the tank. You also have a huge number of snails, suggesting they have a lot of available food, which 8n turn means that you are likely to have a high load of organic in the tank, which encourages BBA.

You could remove the stems and dip them in a bucket with water and a high dose of easy Carbo to blitz the stems. The. Replant them. Increase water changes to to reduce organics and keep the light reduced.

 

[Bradders]

Quick question. Do you have high levels of Phosphate and Nitrates in the aquarium?

 

[MMonis]

I’d start by removing that thick covering of algae on the glass towards the bottom of the tank. You also have a huge number of snails, suggesting they have a lot of available food, which 8n turn means that you are likely to have a high load of organic in the tank, which encourages BBA.

You could remove the stems and dip them in a bucket with water and a high dose of easy Carbo to blitz the stems. The. Replant them. Increase water changes to to reduce organics and keep the light reduced.

I tried removing it with an algae scraper (and also a credit card ) for now but it did not budge, so I decided to do a blackout for 5 days maybe to see if that helps. I have turned off the co2 and lights for now. With regards to the affected stem plants, I have just removed them and dumped them in the bin as I couldn't recover most of them.

 

[MMonis]

Quick question. Do you have high levels of Phosphate and Nitrates in the aquarium?

My Nitrates out of the tap water are high.

and based on fertilisation of full EI dosing the tentaive weekly values are as follows:

 

[Bradders]

Sorry, I'm not used to those charts. Is that the actual levels of Iron, Phosphate and Nitrates in your aquarium right now?

 

[Wookii]

Sorry, I'm not used to those charts.

Its the IFC Calculator, for calculating ferts dosing, created by guys on this forum:

IFC Aquarium Fertilizer Calculator

Hello everyone, Based on its ancestor, the new IFC Aquarium Fertilizer Calculator is completed at last. This has been a long (sometimes fun, sometimes painful) adventure for me. I have spend more time than I care to admit but here it is, ready to roll. Home screenshot here below: Background...

www.ukaps.org

Is that the actual levels of Iron, Phosphate and Nitrates in your aquarium right now?

No, the first table are his dosing targets,

The second table is the quantities of various salts (the left hand side of the table with the salt names is missing) required to be dosed to achieve those targets.

 

[Bradders]

Got it! I only ask that I read somewhere that BBA is helped a lot by high nitrates, iron and phosphates. But then again, what living plant is not!

 

[Wookii]

Got it! I only ask that I read somewhere that BBA is helped a lot by high nitrates, iron and phosphates. But then again, what living plant is not!

In my experience it's unrelated to absolute fert levels per se, and is often triggered by an imbalance (usually a rapid one) in the system that causes a deterioration in plant health. For example I had a load appear in my current tank a few months back. When I investigated further, it turned out my micro's doser had stopped its daily dosing, so micro levels were non-existent for a week or two.

Instability is likely the cause with the OP's tank - no fert dosing, no water changes, change in light level whilst on holiday - plants weaken struglling to adapt to the changes, and algae takes advantage.

The solution as always is to regain long term stability - reinstate the original fert dosing and water change regime, pick a light level and stick with it. Stability is the key.

In the shorter term, implement some additional water changes, manually remove as much algae as possible - BBA might need a bit of locally misted glut to help kill it faster; it will go on its own eventually (mine did) but it takes a loooooong time (like a week to appear, four months to disappear). The OP's tank looks pretty good, so it should bounce back quite quickly.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Got it! I only ask that I read somewhere that BBA is helped a lot by high nitrates, iron and phosphates. But then again, what living plant is not!

I agree with @Wookii , we don't know what causes BBA, but I'd be surprised if any of those were that relevant. We have a couple of long, but inconclusive, threads <"What exactly causes BBA?"> & <"What exactly causes BBA? Part 2 - Bacterial imbalance">

cheers Darrel

 

[MichaelJ]

In my experience it's unrelated to absolute fert levels per se, and is often triggered by an imbalance (usually a rapid one) in the system that causes a deterioration in plant health. For example I had a load appear in my current tank a few months back. When I investigated further, it turned out my micro's doser had stopped its daily dosing, so micro levels were non-existent for a week or two.

Instability is likely the cause with the OP's tank - no fert dosing, no water changes, change in light level whilst on holiday - plants weaken struglling to adapt to the changes, and algae takes advantage.

The solution as always is to regain long term stability - reinstate the original fert dosing and water change regime, pick a light level and stick with it. Stability is the key.

In the shorter term, implement some additional water changes, manually remove as much algae as possible - BBA might need a bit of locally misted glut to help kill it faster; it will go on its own eventually (mine did) but it takes a loooooong time (like a week to appear, four months to disappear). The OP's tank looks pretty good, so it should bounce back quite quickly.

I 100% agree with all of this, but must say that the culprit for pretty much all the common algae we struggle with is instability - plants weaken when exposed to an unstable or inappropriate environment. When that happen you get algae. It's just that BBA is one of the most tenacious algae to deal with. I don't really see a strong correlation between the amount of ferts we dose (as long as the plants are not starving) and algae - when people talk about Nitrate and Phosphate levels and algae its usually buildup from decomposed organic waste - its not the phosphorus and nitrogen per se - but the organic waste, which is an open invitation to algae.

Cheers,
Michael

 

[erwin123]

If plants are healthy, BBA shouldn't grow on them (though they may grow on dying leaves on a healthy plant). Here's a photo of the BBA in my tank - it appears mainly confined to the CO2 tubing and while the plants look reasonably BBA-free.

 

[hypnogogia]

I tried removing it with an algae scraper (and also a credit card ) for now but it did not budge,

What sort of algae scraper. One with a metal edge should do the trick. I use the Tunze long magnet. It’s pricey, but has a great metal edge and is designed to stop bits of substrate to t between it and the glass if it falls in, thus avoiding scratching of the glass.

 

[MMonis]

Instability is likely the cause with the OP's tank - no fert dosing, no water changes, change in light level whilst on holiday - plants weaken struglling to adapt to the changes, and algae takes advantage.

The solution as always is to regain long term stability - reinstate the original fert dosing and water change regime, pick a light level and stick with it. Stability is the key.

In the shorter term, implement some additional water changes, manually remove as much algae as possible - BBA might need a bit of locally misted glut to help kill it faster; it will go on its own eventually (mine did) but it takes a loooooong time (like a week to appear, four months to disappear). The OP's tank looks pretty good, so it should bounce back quite quickly.

While on vacation there was no fert dosing and no water changes which led to algae. Once I was back, I kept up with the fert dosing, water changes, stable light and CO2 for almost a month but that did not help with reducing the algae. I guess as @Wookii mentions BBA is gonna take time until the tank is stable

 

[MMonis]

Hi all,

I agree with @Wookii , we don't know what causes BBA, but I'd be surprised if any of those were that relevant. We have a couple of long, but inconclusive, threads <"What exactly causes BBA?"> & <"What exactly causes BBA? Part 2 - Bacterial imbalance">

cheers Darrel

I also don't think its fert related as the BBA seems to be only in the path of the flow, so maybe I need to optimize the CO2 distribution and flow. May be the Aquario flow v2 reducer is not providing enough flow for the tank.

 

[MMonis]

What sort of algae scraper. One with a metal edge should do the trick. I use the Tunze long magnet. It’s pricey, but has a great metal edge and is designed to stop bits of substrate to t between it and the glass if it falls in, thus avoiding scratching of the glass.

It doesnt have a metal edge but its more plasticky. Its not branded so the quality isn't great. The Tunze long magnet might be difficult to work with for me as the tank is against a wall. so its difficult to reach the back glass from the outer side. Will have to check for alternatives.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I also don't think its fert related as the BBA seems to be only in the path of the flow,

I have <"Ramshorn snails (Planorbela duryi)"> in all the tanks, and I think the only places where I ever get BBA are places <"where they can't graze">.

Have a look at <"BBA on high tech tank!">.

I'm a great believer in a picture being worth a thousand words, so here is my (Eric Thomas's really) "BBA and flow" picture. This would be soft, clean, warm water with low light and an immense amount of flow <"Repeat spawning of Dekeyseria picta L052 - Page 2 - PlanetCatfish.com">.

cheers Darrel