Nice mod, how much is the philips kit? Thanks
Ah, nice hifi btw
Where did you get your flame red apistos from? I have been searching for them for a while since I lost this guy and now have a female that needs a friend...
I really like the backlighting effect btw
I pluck it... if you pinch a tuft an pull it usually comes away. You could try tweezers, but I just use my nails. Rocks can be scrubbed with a toothbrush or plucked, same with equipment. Or anything removable, take out and spray with liquid carbon. Substrate - scoop the surface off or push individually effected gravel/pieces down underneath. Plants - trim off the worst and pluck anything with just the odd piece. Spot treat anything left. It's time consuming but you can split it over a few sessions.
Just read through your thread.
Few other things you could try before a re-scape..
I love your hue back lighting, but does the timing of this addition, link in with the BBA, just wondering how much light leaks into the tank, is the algae managing to photosynthesis for 14 - 15 hours a day?
I don't think it does. The BBA was present sometime before the addition of the lighting and I've now set the hue lights to be a deep purple before and after the tank lights come on which is a more of a low moonlight effect.
Can you increase the flow? Do you still have the powehead? This will all help to win the battle against BBA. Have you tried moving the drop checker to next to the worst affected plants.
I do still have the power-head but struggled to find a good position for it where it didn't either look unsightly or batter the stem plants at the rear. I've drilled some extra holes in my pre-filter inlet which has increased the flow of the filter quite a bit over the last few weeks.
The drop checker used to live near the worst affected plants and was arguably a bit more yellow when positioned there.
Plant mass..
Can you increase the plant mass and therefore o2 levels in the water. Can you add any fast growing plants? This will help combat BBA. And /Or add floating plants. Once your winning the battle you can always rip them out.
I could, but I feel a have quite significant plant mass in my tanlk compared to most. There really isn't any areas in my tank that don't have any plants. Something I was to reduce on my next scape.
Have you tried a 3 day blackout? The plants and fish will survive, but it will give the algae a really hard time.
I haven't tried this. To be honest I hadn't considered it as from my limited research it seemed that the only way to remove BBA was manually or by killing it. Is this not true? Do you think a blackout will help? I remember seeing the first tuft of BBA on a small piece of bog wood about 3-4 months ago. I didn't know what it was but it didn't seem to grow or spread so I left it. I think I had a few weeks of poor co2 distribution before I changed to an inline diffuser which caused this to spread.
Can you cut your lighting period down to 4 hours and intensity right down, are you still at 8 hours?
I am still at 8 hours. I ramp from 0-100 over 30 minutes, from 100-70 over 7 hours and then from 70-0 over 30 minutes. I certainly could reduce this, but again, do you think it will help? I haven't seen much evidence of people winning the battle by reducing lighting periods.
Snails..
Probably harder to get rid of than BBA algae, I can send you 20 rams horn snails and they will breed like rabbits but will eat algae. But once you add them I doubt you will ever get rid.
I don't know much about them. Are they a nuisance? Do they like BBA?
Watch out with liquid glut, I tried dipping some algae covered plants in a 3:1 solution, it killed the algae but turned everything I dipped into mush. I'm sure there is a sweet spot over what is recommended where it will reduce Algae does but use with care. I don't believe low levels do anything to algae.
On initial use or after a major (> 40%) water change, use 1 capful (5 mL) for every 40 L (10 US gallons). Thereafter use 1 capful for every 200 L (50 US gallons) daily or every other day. For smaller dosing please note that each cap thread is approximately 1 mL.
Just watched the video (previous page) ...
What’s your present maintenance schedule?
I wonder if you just have more organic waste that’s contributing to the algae presence ... those are some pretty chunky fish (possibly the fattest cardinal I’ve ever seen )
What are you feeding? How much? How often?
If you aren’t including a “fast” day, try introducing this weekly - I tend to do this the day before maintenance
Increase water change frequency - this is always one of the most effective “algaecides”
Clean filter and tubing (I’m always putting this off for some excellent reason )
Trim and tidy tank, syphon areas that maybe you’ve not been cleaning all that well - carpets and moss can trap/build up surprising amounts of detritus
Make sure there’s no surface film that is limiting gas exchange (the Eheim skim 350 is brilliant at this)
Treat with an aquarium safe glutaraldehyde based liquid carbon - I use Seachem Excel (it’s also the product that FO used in his algae VLOG - he includes instructions) after a large water change
Recently I noticed some lovely BBA tufts on wood (and small amount on a few plants) - of course once I really started looking I found a surprising amount on the wood (hidden beneath an aggressive Bolbitis)
Seachem Excel Instructions
Mostly this just sits in the cupboard - I feel guilty subjecting shrimp and fish to daily doses - so I decided to try FO’s method ... well sort of
I did a large water change, cleaned filter etc, then syringed the Excel into areas where I saw the BBA - following the 5ml/37litre dosage level - I’d already refilled the tank and filter was back on albeit at a reduced flow rate (I just decrease filter flow rate during water changes ... back when I had altums, they seemed much more stressed during tank maintenance with filters completely off)
I meant to repeat water change + Excel the next day, but actually ended up doing the 3 treatments, every other day (or so )
Despite my lackadaisical approach, BBA mostly turned pinkish and reduced greatly
Week 2, I again dosed the 5ml/37litres just adding this to the water as not much left in BBA patches
Week 3, again dosed as above
Note, weeks 2 & 3, I only dosed Excel once per week as very little BBA visible
Excel has once again taken up its post in the cupboard