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Blue Green Algae and Diatoms?

Just to show everyone that if you keep at it and listen to the advice of other ....we will get there

progress report Clive

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1-5.jpg



3-3.jpg
 
Hi mfcphil

Wow, what an improvement.
Glad to see you stuck at it, and got there in the end.
Plants are looking so much better.
Now you can enjoy your tank instead of it giving you a headache :D
Well done :thumbup:
 
Yeah, nice one Phil! The swords are starting to dominate though. Make sure they don't become hooligans!

Cheers,
 
Well, keeping the tank trimmed and groomed is a good idea generally as it keeps flow paths open and is nicer to look at. Even the background stems could do with a bit of trimming, if for no other reason to get them bushier (you can re-plant the tops that you cut off as well, or discard the bottoms and replace them with the tops). If the tank has a tendency to get algae on the front lawn then trimming helps to preserve good flow to the substrate. It's up to you and how you want to mange the tank/scape, really.

Cheers,
 
I like the sound of that, as the only problem area now seems to be the front centre of the tank where I'm getting the algae on top of the soil!
 
Well my nice algae free tank lasted for about two week.....the bottom is now covered yet again in the dreaded stuff

about to call it a day totally pi$$ed off with it
 
Don't blow you cool mate. Clean the algae out and increase the KNO3 some more. Give your filter a good clean out as well.

Cheers,
 
Update

I have two Koralia number 2 (new type) on the back wall facing forward.
I have replaced the Eheim Pro 3 2080 with 2 Eheim Pro 3 2075's

All the hair algae that was on the leaves and Koralia's has vanished :p for now at least :clap:

BUT....I am starting to get the BGA at the front of the tank just under the substrate line.

I am dosing as follows


Tank 240l
Lights 8 hours per day
CO2 2hours before lights and off about an hour before they go off

500ml water....KH2PO4 30g KNO3 90g (same bottle)
50ml 3 times per week

500ml water....Trace 20g
25ml 3 times per week

Any further help with the BGA would be very welcomed....

I'm guessing you are going to say FLOW!
 
Yeah, either that or light. Did you up the lighting at some point? You could play around some more with the Koralia. Do the spraybars run the entire length of the tank now? Maybe a few more pics are in order....

Cheers,
 
update on BGA at the front in patches..here is a new photo, I would like to fix this before any new plants go in.

CO2 (5kg F/E) and Light times

CO2 - 9am until 9pm
Lights 2 sets of 2 x 39W
2x 39W 2pm – 11pm
2x 39W 4.30pm – 7.30pm


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close up of one of the patches

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Ok as you see I have added extra plants.

I'm still getting a line of the BGA at the very front of the tank which keeps coming back, it would appear that I have ample flow.

Should I disturb the soil to get at it? Is there anything I'm missing?


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Yeah, just push the sediment back and get in there with a sponge to clean it off. You do have a lot of light. Can you disable the front bulb for now? It also implies that there is ambient light hitting the front pane. You can try putting black tape across the bottom glass for a while to see if that helps. Flow ought to be good with two filters, and the KNO3 amount seems plenty.

Hang in there pal.

Cheers,
 
Thanks Clive....think I'm getting there, as it is now there is only one bulb at the front part of the lid and three at the back. I will give the black tape idea a go
 
Well I'm not sure which of the following done the job but all the BGA has gone and the BBA

Alterations

from 4 x 39w of lighting to 1 x 39w & 1 x 28w
added another UP Atomizer so the co2 is getting shared between both spray bars.
Placed the EasyCarbo into one of those spray bottles and when the tank was half empty during water changes I sprayed the visible wood with it....hey presto all the BBA has vanished
replaced the 2 spray bar with fluval ones

Guessing the success at the moment (crossed fingers touch wood) may have a bit to do with all the changes.
 
Yeah mate, I'm pretty sure all of these had an effect. Hopefully it's not too dim in there for you...

Cheers,
 
ceg4048 said:
Yeah mate, I'm pretty sure all of these had an effect. Hopefully it's not too dim in there for you...

Cheers,


I was actually wondering if I have went too far the other way....my tank is about 240L or 62 gallons, is my now 67 wats of light enough???

As is been over three weeks since I've seen any sign of algae (great for my tank !!!) not really sure if I should/need to change anything....I do have more 39w bulbs which I could re-swap the 28w bulb with, although these are shorter in length

28w = 4ft approx
39w= 3ft approx

Should I be happy with slower growth and no algae (up to now)
 
Hi mate,
Well you really don't need to change anything if you have growth. The dichotomy of an injected tank is all about deciding where biological imperatives end and where ornamental aesthetics begin. I've often implemented strategies in the tank that I knew was good for the tank...until I couldn't stand it anymore because it fell too far outside the boundary of my personal realm of aesthetics. Often the tank just needed to stabilize before it was able to absorb the change I would implement.

More importantly, there should be very little doubt now that excessive light is the root of all evil. Isn't it amazing how 1 WPG in this size tank is OK for these particular plant species and is detrimental to algae?

All the same, you can gingerly add a 28 W burst of energy, say an hour a day for a week, then for 2 hours over a similar period. Just work your way up and observe so that you can see where the trigger point is.

Cheers,
 
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