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New member

RoryM

New Member
Joined
9 Apr 2020
Messages
4
Location
Harrogate
Hi All,

Thanks for the add, I'm here because I want to up my planted tank game. I have kept tanks for the last 15 years or so and my current project is a Roma 240, there's 5 tanks in the house in total but one houses my Wife's Axolotl so that doesn't count right?

The Roma has been set up around 4 months, has a 406 on it which was already a mature filter from the previous 150L tank. Plant 3.0 59W and the standard LED unit so about 6000 lumens in total. I think the 406 in probably not sufficient for a heavily planted tank. It runs CO2 at about 25-30 ppm according to the drop checker. Eheim 350 skimmer as well.
The tank seems to be starting to get established but I am still battling with Algae at times and now Cyanobacteria in spots.
 
Hi @RoryM

Welcome to UKAPS!

Cyanobacteria is a tricky one - to say the least. I have read extensively about this stuff and experimented with methods to eradicate it. I'm sure many people here on UKAPS - myself included - will be interested to read about your progress.

JPC :happy:
 
Hi @RoryM

Welcome to UKAPS!

Cyanobacteria is a tricky one - to say the least. I have read extensively about this stuff and experimented with methods to eradicate it. I'm sure many people here on UKAPS - myself included - will be interested to read about your progress.

JPC :happy:
So the cyanobactetia got worse, made its way onto a lot of plants. After seeing it get worse for a week or so I decided to spend hours removing it from the tank manually as best I could. I got pretty ruthless with the plants in the worst cases the hair grass got a lockdown cut and the tank looked a bit bare. The next day of course it was back although more spotty than blanketing plants, it wasn't as bad but was slowly creeping.
I gave it another 4 days and the plants were not looking great, so I decided to start with BlueExit.
I have upped the lighting and the CO2 (I noticed the drop checker turning blue towards the end of the light period), and continuted with the EI dosing. I blocked off one of the filter outlets and removed the narrow, directional section of the other to create one wide outlet that creates more directional flow without turning it into a whirlpool. At the same time my skimmer was moved to the opposite end front side to enhance the circular flow. The extra lights I added were a twin set of TMC grobeam 600 ultra so now I have three different light sets, totalling around 8200 lumens, not sure about PAR.
I'm now 3 days in with the BlueExit, the cyanobacteria has darkened in colour a lot, its peeling off some some of the plants now and today the plants were back to pearling and steaming off bubbles.
The tank feels like a complete mess to me now but today seemed to get moving in the right direction.
 
Hi @RoryM
I decided to start with BlueExit.

There is good reason to think that BlueExit should help to suppress cyanobacteria. But, eliminating cyanobacteria is the challenge that I've taken on. If you're interested, please take a look at:

https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/cyanobacteria-identification-at-last.60496/

BTW, I suspect that increased intensity lighting will result in increased growth of the cyanobacteria. But, who knows? You may prove me wrong. I have no problem with that. Just want to explore all avenues to see if it's possible to stop this stuff in its tracks. I'm under no illusion. Cyanobacteria has been present on earth for about three billion years and, apparently, is what first produced oxygen in the air that we breathe!

JPC
 
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