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persistant BGA

P

paul.stopher

Member
Joined
12 May 2009
Messages
25
Location
Surrey UK
Have been running the tank for over 2 years and have developed a persistant BGA problem.
I have tried blacking out the tank twice in 4 weeks. Removing as much before hand as possible. 50% water change. 4 days blackout then another 50% water change but it still starts to return after 3 or 4 days. Filters are well maintained.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Pulling my hair out trying to get rid of it.
Tank- Rio 400 (350l)
Filtration- Juwel internal no carbon and Rena Filstar XP3
Water- 50-50 RO, tap ph 6.8 gh 4-5
Lighting- 2x36w T8 8hrs a day
CO2- DIY changed every 2wks. Drop checker showing Yellow in the morning and green by lights out.
Substrate- Tropica plant sub topped with sand

Macro Solution-33g Potassium Nitrate 7.2g Potassium Phosphate
250ml Water
Trace Solution-10gChelated Trace Element
250mlWater

Dosing- Sun 25% water change.
Sun tues thurs Macro 20ml.
Mon Wed Fri Trace 10ml

Paul.
 
Hi Paul,
Sorry to hear about the algae problem. I had the same problem in an old juerl vision 450 I had. What I notice then is you said your drop checker is yellow when lights come on and green when lights off? If that's right then surely that means there's a problem with your co2 if it's increasing before lights on and decreasing during? Lol

Anyway, the problem I found with the I internal filters, is that a thin film of bga managed to harbour itself behind the sides of the filter, unknown to me at the time. Every week id clean it up and sure as anything it would be there again after a few days, mainly around in filter area. Eventually read somewhere that algae thrived off of the detrious that got caught behind the box. So, as I was upgrading to two external filters I pulled it out and true to there word it was covered In the stuff. I cleaned it away and once flow was sorted it never came back. I'm not saying to pull yours out but this could be a cause. How do you have your flow from the rena set up?
 
The rena is set up at the other end of the tank with a spray bar. The stuff is not actualy round the filter. Every where else gets covered!! Big tank lots of cleaning and removal of plants going on at the mo.
 
Is the spray bar on the back wall? The only problem with trying to add another filter is that with the internal, the way the output is it is hard to get circular flow around the tank. I find the venture attachment helps lots but with the air tap turned off. Flow runs along the back then and around the front.
Have you had a look at james planted tank algae guide? It's worth googling it if not
 
The only way i have found to get rid of bga is to do a black out and i mean black no ligt at all must get in i black out for a full 2 weeks when i do one this seems to work your plants will just about survive but the bga will not. do you get any direct sunlight on the tank this could be a cotributing factor check out a site called james planted tanks he has written a good peice about differant form`s of alge and how to get rid. hope you solve it bud :thumbup:
 
Hi all. I have looked at your fert dosing and checked the amount of nitrate that is being added. You are only adding around 4ppm per dose. BGA is normally bought on by low nitrates. I would be adding at least twice as much as what you are now. Try 8-10ppm per dose.
 
There are a few options to try:

Increase nitrate if that's too low.
Suck the BGA with a hose at WC and sprinkle Bacter 100 - based on the ADA suggestion.
Spot dosage Easy Carbo to the infected areas. In one hour the BGA will disappear. (just stop the filter for a few minutes)
 
Pipet or syringe work well
Just turn off your filter/power head
Load pipet/ syringe with your daily dose
Gently squirt infected areas
Leave 5-10 mins
Turn filter/power heads back on
Job done
Matt


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Thanks for the suggestions will double the nitrate and get my hands on some easy carb. As the blackouts don't seem to be working.
Will let you know how I get on.
Cheers
Paul.
 
KNO3 dosing after will cure it.

BO just gets rid of what's there, it does not address the underlying cause which is not growing the plants as well as you should/could.

Another issue is that DIY CO2.......I'd use 2 smaller bottles and change one of them each week, that way you have a more consistent flow of CO2. This is key to any nutrient issue.

Gas tank should be considered later.
 
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