Thank you Maq,
I don't see how purigen will resolve your BGA problem. In my exprience to combat BGA you have several venues. You can increase NO3, reduce temperature or go all the way with antibiotics. The later one is a last recourse. There are some commercial products like Chemiclean.
Good morning,
It is possible that potassium permanganate will kill BGA although I doubt it will eradicated it entirely from the tank unless you dose heavily which would be a very bad idea in a planted/fish tank.
You will reduce organics by being on top of your maintenance, such as changing water every week, lightly vaccum cleaning your substrate and also rinsing your filter media regularly (maybe every month). Potassium permanganate is a strong oxidiser and you will kill all your beneficial bacteria as well as potentially your fish, shrimps and anything in between depending how much you add. Also, your water will turn purple, then brown. Not a great idea. I know this is used in some fish ponds to treat certain parasites but I wouldn't recommend using potassium permanganate for the purpose of removing BGA.
I am at 10 ppm of no3 and 1 ppm of po4. I can go up to 25ppm of no3? I have in my possession calcium nitrate and magnesium nitrate and potassium nitrate. despite water changes osmosis I have a GH of 15. I feel like the JBL manado buffers my GH.@kobain72 , I agree with @Hanuman . Purigen, as well as any action aimed at decreasing dissolved organics in the water is a good thing, a.o. for preventing algae. But it's effect on cyanobacteria would be probably very meager.
Strong oxidizing agent (hydrogen peroxide is perhaps 'purer' than potassium permanganate) works very well when applied locally against small cyanobacterial colonies on sand. If cyanos already infested the whole tank, don't do that! I've tried (and perhaps many others). Before you erase cyanos, you make too much damage, essentially you destroy the tank.
More promising ways: Change the composition of your water substantially, esp. nitrogen and / or phosphorus. Also, you can vacuum as much cyano as possible and then cover your tank in complete darkness for three to four days. Then vacuum the rest.
These methods sometimes work. Truth is, cyanos are formidable enemies. Good luck!
Vaccum as much BGA as you can. Then you can start by increasing your NO3 up to 20ppm and PO4 up to 3ppm see what happens. If you can decrease the temperature of your tank do that as well. BGA thrives at higher temperatures. You can aim for 25-27C. Every year I have BGA episodes in my main tank that start during heat waves. I can avoid it.
Not sure I understand here. RO water should basically be deprived of any hardness. Are you remineralising your water? If not then something is leaching in your tank. Perhaps you have some stone like Seiryu stone? JBL Manao is a active substrate although I am not sure if decreases PH. I have no experience with that soil in particular, but if that soil buffers PH and you have Seiryu stone, you are basically exhausting the substrate buffering capacity very fast.
I would like to lower it to 3 or 4 dGH but impossible, it does not drop. When I had filled my tank I had put the water from my well it is calcareous
In the past, I have treated small but very stubborn local colonies on top of the substrate by spraying tiny amounts of Hydrogen Peroxide (3%) using a syringe and that definitely kills the BGA. I would switch off filters and let the water calm down before I would apply the Peroxide, put a small bowl or something appropriate to cover the area to prevent lifestock from getting too exposed, and let it work for a minute or so before switching the filter back on, wait a little longer before removing the cover. I can only recommend this for spot treatment.
Interesting. I think I’ve had it only once in probably 20 years, and never in a new tank. This is what makes the hobby so interesting - so many variables to try to account for that provides So many different experiences.
Holy smokes! That’s a lot of BGA… The tank is totally off balance. I would seriously consider doing a hard reset - as in completely redoing itt from scratch or at least a super massive cleanup… In any event, I’ve never had to face this level of calamity so my advice may not be the greatest .
I agree. Well, you can certainly get BGA at any stage in a tanks life… I just never had to struggle with it in older tanks as much. In my plant less or near plant less cichlid tanks back in the old day I would always have a bit here and there on rocks and gravel.
It is.
@kobain72, this may seem a bit of a strange question, but what other filter media do you have in your filter?
Good morning,
