can't get rid of this algea, help - pic attached

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falcon

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Dec 16, 2003
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My tank just went through a blackout, about a week ago. So the plants are in a rough shape. Here are the specs
65g 36x18x24
ph 6.2
kH 3
gH 5
50% w/c once a week(50/50 tap to r/o), pressurised co2, 2x96w pc lights 6700k
fertilize macros 4x/week (4.5g KNO3+1.5ml enema , 3 x 3.5g KNO3+0.75ml enema)
micros 3x/week (15ml, 2x 10ml traces) - traces from www.hyproponics.com diluted in 300ml r/o water.

Can't get rid of the patchy algea on the glass. They really stick to the glass and the driftwood. My 20g is covered with it. Don't know, it seems all my tanks have some, but it appears that the ones with high light intensity have in on the glass. Is there a light at the end of the tunnel?

The picture is not great to show it, but you can see it right buttom and the back. If needed, will try to post the 20g.

Thanks.

f_resize.JPG
 
Looks like BBA to me but I think a better, close-up pic would help.

Silly me, if it is in fact BBA, I upped my C02 to get rid of it.

I've also heard good things about overdosing Excel.
 
Last edited:
Yup, try some Flourish Excel...no need to O.D. it though, just use it as directed. Nice Altum, btw.
 
Ok, here is a better pic on my 20g. This is just ridiculous. I have tried excel on the 20g - I was dosing 4ml everyday for about two weeks and next to nothing results. All my tanks seem to have it. The 120g has the least but it has it on the rocks,which looks ok, and some on the gravel. The 65g, I had a major algea outbreak that was on for about 3 months. Now, seems to be getting better but I have algea on the glass, wood, and gravel.

What's the remedy - I am getting real tired of this algea.

algae photo
 
Yeeks that looks pretty bad. I think in this situation I would remove and bleach dip all affected wood. Turn off filters and scrape every trace off the glass and syphon it out. Get out as much as you can and a large water change afterwards. It's kind of odd because your CO2 level is fairly high and that's suppossed to halt the BBAs progress. This kind of tells me that something else is out of balance in your tank.

Also if it helps, I had a small patch of BBA on some driftwood so I spot treated it with Excel and it worked a charm. I used a 5ml syringe and squirted it on affected areas.
 
Add more CO2, add it slowly more and more till the BBA stops growing.
Once that is reached, then you can take out any wood, plant leaves etc and prune them off, or else bleach non live material/equipment to kill the algae that's there.

Then keep a good eye on the CO2 level, make sure it's high all the time the light is on, so measure at the end and beginning of the day for pH, then determine the CO2.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
I am just curious why does the carbon in excel kill algae, I have just started to does it in my tanks and my plants are doing better but the algae is still there no biggie need to feed my plec he is a happy fellow but hides a lot.
 
If the algae stays persistant in all three tanks, it tells me that it is being transfered by something, perhaps like a vac hose or algae scraper. After you have done the above steps to eradicate the algae, do a bleach dip followed by a good rinse of course on anything that gets transfered from one tank to another and continue to do so until the accursed algae disapears.
 
I think I goofed up on my explanations. That last photo with lots of BBA on the glass is from a 20g with DIY co2. I admit, in the past 6 months or so I haven't been on top of co2 production. Now, I started looking after that more. This 20g tank has a 65w single tube pc light 6700k.

The other tanks, there I have pressurized co2. In the 65g that I started getting some BBA on the glass after the blackout, I have increased the co2 a bit a couple of days ago. Will see what happens. In the meantime, will slowly try to srape it off the glass and see if it comes back. The 65g and 120g that have a pressurized co2 are on controllers, so the co2 levels are pretty stable.

Am I reading this correctly, BBA as shown in the picture will appear if the co2 levels are low compared to other aspects(lights, nutrition)?
 
Yes, add more CO2.

Once you allow the CO2 to drop, then the algae will grow.
If you maintain low CO2, the algae will grow more.
Just trim it off of scrub off etc.

If the CO2 is good, the plants will rapidly grow back.

Regards,
Tom Barr

www.BarrReport.com
 
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