Algae Bloom II (Cont'd)

G

ggrowney

AC Members
Apr 8, 2006
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I had posted earlier about algae bloom. I amdoing 50% water changes 2 x a week and I planted the tank (12g) with 6 plants all based on great recommendations from board members.

I still have to use test strips since my liquid tests are being shipped (hopefully). I notice very little nitrite if any and that is about it. I have no ammonia test.

I still have algae just going wild and my water is quite cloudy. Should I just be patient? Am I doing something wrong?
 
Nitrates and Nitrites

I decided to test since I made this post. I changed 50% of water on Wed. It is Friday noon and I have 20 for a nitrate reading and 1.0 for nitrites. This is higher than they have ever been. Should I be worried. Is this normal in establishing a cycle? Also, could this be related to using some plant fertilizer yesterday. Should I not use the fertilizer?
 
i go filterless and when i first setup my tanks i let them algea bloom and keep them with the green water for about a month and a half with lights on 24/7. then after that i do a 50% water change and switch the lights to 12 hours a day and then do another 50% water change 2 days later and problem solved.

i usually dont get another bloom after that, tanks do have plants in them though.

and the water should be dechlorinated and aged for the 50% water changes.

but if your running a filter i recommend purigen and polyfilters. they are great for pulling out excess nutrients and dont really inhibit plant growth.
 
the nitrite would be elevated in a cycle but nitrate is high, skip the fertilizer untill all algea is gone from the tank for atleast a month then only use a tiny amount of fertilizer slowly increasing the amount used.
 
Dechlorinate and age

Thank you. What is meant by dechlorinate AND age water? I put dechlorinator in, but I have never heard of ageing the water. Is it a significant issue?
 
aging water is when you let it sit around for a few days, aging isnt extremely significant but ive noticed doing it does help control algea and in the care of delicate fish/plants and dechlorinating is just getting the chlorine out of tap water either by aerating the water aggresively for 24hrs or by adding dechlorinator.
 
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