Question about Blue-green Algae?

M

Mooch28

AC Members
Dec 24, 2004
809
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Toronto (Brampton)
Ok,

So heres the next problem im dealing with now. My tank is growing this slimy blue-green algae on the gravel, and on the bottom front glass. Anyways, ive read up on it a bit and have discovered that excess nutrients or excess waste are often the main cause. Well, my plekos do poop a lot, and i mean a lot. Every time i do a water change i find a ton of pop all over my gravel within a few days.

Anways, without any further ado.........the question. Would a product such as NutraFin Waste Control, which breaks down organaic polution help? I figure it would probably decrease a lot of excess nutrients if used every water change according to instructions. Has anyone tried this and had success? Also if you have live plants, is a product such as this dangerous to the plants in any way?

For the record.........i do 40% water changes weekly and dont over feed, although i have been adding cucumber recently for my plekos and clowns and leaving it at the bottom for 2 days straight........
 
How big is your aquarium, what kind of filter are you using? Also, what are your water parameters?

BGA usually forms in response to low NO3 levels, as the bacteria can fix the nitrogen.

I wouldn't recommend any of those products, as you don't know what effect they might have on plants. After all, why waste money on products that might do the trick when water changes will do just fine?

First, I'd try to step up the water changes per week, especially if you say that you are finding a lot of wastes in the gravel, perhaps 25% every other day is not unusual.

Try a water change and get rid of as much BGA as you can, and then completely cover the tank so that no light will get in. Do this for 3 days in a row (3 day blackout). Immediately after this, most of the BGA should be dead, and you can do another large water change and suck out the rest of the (dying) BGA. Running an air pump during this time might also be a good idea, as the dying BGA might use up needed oxygen
 
FYI, while some BGA can and do fix N2 gas, the species that bug us do not.
BGA live on very small amounts of N, there's always ample supply without the need to fix N2 gas.

Once a blackout kills the BGA, you need to dose some KNO3 to the tank right after you start theb blackout and then after you return the tank to normal and then thereafter 2x a week at about 1/4 teaspoon per 25 gal of tank.

BGA means the plants are not getting enough NO3.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
Some other things to consider are lighting and water temp. The aquarium lights should be on no longer than 12 hours per day. And make sure the water temp is not too high (like over 82F).
 
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