mellowvision
Seafood Lover
I wouldn't just stir it with a filter running, I would use the intake of the filter attached to a rigid tube or vac attachment to do the stirring, and would spend time keeping the mulm from spreading around.
Should I just re-do my entire substrate?
- Thread starter A. Nonymous
- Start date
As suggested above, alternative non-chemical method you can try:
4-5 day blackout - Clean tank, gravel vac (do not stir), waterchange and then wrap tank in a blanket and leave it like that for 4-5 days. After that, clean tank and waterchange again. Cross your fingers it doesn't came back.
Frankly, I've been where you have been with cyanobacteria/Blue-green Algae. I've tried, cleaning the substrate, heavy water changes, reduction of photoperiod, blackouts, etc. Even though the bacteria/algae went away it eventually came back within a few weeks. After a year long battle, I went and bought Mardel Maracyn and never looked back.
If you truly want to get rid of it, you need to use erythromycin for a week. I did it with my fish in the aquarium and never had a problem.
-John N.
4-5 day blackout - Clean tank, gravel vac (do not stir), waterchange and then wrap tank in a blanket and leave it like that for 4-5 days. After that, clean tank and waterchange again. Cross your fingers it doesn't came back.
Frankly, I've been where you have been with cyanobacteria/Blue-green Algae. I've tried, cleaning the substrate, heavy water changes, reduction of photoperiod, blackouts, etc. Even though the bacteria/algae went away it eventually came back within a few weeks. After a year long battle, I went and bought Mardel Maracyn and never looked back.
If you truly want to get rid of it, you need to use erythromycin for a week. I did it with my fish in the aquarium and never had a problem.
-John N.
Ok. This is my tank before I re-did it last time. As you can see, the algae was growing insanely fast in the tank. This was before I added pressurized CO2 (you can see my DIY CO2 off to the side). I was told at the time that pressurized CO2 was what I needed and that I should replace the substrate with Turface (instead of the standard pea-sized aquarium gravel). This is what it looked like before I tore everything up.
Since I tore it up, I moved the large piece of driftwood to the left side of the tank thinking that it was blocking my filter intake (which is on the back right). This is a picture before I did that. I can't find any pics of the tank after I moved the driftwood. This is the tank in happier days after putting Turface down.
This is what I planted and hoped would become my lawn. It died.
The filter intake is on the right still and the spray bar on the left. I think I have huge dead areas along the entire front and back of the tank though. Does anyone else agree with this assessment?
Since I tore it up, I moved the large piece of driftwood to the left side of the tank thinking that it was blocking my filter intake (which is on the back right). This is a picture before I did that. I can't find any pics of the tank after I moved the driftwood. This is the tank in happier days after putting Turface down.
This is what I planted and hoped would become my lawn. It died.
The filter intake is on the right still and the spray bar on the left. I think I have huge dead areas along the entire front and back of the tank though. Does anyone else agree with this assessment?
bga is usually induced by your nitrates bottoming out... flow shouldnt have caused bga in my opinion.
Flow will help your plants out in the future though and it IS a good idea to get rid of dead spots in the tank as it can lead to different types of algae (not bga)
once bga infests a tank you can
A) battle it with waterchanges and raising nitrates and hoping it dies back
i would think that even though naked to the eye bga would still be present in the tank and waiting for an opportune moment to grow like mad which is exactly what you have given it... Clean Water with very low nitrates which is what typically induces it
B) gravel vac Do a 4-5 day blackout and hope it kills it/gravel vac the waste... then start dosing nitrates after its gone to prevent it from growing
again the same worries as above
C) gravel vac and manually remove as much as possible then hit it with the blackout and EM to KILL ALL of the bga in your tank
Then keep nitrates up and know they wont come back unless you introduce them into your aquarium yourself
KNOW ITS GONE FOR GOOD THIS WAY UNLESS YOU GOOF UP SOMEWHERE ALONG THE LINES
Flow will help your plants out in the future though and it IS a good idea to get rid of dead spots in the tank as it can lead to different types of algae (not bga)
once bga infests a tank you can
A) battle it with waterchanges and raising nitrates and hoping it dies back
i would think that even though naked to the eye bga would still be present in the tank and waiting for an opportune moment to grow like mad which is exactly what you have given it... Clean Water with very low nitrates which is what typically induces it
B) gravel vac Do a 4-5 day blackout and hope it kills it/gravel vac the waste... then start dosing nitrates after its gone to prevent it from growing
again the same worries as above
C) gravel vac and manually remove as much as possible then hit it with the blackout and EM to KILL ALL of the bga in your tank
Then keep nitrates up and know they wont come back unless you introduce them into your aquarium yourself
KNOW ITS GONE FOR GOOD THIS WAY UNLESS YOU GOOF UP SOMEWHERE ALONG THE LINES
it should tell you right there to keep your nitrates up. i get bga EVERY TIME my tanks hit about 5ppm no3. they get a pinch of kno3 and it's gone the next day. i don't let it get out of hand though. if it's all over you may want to do something else but keep them nitrates up definitely.
