Too Simazine or not to Simazine

[felix11]

I have a fairly persistant beard algae situation.... When I do water changes I scrape the back glass as well as clean mechanical pieces as well as a few of my rocks ( usually a weak bleach bath ) that do not have plants attached. The folks at my LFS say it is not due to water quality, It is a 30gal tank, with 96 watts of light, and a small CO2 sytem that uses sugar and yeast ( though not very consistent over time )... my light cyle has been reduced to 9 hrs. I have not been able to arrest the growth of this alagea..

I have read about Simazine, but nothing very conclusive for or against it. Has anyone had success with arradicating this Algae???

Thanks

 

[plantbrain]

The folks at my LFS say it is not due to water quality,

And they would very wrong as well as merely guessing(and a bad guess at that).

It is a 30gal tank, with 96 watts of light, and a small CO2 sytem that uses sugar and yeast ( though not very consistent over time )... my light cyle has been reduced to 9 hrs. I have not been able to arrest the growth of this alagea..

You just said the reason why you have the algae in the first place in this section..........

I have read about Simazine, but nothing very conclusive for or against it. Has anyone had success with arradicating this Algae???

No.

The reason why you have BBA(Black brush algae), is not because of a lack of an algicide...........think about that for a little while.................

It is because you have poor inconsistent CO2 levels.
If you want tio get rid of BBA, add enough CO2 to allowe the plants to grow.
If you see BBA, that means you do not have enough CO2.

It's no other nutrient.
DIY folks have a harder time maintaining their CO2.

So keep changing the brew often, use an efficent reactor/diffuser.
Add lots during the day, you do not need to add CO2 at night.

Regards,
Tom Barr

www.BarrReport.com



Thanks[/QUOTE]

 

[Jay]

With 3wpg you have the uptake/ photosynthesis engine revved up pretty well, are you heavily planted? BBA, IME almost always follows a decline or imbalance in PO4, CO2 or both. With a DIY CO2 I would look there to see if your levels remain consistent during the entire photo period and that your NO3 and PO4 are acceptable for that much light.

That said… I would advise against simonize, it is capable of killing everything in your tank. I think your options here are to make sure your nutrient levels are solid first, then start on a pruning preening campaign to rid you tank of as much bba as you can. If you have let it get out of control, then a bleach dip 19:1 is a last resort. Then prune and preen for the next two weeks, pour on the CO2, and monitor your nutrients.

 

[felix11]

Thanks for the input!

 

[djlen]

Now go back and read Tom Barr's post again.
Make up another bottle of DIY CO2 every 5 - 7 days and replace the old one before it starts to weaken. This should keep your CO2 levels more consistent, which is the key to the problem.
Initially, if you pick up some Seachem's Excel and dose according to instructions, it will give you a head start and help to get the BBA under control quicker, but good CO2 levels, a clean tank and growing plants will keep it under control over the long haul.

Len

 

[felix11]

If I am to shut off the CO2 during the night so it is not wasted, can I simply put a clamp on the hose before it reaches the tank or would this create to much pressure when the clamp is released, therefore causing a large CO2 spike to enter the water when the lights are coming back on?

As well, the CO2 unit i have is one of those black store bought barrels that has a ladder type unit that goes in the tank that helps with the slow rise and dissolve of the CO2. You can by these 2 small packets of stabilizer and activator from the LFS to ad to the white sugar. They are not that cheap, and if I am going to have to do more to keep the flow consistent, what is the best type of yeast to buy in bulk and what is the stabilizer, baking soda?

Also with this new approach, which I am into persuing, will the algae slowly just start to dissapear or should I be doing fairly aggressive pruning to the plant leaves that are most covered ( the glass and rocks are already kept pretty clean as I scrub them with every water change.

Thanks

 

[tanker]

If you put a clamp on DIY CO2 at night the bottle may explode.

I had beard algae late last year/early this year (because ran out of CO2). I did everything (black-out, LOTS of water chages, fet more/less) nothing worked.

Simizine works but killed/stunted almost all plants. I started over (completely).

 

[midiamin]

I always believe in not treating with any artificial chems. bad business in a natural aquarium. Stay with the natural remedies and stay on aquariacentral, plants. Ya got the folks who know what they are talking about even though they don't always agree.

thePlantMan cometh...............

 

[Blueiz]

Just get you a siamese algae eater, also known as a flying fox. These are the only algae eaters known to specifically eat this algae, other s will not touch the stuff. I know how you feel with it growing all over. It looks nice here and there, but when it starts to take over, thats when it becomes ugly. The same things that fertilize your plants make this stuff grow. Once introduced, you can never fully irradicate it, it is extremely stubborn, almost as bad as snails. I promise if you get about 3 of the siamese algae eaters scientific name Crossocheilus siamensis, they will take care of your problem in just a couple of weeks, they did mine.