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Re: BGA
f wrote:
> I do not want to use chemicals to kill BGA but I thought that
> would be the only way to kill it for good without ripping apart the
> whole tank. I was under the impression that even if the underlying
> causes have been solved that the BGA won't just dissapear on its
> own without killing it. I thought it just gets increasingly worse until
> it chokes off everything in the tank.
I like to rip apart tanks, especially ones that have algae problems:)
You likely could have saved more time and money etc by doing a big old
cleaning/pruning.
>
> I use the alkaline buffer to raise the KH of the water but since
> this raises PH I use the acid buffer to lower the PH back down to
> 6.8.
Ahhh! Use CO2 to do this if you have plants! Do Not use acid buffer!
Baking soda will add KH if you want to keep using RO. It's a bit cheaper:)
>I know their are other ways to raise KH but I thought alkaline
> buffer was a safe way to do so. I know my tapwater on Long Island
> is pretty good(I got reports from the water company) but I am using
> RO water because I wanted to present my fish with the best
> posssible enviroment possible.
A good cleaning & healthy plants will do that all on it's own. You have good
intent - but it is not going to help your fish very much for all the effort
you'll be putting into it over the course of time. Very little bang for what
you get out of it.
>
> I am not trying to make my tank unstable but I am frustrated with
> the BGA and at one point it got so bad that I thought it was going
> to kill off everything.
I feel and remember that kind of pain. We all have had it at one point. If
not, your going to have it:)
>it was getting increasingly worse on a daily
> basis and killing it was my only option because of the speed at
> which it spreads. Watching all my hard work and effort go rapidly
> down the tubes is a very unsettling sight to watch. I was very
> hesitant to use potassium permanganate but I felt it was my only
> option.
It's not:)
> I value the opinion of many on this list so if their are better
> methods to my madness I will gladly listen. I just want to rid my
> tank of BGA for good and get on with the growing plants part. I
> don't feel the BGA is going to go away without adding chemicals to
> kill it because manualy removing it will always leave slight traces
> behind which I feel will cause another explosion shortly down the
> road.
IME, a good old pruning, trimming cleaning will do wonders for most algae.
This seems to be the last things folks seem to consider or do.
Attack it with the best of tools, your fingers and hands. Clean out your
filters good. Remove any mulm laying around with your gravel vac. Remove,
trim back any floater plants or areas of stagnation. Try more water changes
than once every two weeks with tap water, you'll find tap much easier to do
water changes with.
This is also a good opportunity to bring all your nutrients back up to
snuff. CO2, light getting to all the plants, clean mechanical filter, add
traces and macro nutrients. This should be easy since you can just add to
the make up water to get a known concentration of a needed nutrient if you
do regular large water changes. I do 50% weeklys mostly.
If it's growing on the gravel etc try adding cory's. They stir it up so it
doesn't get much of chance to hold down. Stop using the acid buffer and add
some fish! I think you likely don't have many fish in there right now? If
not, add some.
If you see some in the future don't freak out just do a good clean, add the
fertilizers back, check CO2 etc and you will be fine. After about the 3rd
week of doing this, most algae issues submit.
I recall a complete blackout (3-4 days) took care of some cyano for couple
of folks.
Regards,
Tom Barr