RE: [APD] BGA outbreak and Green Water

["Rick Engstrom" <rick703 at mts_net>]

-----Original Message-----
From: aquatic-plants-bounces+rick703=mts_net at actwin.com
[mailto:aquatic-plants-bounces+rick703=mts_net at actwin.com]On Behalf Of
Kurt Wiedenhoeft
Sent: Friday, June 04, 2004 9:30 AM
To: aquatic-plants at actwin_com
Subject: [APD] BGA outbreak and Green Water


I have been trying to tackle my algae problems for a few weeks now, and
I'm starting to get frustrated. I have been playing with the PMDD doses
and other things to try to get my tank going well, but the problems seem
to keep shifting. The one constant is that the water is very green. For
the last week I've been dealing with a lot of BGA.

For a couple of weeks I think I was overdosing the PMDD (50mls per day),
because my Nitrate, Phosphate and Iron readings were not really going
up. I've since figured out that the Nitrate test kit I was using (Red
Sea) seems to be garbage. And the Iron levels weren't testing out right
because I wasn't waiting long enough for the chelated iron to register.

My plant growth is very inconsistent. Some things, like Java ferns,
Nymphea lotus, the Ech. tenellus are doing really well (except now they
are covered in BGA), while others, like the Rotala macrandra,
Vallisneria, and the larger swords do not seem to be growing much at
all. Over the last few days I've noticed both kinds of Rotala, my Hygro
polysperma and even some Anubias have new growth that looks great. Most
of the old growth on these plants looks bad: algae covered, brown, and
just not healthy. Perhaps the lower PMDD level is helping them now. I
thought things were getting better, but the green water is just as bad
as ever.

What's much worse is that I can't seem to shake the BGA problem. I added
about 6 oz H2O2 per day in my 265 for four or five days in a row, which
didn't make it go away, but did keep it from spreading. Then I stopped
two days ago, and left the lights off yesterday while I was out of town.
Today the stuff has spread all over the place. I have it on plants
throughout the tank, even plants that seemed to be healthy a couple days
ago.

I am currently running a Diatom XL filter almost 24/7, with changes of
the media every two to three days. When I turn that off the green water
gets worse right away. I have also done three 30% water changes in the
last 10 days. I have diligently been vacuuming up the mulm/crap at the
bottom of the tank using my Diatom and a gravel vacuum.

The water conditions seem fine: Phosphate .1mg/l, Iron .2, Ammonia,
Nitrite  and Nitrate all at the lowest reading on the test kits. My KH
is 3.5, and the GH 7.5. I keep the pH at 6.8 with CO2, so based on my
Tetra test kit chart (I know, I know... it's almost worthless), my CO2
is around 20mg/l. As I mentioned before, lights are 3x 250watt 5500k
HQI.

My fish level seems reasonable, with about 75 neons, 20 otos, 4 clown
loaches, 4 apistos, 8-10 corys.

My wet/dry filter has about 30 liters of biomedia (Hydroton -- clay
hydroponic pellets). I can add about 20 more liters of that to my
filter. Temp is still 82-84. I have cut back the lights to about 9 hours
plus 1-2 hours of afternoon sun that filters in.

I'm starting to run out of ideas! I've even entertained the idea of
switching to African cichlids or something.

Thanks,

Kurt

we are going through a similar problem with the green water. I do have some
BBG which was getting out of hand however I diligently kept pruning all
plants that showed signs of this stuff and it seems to be under control. I
found a lot of that algae especially in areas that did not seem to get much
water flow, ie: I had a lot of rotala planted close together and there was
lots of the stuff on the stalks of the plants where obviously less water was
able to flow due to the denseness of the plants. As soon as I see a tuft of
this stuff , out comes the clippers and it's gone immediately. For my green
water I am also now using a Vortex XL, actually just hooked it up this
morning and the water is clearing already however like you, I expect the
green to come back when I stop filtering. I did major water changes in the
order of 75% which helped a lot and have stopped dosing all nutrients at
this time. Next step is a U.V unit.

Rick


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