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Re: Green hell



>> Try scaping it off as best you can, then immeditely do a water
>> change(a big one!). Add a UV or better yet borrow a UV. Micro
>> filter the water etc. Treat like Green water. Try blackout for 3
>> days.
>> I think I saw what you have this week at a friends place. Crazy
>> stuff. We scraped some off the glass and about two hours later
>> it had already formed a nice film right where we scraped! 2
>> hours...We tested the water for NO3, CO2 etc. Nothing off line
>> really. Got me thinking and head scratching.
>> 
>> Is it a film? Slimy and semi soft?
> [some stuff snipped]
> - --------------------------
> Mine was a very fine film, a little slimy and soft.  It was NOT BGA.  When
> passing an algae magnet over it, a cloud of green _dust_ would float off.
> As Tom said, within hours it was back.  This tank was more than a year old
> at the time.  160 watts NO fluorescent, CO2 injected with cylinder/needle
> valve, heavily planted, plants all healthy, and tank stable to this point.

Well I did get a sample and will take a look tomorrow. It's bright green
filamentous, of that there's no doubt.
> 
> I treated it like green water:  Scrape, followed by water change, followed
> by micron filter overnight.  It was back in the morning.  Tried 4 day
> blackout.  It came back.

The fellow who's tank I saw had the same problem he said. He did not try
blackout. Do you have some green water blooms ever? Is your water on the
softer side (less than 5KH/GH)?

> Tried starving it by stopping water column
> fertilizers.  This only hurt the plants.

This method never seems to work very well.

> 
> One day I noticed when I removed the HOT Magnum from the front glass there
> was no algae where the filter was.  The glass was clear in the exact shape
> of the filter.  The clear pattern was also offset from where the filter was,
> like a shadow, that happened to align exactly with a large window adjacent
> to the tank.  It appeared to be caused by ambient room light from the large
> window.  Being spring time, with longer daylight hours, perhaps this was it.
> This despite 160 watts of light directly overhead?  Argh!  So now I think I
> know what triggers it, but what to do?  Suggesting to board up the windows
> didn't sit well with my wife :-)

The tank where this one was at was not anywhere near window light. He has it
in the basement on the north side......it grew all over the tank regardless
of the lighting pretty much.
BGA along the baseline below the gravel near ambient window light seems to
follow a pattern of growth in a number of tanks I've seen.

> 
> About that time there were discussions on the APD about actually dosing more
> water column fertilizer, perhaps double, to get rid of _some_ algae
> problems.  It seemed a bit counterintuitive to me but I was getting
> desperate.  I had been dealing with this for weeks, one change at a time,
> wait a week, blah..blah.  I don't believe I doubled my dose of Karl
> Schoeler's Natural Gold, but I increased it at least 50 percent.  I can't
> say for sure that this alone cured the problem but within two weeks the
> green film from hell was gone, and I have not seen it return, nor show in
> any other tank.

This method is still much better than the starving your plants method. It
has not done me wrong. You do need CO2 and good lighting and enough macro's
to add more traces...CO2 and the lighting are easy. Making sure enough
Macro's are there is the real part for myself behind keeping plants. I add a
slight excess of traces if these other items are watched.
Doesn't seem right at first but it works.
> 
> Obviously your mileage may vary.  I would still try the usual remedies
> first, treating it like green water.
> - ------------------------------
> [snip]
>> I think your bacterial
>> cycle got fried. It should equilibrate out after a week or two
>> so just attack it until things stablize. Bully it. Make it's
>> life hard. Bushy noses will make a slight dent in it.
> - -----------------------------
> I don't think it had anything to do with my bacterial cycle.  Eight
> Otocinclus couldn't keep up.  I'll read my journal tonight, if for nothing
> else to bring back old memories :)

Otto's can't touch this stuff. Grows too fast. If the tank's bacterial cycle
gets whacked, there's hell to pay. The NO3- 8ppm, PO4(a bit low for
me-0.2ppm), and the K in excess over 20ppm. The traces where in good
amounts. Lighting was fine and the CO2 was given an overhaul and a good
looking at. The incident was also accompanied by a CO2 dump that killed
everything in the tank(altering the cycle). After a good cleaning etc and
getting things back together the algae was able to creep in. Two other times
this happened in a new tank and an old tank that got a big upheaval. I'll
see how the tank is doing soon and see what happened. My bet is it
stabilized out after a break in period(3-4 weeks).  That seems to be the
pattern with this one anyhow. Combined with good nutrient levels and GW
treatments it should submit after 3-4 weeks. Perhaps the extra light etc
used up some nutrient(s) and allowed it to creep in. Or the extra CO2
allowed more growth that used up the nutrient(s). Seems that the fish load
may play a bigger role. That leads to the bacterial cycling. The tank's I've
seen had either a big influx of fish or a removal of fish even though the
ammonia etc reads zero. Do you have a light fish load?
Something that grows that fast is interesting to me. It's not particularly
common but does flair up from time to time. Why this one flaired up and not
Green water for instance, is an unanswered question. The set up is quite
similar to tanks I have or take care of.
Regards, 
Tom Barr 
> 
> Mike Grace