My 45 gal tank also has a blue green algae plague. It has been having problems for a while. The algae is sticking to leaves like BG and also is breaking off and clouding the water green with particles. I have been changing water and removing any decaying material in an attempt reduce the level of phosphates (unfortunately I do not have a phosphate test kit). The algae just grows back, but even when left alone for a week or more does not form blankets and it doesn’t give off the BG aroma. I would ideally like to beat it using the PMDD principals. I have been testing for nitrates and getting lowish readings (less than 2ppm: using hach). I felt I was already putting in a ridiculous amount of PMDD (see below). But followed the test kit and added more nitrates (with extra K). So far after 3 days of extra NO3 the algae is still growing steadily.
Mg - 4 Teaspoons
trace (Microplex) - 1 Teaspoons ; iron tested 0.07ppm
NO3 - 8 Teaspoons; tested 2ppm
K2SO4 - 8 Teaspoons
in 500ml , dosing 9ml a day.
45 Gallon tank.
90% plant covered.
DIY CO2 - plants pearl
2.5 watts per gallon.
According to my calculations the amount of nutrients in the tank should be enormous (if I didn’t use hach I would simply assume the test kit was wrong). I am assuming that the PMDD ingredients weigh the following (per teaspoon) : NO3 - 8.8g; Microplex - 3.9g; K2SO4 - 21.8g; MgSO4 7H2O - 8.3g.
Anyone have any idea what is going on here?, does anyone else use this much PMDD?.