Bga And Algae And What To Do Next In Tank

[rowdyates]

Apologies for this as I think it may be a bit long and rambly and possibly in the wrong forum, but I still consider myself a beginner and will for some time to come, but I hope you stick with it, I sort of thought the time had come to sort a couple of niggling things out in my tank, the first is the small incursion of BGA and secondly a bit of algae I've got. I'm currently treating the tank with a half dose of Maracyn, which seems to have stopped the build up of BGA although there are still a few bits about, this 5 day course ends tomorrow, so I'll see what happens then. I'd gone for the half dose as from what I'd read this should be enough without causing too much damage to the bacteria in the filter. So although this will get rid (hopefully) of whats there today, it doesn't address the root cause, equally I do get bits of algae, both on the glass which is ok as I want some Ottos, but also some strands on the plants which I'm guessing is hair algae and on some of the plants like a furry dark algae, both of which may not be an issue.

OK, my tank stats are as follows:

180 litres (40US gallons), been running since start of September, standard Juwel lights of 50W total, since cycling I've never detected either ammonia or nitrite and the nitrates vary from @ 5mg/l (after a water change) to @ 20 mg/l (this is as best I can tell from the test kit), PH is @ 8, KH is 4.5 and GH 11, current fish population is in my sig, plant list is 1 Amazon Sword, 2 Cryptocoryne Wendtii, 2 Sagittaria Natans, 1 Hydrilla Verticiliata,
1 Hygrophila Polysperma, 1 Elodea Densa Thick, 1 Red African Tiger Lotus, 1 Echinodorus Parviflorus, 1 Red stemmed plant (not sure what it is, but seems to grow ok) and 1 Cambomba , where I say 1 this is as bought from the shop i.e. either a bunch or single plant, from what I now know about plants and wpg, I think some of these are unsuitable, eg the Cambomba (this is probably supported by the fact that for this plant I have to continually replant it as the stems keep rotting) and the last statistic is from the PH and hardness readings I think my CO2 is low @ 1 - 2 ppm, read from table supplied with Tetra test kits.

Anyway, from what I've read on the subject I'm guessing my nitrate count could be the contributary factor in my algae (is this also the case for the
BGA) and also because the CO2 is low the plants are not growing as well as they could and therefore in the ensuing nutrient battle, the algae thrives.
I'm therefore not really sure what to do and need advice, I don't want to start something which will create other problems.

Do I need to get more CO2 in the tank, I've got one of the yeast CO2 ladder things, but would this be a waste of time as the the tank is to big, thereagain would extra CO2 be better than nothing, would the next problem then be the lighting, should I look to change some of the plants to those more suitable for the current conditions, could I use something like Flourish Excel which from what I've read soounds like an alternative to adding CO2, I'm just not sure what to do next, if anything maybe I need to wait until stocking levels are complete and see how it pans out, any advice greatly appreciated, as I would like to get the tank nice and balanced.

Cheers,

Keith

 

[Bloo]

You're definitely better off having this moved over to the planted section
(send a pm to one of the mods or gf225 and they'll do it for you)

btw. 180l = 47.5 US gallons (not 40 )

 

[blue_ram]

[snip]
I'm currently treating the tank with a half dose of Maracyn, which seems to have stopped the build up of BGA although there are still a few bits about, this 5 day course ends tomorrow, so I'll see what happens then. I'd gone for the half dose as from what I'd read this should be enough without causing too much damage to the bacteria in the filter.

You should never use half dose. All that does is create antibiotic resistant BGA. I highly recommend that you use the full dose, and continue the treat ment for another 5 days. Maracyn (not Maracyn 2) targets specific type of bacteria (either gram-negative or gram-positive, can't recall at the moment), and does not affect the nitrifying bacteria.

So although this will get rid (hopefully) of whats there today, it doesn't address the root cause, equally I do get bits of algae, both on the glass which is ok as I want some Ottos, but also some strands on the plants which I'm guessing is hair algae and on some of the plants like a furry dark algae, both of which may not be an issue.

Left alone, those furry dark algae and hair algae will overrun your tank. Oto won't eat the furry algae (brush algae) and the hair algae. Siamese Algae Eater supposedly eat both, but since I've never had them, I can't say for sure.

OK, my tank stats are as follows:
[snip]
Anyway, from what I've read on the subject I'm guessing my nitrate count could be the contributary factor in my algae (is this also the case for the
BGA) and also because the CO2 is low the plants are not growing as well as they could and therefore in the ensuing nutrient battle, the algae thrives.
I'm therefore not really sure what to do and need advice, I don't want to start something which will create other problems.

Before you do anything, there are couple of things you need to verify/upgrade:

1. Light:
   Of all the parameters above, light is the most important factor. Without proper lighting, all your plants will die regardless of the nutrient level. Your lighting is bit low for most of those plants. Cabomba needs 3 watts/gallon. Either upgrade to about 2 watts/gallon, or get low light plants.
   
2. CO2 level:
   You're CO2 level is too low (if it's accurate at all). My tank aquarium has CO2 leve of ~5ppm (late morning) and I don't use CO2 at all. Verify that your CO2 measurement is accurate. Check out Chuck's Planted Aquaria. His site has pretty good information on all that stuff.
   
3. Phosphate:
   Beside nitrate, and CO2, you also need to verify your phosphate level as well. This has couple of significance:
   • Too much phosphate will skew the CO2 measurement
     
   • Phosphate is another macro nutrient (like the nitrate) that plants require
     
   • Excess phosphate may encourage algae growth
     
   Read the Sears-Conlin's Paper on Fertilizer
   
4. Potassium
   From Sears-Conlin's experiment, it has no effect. It's also a macro nutrient that all plants need. Just don't over do it.
   
5. Filter:
   This may sound odd, but don't use power filter if you're going to use CO2 injection. Don't use air pumps either. Surface agitation lowers the CO2 concentration in the water column.
   

Do I need to get more CO2 in the tank, I've got one of the yeast CO2 ladder things, but would this be a waste of time as the the tank is to big, thereagain would extra CO2 be better than nothing, would the next problem then be the lighting, should I look to change some of the plants to those more suitable for the current conditions, could I use something like Flourish Excel which from what I've read soounds like an alternative to adding CO2, I'm just not sure what to do next, if anything maybe I need to wait until stocking levels are complete and see how it pans out, any advice greatly appreciated, as I would like to get the tank nice and balanced.

Cheers,

Keith

Verify your CO2 level first. You will also need to up the light intensity. If the CO2 level turns out to be accurate, then add CO2. Otherwise, additional CO2 is waste. Same for Seachem Excel, it's also a way too expensive for a long term solution.

My suggestion is to invest in a good measurement kit for nitrate and phosphate. I found titration based kH measurement kits are fairly accurate, so you don't have to spend big bucks on them. Don't know if Hach or LaMotte test kits are available there, but you need a laboratory grade test kits for plants. Try to keep nitrate-phosphate ratio to around 10:1. You can experiment with potassium levels, but good starting point would be 1:1 with nitrate.

Another option would be, to invest in a good UV sterilizer, and go with low light plants. Don't have to worry about CO2 (usually), less work to maintain, and MUCH cheaper to maintain.

 

[rowdyates]

Thanks blue ram,

Checked out the sites you mentioned, according to Chuck's planted aquaria and the readings I have, this verifys my low CO2 content. Also as bloozoo pointed out I'm actually 47 us gals, so I'm just 1wpg. I'll look into a phosphate test kit and see what that gives, I've looked at one of the interpet compact T5 lighting units, this will give me another 55 watts which will bring me up to 2 wpg, so I think I may go for that, it's something I've thought of before but being new, one step at a time. Then maybe I should look to use the co2 unit I've got, although for the size of tank I think I need 2, but I guess 1 would be better than none. I've also move the output from my filter so it creates less surface agitation, I'll see if any readings change as a result.

I've ordered some more Maracyn, so I'll stop adding until that arrives, I may run out otherwise.

Cheers,

Keith