Finally Started My Black Out Today :(

[Curiosity101]

I've literally tried everything to get rid of this blue green algae.

I've tried low nitrates, I've tried regularly fertilising, I've tried removing as much as possible during water changes and I've tried burying it (doesn't work cause it's a bacteria with cilia!).
I tried lowering the photoperiod to 6 hours...and now I've finally given in.

Just wrapped my fish up for 3 days of pitch blackness...

A lesson to you all, do NOT buy duckweed. It's a symbiont of Blue Green Algae (cynobacteria), so it only takes one of them to die to release the bacteria into your tank.
I didn't have a single problem till I introduced duckweed in the tank...

Nevermind eh. Hope my fishies don't mind too much, and I really hope my plants don't suffer.

 

[Lucky5tar5]

That seriously sucks. I reckon you'll crack it with the black out though. The fish'll be fine. Much like a teenager on summer holiday, they'll probably be pretty dormant the whole time. And I bet they'll look like completely different fish when you unwrap them. All pale and strange... Best of luck with it! =)

 

[Truck]

The plants will be fine, best of luck.

 

[Amberleaf]

Your fish will be fine. ^^; Heheh, Lucky; all pale and strange, eh.... </3 Best of luck with your plot! ^^; >

 

[snowflake311]

I had some in my betta tank that never had any plants. It was not your duckweed that added it. The duckweed might have helped it grow by not not not letting gas exchange from the surface to the water. Then my 55 gal got it. But I just increased airation and adding more water flow problem solved. It seems to like water that is still and low in o2. Blacking it out will help get rid of it but it might come back if you do not fix the problem but increase your water flow and add some bubblers that seemed to help. I don't have any in my tank any more.

 

[Wills]

Ive had it in 3 tanks, though two times was in one tank at various times of it being set up. I found the black out to work really really well. I did a black out and it worked on the big tank the other 2 times I just gave up and Im not just chucking the little tank. An other common thing I found was the area of the tank with the most sunlight hitting it got the worse concentration so I started using blackout material for backing rather than the usual vinyl backing I also wrapped the sides as well this helped a lot with it

Good luck!!
Wills

 

[GAB99]

That seriously sucks. I reckon you'll crack it with the black out though. The fish'll be fine. Much like a teenager on summer holiday, they'll probably be pretty dormant the whole time. And I bet they'll look like completely different fish when you unwrap them. All pale and strange... Best of luck with it! =)

i find that seriuosly offensive jk, jk

but yeah it does suck, if i ever got that id go crazy, im having a hard enough time with brown!

 

[Curiosity101]

Snowflake I never said duckweed was THE only way to get BGA into the tank. But you can look it up yourself, it is a symbiont of duckweed. I added duckweed and then the BGA appeared.

It hasn't increased in concentration at all really since it appeared. It just hasn't gone away.

I can assure you I have plenty of flow I have an eheim 2026 on a 125l tank... And actually the BGA is growing in the highest flow area of the tank.

Wills, mine is growing in the ONLY place sunlight falls on it. The tank is in a 'cubby hole' so only the front can possibly get hit with light. And even then the light has to come through a window in another room and through a door to get to the tank. But it does...1/8 of the tank gets a tiny bit of sunlight every other day. And although the BGA hasn't got worse, this is where it has congregated.

I'm hoping that because it's been unable to multiply particularly well that once the black out is over I should be clear of it long term.

 

[lexusalan1]

ive just got back from a week away in egypt and during that time my fish went without the light on and although they were a little pale and hungry when i returned they were all still fine. i was expecting to come back to all of my plants dead or on the verge of but they didnt look like they had even changed colour over the week. i really cant see 3 days being a problem to either. hope it works though, im sure i will in the future but so far ive been very lucky to have avoided problems with algae except for some green spot on my glass.

 

[Curiosity101]

Same here, until the duckweed started melting the biggest algae problem I had was green spot which got wiped from the glass every fortnight.

It was my plants I was mainly worried about. And 3 days of no food wont be a big deal for the fish...eitherways roll on Tuesday afternoon!

 

[england]

Sorry to hear you problems.....i have duckweed in all my tank's...I love the stuff it works wonders in my tank and brings alot of fish out of hiding that used to hide before i had the stuff,yes it can be abit messy and needs clearing every so often but ever since i got the stuff my fish have been much more happy, i dont mind the bit extra cleaning of algae in one of my tanks,but my other two have nothing at all..

 

[Curiosity101]

Bin bags came off today, I phoned home to ask how it looked and apparently the algae is barely visible.

My dad thinks there may still be a fine layer, so I may yet have to do another black out. But so far so good, apparently it looks a heck of alot better.

 

[Wills]

 

[OldMan47]

Do you have a link or another way for me to find that information Curiosity? I have duckweed in most of my tanks and frogbit in many of the others. I only have a serious algae problem in one of them and it is one that does not grow duckweed worth a darn. If there is some symbiotic relationship, maybe I can exploit it to remove the algae from that one tank. I was seriously considering getting a new bright lighting system for that tank and pushing it over the edge into an NPT setup. Those never seem to get any algae for long but all have a nice surface layer on them when they are young. As they age, the duckweed dies back as the nitrogen in the tank gets sucked up by the growing plants in the substrate.

 

[Curiosity101]

I wouldn't know where to look online, everything I learnt was during lectures at university. So I trust that it is correct information. I will have a look and see if I can find anything solid to show you though.