Green Slimey Film Algae

[Sime]

its strong stuff

left my lights off for 2 days - didnt grow at all, turned them on for 4 hours, fine, then off for 4, then on for 4 and it appeared but only very very slightly.

anyway, left them on for 7 hours the next day and when i came to the tank it was there again! blue, green, horrible and there were LOADS of bubles coming off it - so its growing like mad.

left my lights off again today, im doing another waterchange on wednesday night, i have Nitra-Zorb in there and loads of fast growing plants like hygro.

im at a dead end. its horrible stuff

 

[Waterloo Kid]

Well, it's been a week since I started dosing nitrates. I have a feeling I'm not dosing enough yet. I have had near constant pearling from most of my plants all week. Usually they pearl for a few days after a water change and then it dies back a bit. The BGA has not shown any really decrease yet. Sometimes it looks like it's breaking up a bit and sometimes it looks like it always has. I think I need to increase the nitrates a fair bit. At the moment I'm dosing 1mg/l every day. My nitrate test kit (Rea Sea) is showing a zero level so it looks like the plants are taking everything in that I've sofar given them. Phosphates are down slightly to between .5 and .25 mg/l. My aim is to get the phosphate level to zero by midweek (as in half way between water changes). My plants need a serious prune as they are so thick that water circulation is very slow in one half of the tank and near zero in the far side (standard Juwel internal filter).
So my feeling so far is that this might just work. I just have to get the dosing levels right. It will probably take months to get right. Up to 2mg/l next week!

WK

 

[Sime]

i wish you'd take some of my nitrates, Waterloo Kid

 

[Slyspy]

Please keep us updated since I am about to start using a similar treatment and its nice to know what to expect!

 

[iggy01]

Phosphates are down slightly to between .5 and .25 mg/l. My aim is to get the phosphate level to zero by midweek (as in half way between water changes).

I don't think your phosphates need to be any lower. Your plants need a certain amount of phosphate to grow. By reducing the phosphate level to 0.mg/l you will be undoing all the good work you have done by adding nitrate. A 10-1 nitrate/phosphate ratio is usually considered ok.

Good luck!

 

[Waterloo Kid]

Did a bit of cleaning up in the tank yesterday. Did some major pruning as water circulation had all but stopped. Also manually removed the BGA from my plants. Well, most of them. I was at it for 1.5 hours and managed to clean the vallis and hygro. Just got the anubias and swords to do. I did notice that the algae on the top leaves was far more bitty than usual. Normally I can pull the stuff off in leaf shaped films but it mostly broke up in my fingers this time. Looks like it's starting to have some effect.


WK

 

[Waterloo Kid]

I'm now dosing 2mg/l nitrates now. BGA is showing no signs of diminishing and I have the first ever signs of hair algae on some leaves. Great, two types of algae now! I still get a zero reading on the nitrates though. May have to gow to three mg/l per day.

 

[Ob1]

please keep us posted, i am about to add nirate

 

[Waterloo Kid]

Started a new thread for dosing. Please see that for updates.

WK