I think its time for a photoless update?
iv put off posting for a while out of shame... SHAME I TELL YOU!
i have had an absolutley monstorous Bluegreen algae infestation. twas hideous. i actually ended up putting a doveu over the tank so i couldnt see it, not to black it out. i tried EVERYTHING, dosing higher doses of kNO3-, adding powerheads, nothing, if anything, it seemed to make it worse. At its peak, i could remove it all manually and it would be back again to its original state at the end of the day.
Anyways, i added some peat into the filter to reduce the pH, - most bacteria favouring slightly alkaline conditions, and within 8 hours, all the algae was dead. it had all klumped up and shriveled up, and with one last water change, its all gone..!
I must say, i was most impressed.
it wasnt without its casualties however, most of the plants were dead after the infestation and i had to throw them out. All of my Echinodorus quardistotatus was thrown out, now all remains is my tennelus ( which continued to grow strong even though it was smothered in BGA.)
and cabomba, which suprisingly grew well also. i will be getting some more plants shortly to replace my loss.
During my infestation my filtration just shut off, it just knocked itself off and would not start. by the time i realised, and managed to get a replacement, i would have assumed most of the bacteria would have been dead, so fingers crossed im not going to have any problems over the next few weeks.
iv got 6 young angels on order also, they are not wild, but have the wild colouration, so being domesticated, would not grow THAT large, so i doubt id have problems with my cardinals, ( which are V. large now anyways)
Ill get some pics up when i get my plants.
Dan.
