# BGA breakout



## megamax42 (Jan 10, 2011)

*Can I do water changes with fishless cycle water?*

Well here it goes:

40 gallon breeder
2 SAE
9 Black Neon Tetras
5 Red Cherry Shrimp
1 Apple Snail

Heavily planted:
Bacopa
Rotala
Italian Valis.
Dwarf Hairgrass
Hygrophila Angustifolia

DIY CO2
Trace element dosing
2x39w T5 HO Nova Extreme Fluorescent

Heavily Rinsed play sand for substrate.

About a month ago I had a huge breakout of more types of algae than I want to remember. After battling it out I eliminated all but 2, BGA and I'm not entirely sure what the other is but from my research so far I would say it's green dust algae. It only sticks to the glass and is worst where the light from the fluorescent hits the glass, it traps bubbles like mad. Bright green, like green beard algae, with the thickness of the BGA. 

As for the BGA, all my readings have been zero since my tank finished its' fishless cycle and fish were introduced. I've read that low nitrates can cause BGA because it can fix it's own nitrogen and then outcompetes the plants. I started DIY CO2 and dosing trace elements to try and give the plants a fighting chance. The plants are all doing waaaay better, however the BGA is still taking hold. I read that BGA actually favors CO2 so I temporarily stopped that. The BGA has been moving outwards in a circle from the center of the tank, however before where the circle was entirely dark green, now the center is kind of yellowish with only the edges being dark green. This leads me to think the algae is either hopefully dying or is spreading so fast that it's killing it's ancestors by sucking up the nutrients? I would prefer not to do a blackout but I'm willing to do anything.

*I have a 5 gallon tank that was recently overhauled and is now fishless and I've been doing a fishless cycle for the past week (the previous bacteria was still intact). Everything is zero except nitrates which is around 20 mg/L. Could I use that water for my water change in the 40 to help out my plants and their lack of nitrates? Or would this just worsen the situation?*

Concerning the GDA, I've read that I'm supposed to just leave it to grow for a week? But it's definitely been growing for at least a week if not 2 or 3 and hasn't changed except for a few small patches where it looks like my tank inhabitants have snacked on it.

Thanks for reading that mess and I appreciate any response.


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

I had some BBA (Black Brush Algae - Black Grass Algae) and my guppies, Pleco (at the time), Otos and shrimp wouldn't go near it. I happened to get 3 Zebra Nerite snails because I like the way they look and they completely cleaned my tank of any and all algae, even the BBA. (Not many things will eat it, but apparently Nerite snails will). There are some different types: Zebra, Olive, Onion, Virgin, Horned. (Zebras are harder to get in the U.S. and Olives are harder to get in Canada).

Hope this helps.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

What kind of lighting period do you have? DIY CO2 may not be enough for that tank, with that light. You may also need to dose ferts. Just trace elements won't be enough.


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## megamax42 (Jan 10, 2011)

jrman83 said:


> What kind of lighting period do you have? DIY CO2 may not be enough for that tank, with that light. You may also need to dose ferts. Just trace elements won't be enough.


Its on a 12/12 schedule right now. Would stocking my tank more also help?


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

No wonder you have had algae problems. Try cutting back to 3hrs per day for 5-6 days, since you dont want to do a blackout. If that works, increase back to 6hrs and then see how your plants are reacting. Slowly keep increasing 30 min, a week at a time until you start noticing a little algae here and there. Once you do back down to the setting before that. Nothing happens overnight so you have to give at least a week to see the effects. I would look into possibly getting PMDD mixture of dry ferts to dose your tank with about once a week. Your plants will do better with it and it is much cheaper.


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

Or kill the lights completely for a few days until the algae clear up. Then resume with less duration so the algae stays away.


my .02


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Oh yeah, changing water with the other tank will not help it cycle. If you had some substrate or filter media from the other tank to temporarily put in there, that would help.


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## megamax42 (Jan 10, 2011)

jrman83 said:


> No wonder you have had algae problems. Try cutting back to 3hrs per day for 5-6 days, since you dont want to do a blackout. If that works, increase back to 6hrs and then see how your plants are reacting. Slowly keep increasing 30 min, a week at a time until you start noticing a little algae here and there. Once you do back down to the setting before that. Nothing happens overnight so you have to give at least a week to see the effects. I would look into possibly getting PMDD mixture of dry ferts to dose your tank with about once a week. Your plants will do better with it and it is much cheaper.


Just looked into the dry ferts, sounds like a good idea, do you think until I buy some that the nitrates from the 5 gallon would help?



beaslbob said:


> Or kill the lights completely for a few days until the algae clear up. Then resume with less duration to the algae stays away.
> 
> 
> my .02


I'm moving very soon so I'll use that as an opportunity to reorganize and blackout the tank. Before I bought the T5's I used a Coralife Compact Fluorescent (for SW, actinic/white light) that I found in a thrift store for $3 and a desktop lamp with a 20w 2700k cfl. I imagine this is one of my bigger mistakes and this is I think was the starter cause of the algae buildup, among nutrient imbalance. I'm not dosing any macros other than feeding the fish so would additional fish help as well?


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## megamax42 (Jan 10, 2011)

jrman83 said:


> Oh yeah, changing water with the other tank will not help it cycle. If you had some substrate or filter media from the other tank to temporarily put in there, that would help.


I think we may be thinking backwards, both the tanks are already cycled, the water would be coming from the 5 gallon tank currently going fishless, just adding ammonia (ammonia: 0 nitrites: 0 nitrates: 20) and going into the 40 gallon (ammonia: 0 nitrites: 0 nitrates: 3).

From what I understand algae can be caused by a poor N/P ratio, if I increase the N by adding nitrates from the 5 gallon shouldn't that theoretically help out the plants in the 40 and give me a really cheap fertilizer?


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

I don't think it will matter.

I would look into something like this for dry ferts....search for PMDD on google if you wanted to go with a different place. That should pull up enough results.

Planted Aquarium Fertilizer - Dry Fertilizers, Dry Fertilizers, Planted Aquarium Fertilizer - Macro Micro Nutrient Mix, Macro Micro Nutrient Mix,

You probably would only need about one dose per week...despite what the instructions say.


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