:'( Bga Outbreak. Help!

[Serenity]

I had to do a lot of tank shuffling to move some fish around and finally got around to this tank today. Sucked out as much as possible and will try a 4 day blackout with double KNO3 dosing. I don't like the idea of using chemicals so I'll hold off for now but I'm getting tired of seeing this on my grass, just want my lush tank back.

See you Sunday morning after the blackout

[Slava]

Hi Serenity,

Did you manage to get BGA under control? I had a small puddle in my tank during a 3-month dry start and this is where BGA took hold. Currently the tank is flooded. 4-hr photoperiod. Excel. No CO2. Flourish Comprehensive ferts weekly as directed on the bottle. Thinking about starting CO2 injection and dosing dry ferts as per Tom Barr (EI).

Any advice on BGA will be appreciated. Most people suggest complete 3-4-day blackouts. What worked for you?

Thank you.

[Cricket]

Maracyn one and spot siphoning works well.

[cainechow]

I've found that blackouts will kill out existing BGA and make it easy to syphon out, but doesn't really fix whatever is causing the BGA. That being said, I've only won once against BGA and that was using H2O2 and it still takes some time and patience.

[Slava]

Thank for the responses! Turns out that I have too high nitrate conent (80 ppm) and my CO2 keeps fluctuating. Not sure where the nitrates come from as i don't overfeed and everyone is alive. I will cut down on KNO3 and keep tesing. The photoperiod is 8 hrs but the LED strip is too bright when it sits on the a tank - the large stones are dark green from algae. I will suspend the light so it is not as intense and work on the balance of lighting, CO2 and ferts. If it does not cut it I will try either EM or a blackout.

My tank is an iwagumi attempt: meaning no fast growing stem plants this exacerbates the issue.

Tank - 21 gal

Light - 25 W Fluval Led Strip

CO2 - compressed

Filter - Fluval 105

Ferts - EI with dry ferts

Substrate - Fluval aquasoil topped with fluorite.

WC - 50% weekly

Temperature - 23C

Flora: HC, riccia, junkus and eleocharis parvula

Fauna: 6 amano shrimps, 1 nerite snail, 12 cardinal tetras.

Can't wait on lily pipes and external reactor to arrive. Gonna get more shrimps tomorrow. Will probably add a dozen more cardinals once I get rid of BGA.

BTW, never put SAEs in open top tanks - I lost three despite low waterline. Ended up moving the remaining to into my 90 gal tank that is covered with glass.

[Slava]

Update. Treated with EM. Raised lights and established proper CO2 level - BGA is gone. Minor problems with GSA but overall the tank looks good.

[Frogfish]

H₂O₂ worked for me but melted my Egeria densa in a bad way, all of that species of plant withered to nothing in less then four days. Sadly some of the Malaysian trumpet snails, nerite snails and a few gammarus shrimp also got wiped. Has anyone else tried peroxide treatments with similar unfortunate results on invertebrates? On the bright side spot treating peroxide from the drug store almost instantly cured the BGA problem. Its still definitely a band aid cure and adjusting cultural practices help keep the problem at bay.