It's time: The algae experiments

[nabokovfan87]

Things are on hold for right now.

I have to "reset" everything so so speak right now.

On the right-hand, low demand tank, I do have an illness that is causing me to need to dose meds. I also swapped out the light because I saw some pretty severe issues with my anubias (probably from salt, but that's not anything I can control).  Previously the anubias was stagnant and it looks like either the leaves or rhizome is starting to die off. It was a bright yellow color similar to what we saw with the moss when it was directly treated with a very heavy dose.

On the other tank, high demand, I did go ahead and verify the CO2 was working and tried to alleviate a discrepancy between the working pressure, bubble counter at the solenoid, and the "bubble counter" at the diffuser itself. I still might swap the diffuser, but I know my current problem is that the spraybar isn't quite strong enough. The tank was treated with methylene blue due to a spawn of the corydoras and I have been caring for the corydoras fry. At this point I genuinely don't want to risk any of them having issues and so I've opted to only dose the spot dose when changing water and leaving things as constant as I can.  When I last checked the nitrates on the tank after a lot of heavy feeding the tank was at 5 or so ppm of nitrates.  Needless to say we are definitely in the lean dosing category. I added in some root tabs and will keep an eye on how those help with this method.

BBA is returning. It is growing, and I do have a few things I'd like to try specifically for treating the rocks and I can do this side by side which is cool.

Further research:

 

Edited December 7, 2022 by nabokovfan87

[Schuyler]

On 11/5/2022 at 6:10 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

 I haven't looked, but maybe that's something we as hobbyists need to make more aware of.  

A guy who sold me some plants have me the advice that I should just buy the industrial strength bottle of the chemical (it's used to sterilize medical tools and stuff).

I took his advice and when it arrived it was covered in warning labels. I opened it once and haven't touched it since...

[nabokovfan87]

On 12/8/2022 at 11:06 PM, Schuyler said:

I took his advice and when it arrived it was covered in warning labels. I opened it once and haven't touched it since...

Nitrile gloves and you should be fine with any issues. Beyond that it's all about whatever it comes into contact with and rinsing thoroughly.

 

There is a use case for it. But like everything, need to be aware of how to use it just like any tool.

[nabokovfan87]

Starting to get this back under handle now.

Tanks are calmed down, everything is flowing, and I'm done with the rough patch I was in.  I'll give myself a week to prep / research and then we'll hit the reset button.  I'll re-post (edit OP) or add a post below with the full details of my new changes.

I also wanted to add this here for posterity.  It's part of my process for research, seems like a good resource to talk through algae issues!  I am going to have to check out a lot more of his videos than I have previously to see if there's anything more specific.
 

 

[tnnlynch]

I'm still fighting BBA myself after a few weeks. Spiked my phosphates horrendously (no Co2 and probably too much lighting) which I was not testing for until I had a large outbreak. Cleared that up with phosguard, treated aggressively with Excel and started being more careful in my feeding which I believe to be the original issue. Lost most of my Anubius which probably didn't help with the balance. Added a new CO2 system which with trimming seems to be keeping the BBA relatively in control on my plants.  My substrate on the other hand is owned by the BBA.  Thinking of trying some H2O2 spot treatments with filters off & lights low over the worst of the infected gravel. It's relatively cheap and shouldn't harm my remaining plants.  Did you ever try H2O2 spot treatments or just Easy Carbon?

 

[nabokovfan87]

On 1/18/2023 at 8:10 PM, tnnlynch said:

Did you ever try H2O2 spot treatments or just Easy Carbon?

Still trying to gauge the right method. I do plan to and will use both chemicals. I have a bottle of h202 that has a spray nossle and I've sprayed hardscape pretty well.... Didn't work.

Very likely my method and not letting it soak, from the research and advice I've looked into since. Which is why it's an item on the table still.

I have the algae growing about as fast as I can clean and it's not showing much or any signs of stopping. A week ago I had anubias clean and then just yesterday I was pulling leaves with big balls of BBA on them and cutting roots off. All of that was new growth. So things definitely released some spores this week. 😞

 

[tnnlynch]

Yesterday I did a partial water change to lower the water level, turned off the filter & lights and spot treated two areas in my tank where I can't trim the BBA. One with H2O2 and the other with Excel. After 15 minutes I finished the water change. Today the H2O2 area showed only slight signs of impact (might be too old though).  The Excel turned the BBA red which would seem to indicate it is having an immediate impact. 

[nabokovfan87]

A very good review and thought process, analyzing what is going on with his tanks. If you have the patience, it's worth a watch.

Ultimately, plant deficiencies led to issues, which caused phosphates and organics to build up in the water resulting in massive algae growth.

[nabokovfan87]

I know... I know.  I need to bring this thing back to life.  I have a ton of things on my mind and this isn't one that has left, simply put it's one where I am trying to get things sorted.  I am still running some trials and trying to record results.

I moved some wood in the panda tank because I saw a lot of BBA in the calm spot in the center of the tank.  There are two large sponge filters on each corner and then the scape is a sort of V where the middle tapers back onto a piece of lava rock.  The BBA is centrally focused on that spot where the wood overlaps onto another.  This has resulted in a lot of anubias issues, pulling leaves, roots being covered, etc.

I am beyond sick of this stuff and using something like EC in this tank isn't going to be an option soon.  At least not until things develop and I feel safe risking that.

You'll see two pieces of wood here.  The first is the piece that was on bottom, the second is a Y shaped end of a piece that was on top.  the BBA was growing along the forks as well as the void in the middle and then all along the top section of the bottom piece of mopani.



Next up we have a piece of malaysian driftwood that is a stump and I just glue plants to it.  Everything is doing fine enough, but clearly the BBA is trying to choke out this anubias that finally started to do well.  One week, things are fine, I check in a few days later and boom...



I've gone ahead and turned the lights down (same intensity, lower duration) and I am going to make sure I am not fowling things by overfeeding.  Pandas are breeding, feeding new food which is a bit easy to overdo.

This could be due to some iron issues, but ultimately this tank is just being a pain for me.  It'll improve. hopefully the moss does take off before the algae makes it way over there. (knock on wood)

On 1/23/2023 at 4:25 PM, tnnlynch said:

The Excel turned the BBA red which would seem to indicate it is having an immediate impact. 

Agreed. Spot dosing that stuff (or similar) really seems to work well.  Just isn't the type of think you can easily cover a big tank! 😞