krisw wrote:Shahriar, a 3-day blackout is just like shipping plants from California to here, which happens all the time on the forums. The plants arrive, might look a little weary, but bounce right back.
Yup, what he said.
How is your CO2 distributed? Water changes, water changes and more water changes. Unfortunately, when outbreaks like this happen it's a bit of work to turn things around.
CO2 is diffused inline with the filter output. It reduces if not does away with the 7up effect.
So there is a window that sits across the tank and it gets an hour of early morning sun - That may be what's causing the bloom to continue. I have pulled the shade down to stop that.
First time doing this so forgive my hesitation.
I have put trash bags all around the tank. Killed the CO2 and the lights. I was tempted to keep the moon LEDs on, but I won't
1. Do I need to cover the top? I don't want to stop O2/CO2 exchange.
2. Do you continue to dose Excel?
EDIT: I added 10ml (2x dose) of Excel to help get the algae on it's way.
Regarding Excel, I just followed the dosing instructions on the Excel bottle.
From my experience it is actually it is best NOT to cover the top of the tank. I did so, and water condensed on the top of the bag and got on the light fixture which I stupidly placed under the bag. Luckily I was able to unplug and dry off the fixture without electrocuting myself. I was very glad to have a GFI in place when I first noticed the water on the fixture!
The hardest part is not looking at your tank for three days. I covered my tank up during a busy week at work so I wasn't home much to be annoyed by it being under cover. I was AMAZED at how the blackout took care of my algae problem.
Also, I was performing 30-50% water changes each day during the blackout timeframe.
Julie
37g planted, 11g planted, and three 5.2g planted shrimp tanks.
Yes, the green hair is gone on most of the plants. I used a toothbrush to get some of the thread algae and it's still there, but a lot less and it kinda melted on the brush.
sfarkhan wrote:Yes, the green hair is gone on most of the plants. I used a toothbrush to get some of the thread algae and it's still there, but a lot less and it kinda melted on the brush.
I suggest you do a water change today and then extend the blackout two days and then do another large water change. Continue to treat with Excel each day -- preferably spot treat the areas that still have algae.
Then, keep up with the more than usual water changes and Excel treatments. Wait a week or so and see if you need to do another blackout.
Julie
37g planted, 11g planted, and three 5.2g planted shrimp tanks.
I'm not sure about extending the blackout much longer. A week is pretty long. You might try uncovering the tank for a few days and just use two bulbs of light for those few days.
unveiling... The algae is mostly gone. There is still a few patches of bba algae, and hair/string algae. It melts on the toothbrush though. Plants actually look good for the most part.
Fed the fish. Scrubbed the wood. Did a 50% W/C. added ferts, 10ml excel.
I'm going to have the CO2 come on an hour before the lights turn on.
I'm going to increase the K in daily dose per Kris's recommendation earlier.
Reduce the mid day burst to 1 hour hour from three...
Edit: the dwarf hair grass was mowed to an inch of it's life pre blackout...
Are you or have you considered running carbon and / or purigen in the filter? Both of those help a lot with excess organics in the water column (the main cause of algae IME).
I have two 100ml bags of purigen in the filter since the second week. I ran carbon initially then switched over. I will service the filter near the end of the week and check on them.
Luckily I was able to unplug and dry off the fixture without electrocuting myself. I was very glad to have a GFI in place when I first noticed the water on the fixture!
