ianjones

i have 75gal tank that i am using for an experimental no-tech tank. i am doing a lot of things that people say is wrong. my tank sits in front of a double-window and gets direct sun the 1st half of the day and indirect the rest. there is no heater, filter, pump, or water movement of any kind. there is a small 15w light on one half that i no longer use. there are lots of different species of aquatic plants as well as bog plants and house plants as other emergent plants.

when i first started the tank, it got a HUGE case of cyanobacteria. it carpeted the entire floor, almost every plant, and grew up the bottom 1/4 of the glass on the tank, as well as large spots in other higher areas. on the back of the tank, it grew so much that the sunlight barely got in. a couple members in here have attributed this onset to my using "bacteria in a bottle" stuff to help cycle the tank and i believe they were probably right. it stayed around for quite some time and stifled everything. nothing eats it when it is healthy, but i think some creatures like snails might munch on it when it is dying. instead of fooling with it or blacking out, or peroxiding, or using medicine, i just used patience and let the plants catch up to the nutrient consumption.

i did do one thing to help the plants out that probably everyone here has already done. i added a layer of topsoil under the gravel. it caused a big mess and i thought that maybe the lack of sunlight getting through the tank would at least diminish some of it on the front of the tank. no dice. it was just as strong as ever. this was about a month into the tank being set up. all the fish and snails lived through it and once i rerooted some of the plants and did some water changes to get the water clear again, things changed. the cyano started dying and the plants starting growing. it has been a week now, and it is completely gone, despite having ample sunlight, no water flow, no fertilizers (topsoil had no ferts added), no CO2, and no treatments.

everyone can draw their own conclusions from this, and the findings might not seem to help someone with an established tank that gets an onset of BGA. but there it is. the addition of fresh soil destroyed the BGA completely. btw, when cyanobacteria is waning in health, it will begin to look spidery and loose, and it will produce little bubbles that cling to it.

whatever your conclusions, i thought the algae forum was in much need of a positive post

AaronT

I've always thought low nitrates were a good environment for this one. Adding the fresh soil likely added some back in. Of course, much of that is conjecture on my part. Congrats on the eradication!

ianjones

i hadnt thought of that, aaron. it was there within the first couple days of the tank being setup and all throughout the cycling process. these were the things i was thinking...the tank was almost done cycling (about 3 weeks in) and i added the soil. i read that most soils contain a lot of the bacteria that is needed to cycle the tank. some things ive read said that a brand new tank with a capped soil substrate instantly cycled. the soil also provided a better medium for plants to grow, and helped with their nutrient uptake, i suppose. also, when i was adding the soil, i floated the plants for a few days, which got all the cyano off of them, even though it was still carpeting the bottom of the tank, so when i put them back, their leaves were more exposed to the sunlight.

i think the nitrate theory falls right in there because, although the plants can uptake ammonia and nitrite, they have to break it down first, much like the bacteria, so the uptake is so much slower. is that what you were thinking?

AaronT

Plants can take ammonia up as is as far as I know.

It's just an observation I've made. I'm not sure what the science is behind it.

DishyFishy

I had a horrible bout with Cyano myself. I know everyone hates pond snails, but they absolutely cleared it all up for me. My tank also got a lot of direct sunlight during the day. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

ianjones

i wish i was that lucky lol! i have a bunch of pond snails too (they sell them as trapdoor snails at the lfs) but they wouldnt touch the stuff while it was healthy. i think they munched it a little while it was dying but im not sure.

http://aqualandpetsplus.com/Bug,%20S...20Trapdoor.htm

these are the ones i have. are they the same as yours?

DishyFishy

Actually no. I just discovered that what I have look to be more like ramshorn snails! I would never have known if you hadn't said that, I just assumed they were pond snails. Here's what they look like. But beware, they reproduce like crazy!

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ianjones

i think the ramshorns and the zebra nerites are my fav but i dont have any of those yet the ramshorns lay eggs right?

DishyFishy

Ya eggs. All you need is 2 to get started b/c they're hermaphrodites. If you have trouble finding any let me know. I have enough to send 5-10 of them at just the cost of shipping.

ianjones

will do!