jerry

my 24 gal. nano which has always had BBA now has this green slimy long stringy algae
what am i forgeting???

northtexasfossilguy

The algae grows when the plants don't. You need to have a good amount of three things: light, CO2, and other nutrients.

The best thing that I ever did to my 30 gallon, my first tank, was to use hydrogen peroxide with a turkey baster and blast the stuff. It will kill it all, and its really fun, just remove the shrimp or other livestock while you do it just to be safe, you could do a water change at this point also. Snails will eat some of the slime if you let them.

You need at least 1-2 watts per gallon of water of light, and it is so much easier to put it on a timer and let it run itself. 12-14 hours of light.

You probably need CO2, and you can do this yourself very cheaply.

Change your water after you do the hydrogen peroxide just for the sake of hopefully removing some of the algae.

Try using fertilizer in a small regular dose after you do this. Something with iron, or you could use the tablets. It may not be necessary however.

If you have cryptocorynnes and they wilt and look dead after the hydrogen peroxide, leave them alone and they will come back over a month or two. Pick off the leaves that have the BBA.

You might cut back everything that has the BBA on it as well. You can cut some things to the roots and they will come back, but try and be frugal about it, as you might kill your plants too.

You could also run a UV sterilizer.

northtexasfossilguy

I picked up a book called Aquarium Plants:

http://www.amazon.com/Aquarium-Plant...596767&sr=8-10

You can get it online for $7. It has a bunch of species, and it tells you how to set up a few different types of tanks. It talks about substrates, and the kinds of things plants need to grow healthy. It will probably answer any question that you might have about the basics of getting into this hobby.



Also if you can't figure it out still, to properly diagnose your tanks problem you need to give us the specs on it:

what kind of filter are you using?
how often do you change the water/ how do you do that?
what kind of lighting are you using?
how many watts per gallon are you at?
do you add CO2?
What species of plants do you have in the tank?
What kind of substrate did you use? Fluorite? Laterite? ADA?
Do you fertilize? How much?
What kinds of animals are in the tank too?

MacFan

I was having BBA in most of my tanks and some other algae issues in one tank I redid recently. When I went out of town on vacation for 6 days, I turned off the CO2 and the lights for the whole time. I did a water change before I left, and a roommate fed the fish when I was gone. I got back in late so didn't turn the lights back on until the following day when I was able to do water changes. It was probably 7 or 8 days. I didn't cover the tanks but I have blinds over the windows. So the tanks got room lighting and that's all. Although some red plants had lost their red color and one of my plants suffered from stem breaks, all the non-BBA algae was gone and BBA had definitely been set back. After a water change and normal dose of EI, I resumed normal lighting and within 3 days the plants were returning to their previous appearance. It's been a week and a half and the Ammania Gracilious (sp?) that was covered in BGA when I left is growing well for the first time... maybe ever!

Excel and Peroxide are useful too, and I use them, but don't underestimate the value of a sustained blackout.

Michael