# Removing BGA without a blackout!



## toadass (11 Oct 2011)

Hi Guys,

Just a quick question as the title says, Is there a way to treat BGA without doing a blackout?
I have a 55g which is quite heavily planted, i recently pulled out some Staurogyne to replace with some pygmy chain sword. I think this may have triggered the BGA as i pulled out the Staurogyne and stirred up the substrate without doing a W/C straight after.

I have heard of people having success with Ultarlife blue green algae remover and also some people recommending Maracyn. Has anybody used these products and had good results from them?

Thanks


----------



## flygja (12 Oct 2011)

Hi, you can manually remove them by sucking them out with a small diameter tube. Use a toothbrush to scrape them off plants is required. Don't need to resort to chemicals if you ask me.


----------



## Jim (12 Oct 2011)

Do you add ferts to your tank? Is your tank low in nitrates?


----------



## Matt Warner (12 Oct 2011)

Hi, There is no point in using antibiotics or any chemicals. These chemicals will either harm the fish or filter bacteria, or both, leading to an even bigger problem!  The blackout would be the best method  because it is free and very low risk. Trying to find the root cause is the hard bit as it can be trial and error, but normally brought on by low nitrates or poor flow.


----------



## toadass (12 Oct 2011)

The tank has been running for around 4 months, i have read that new setups can cause this with ammonia and light coming together. I'm not sure if 4 months is classed as new??
.





			
				flygja said:
			
		

> Hi, you can manually remove them by sucking them out with a small diameter tube. Use a toothbrush to scrape them off plants is required. Don't need to resort to chemicals if you ask me.


Hi Flygja this seems to grow back just as quickly as i can get rid of it.


			
				Matty1983 said:
			
		

> Hi, There is no point in using antibiotics or any chemicals. These chemicals will either harm the fish or filter bacteria, or both, leading to an even bigger problem! The blackout would be the best method because it is free and very low risk. Trying to find the root cause is the hard bit as it can be trial and error, but normally brought on by low nitrates or poor flow.


Matty it has around x15 turnover with spraybars going the full length of the tank, there seems to be good flow throughout the tank. 
Would the plants survive ok during a blackout?
 Do i do nothing or still add some kind of fert?


			
				Jim said:
			
		

> Do you add ferts to your tank? Is your tank low in nitrates?


Jim, yes mate i do dose ferts. I dose EI as Ceg's tutorial

Cheers guys


----------

