# Spirogyra - How on earth to deal with this?



## AlexH (8 Jan 2017)

Hi Guys,

I hope you're all well!

I'm currently on the third day of a 3-day blackout on my tank.

I've been overwhelmed with a Spirogyra problem - the algae is everywhere!

I know advice on how to deal with this is quite limited and it seems to be the case that this is a very troublesome algae to clear because it basically operates like plants - so it uses lights and nutrients etc - I have, on a number of 'deep cleans', cleared as much as possible and it comes back.

I've decided to try a 3-day blackout and currently have the tank surrounded with black bags. I've had the CO2 off - at the end of each day I've performed a 50-60% water change, dosed the macro ferts and dosed 3x the Excel Flourish at the completion of each change.

I had a sneaky peak under the bags today to see what's happening - it appears that the blackout hasn't worked! I can still see the algae. It's extremely frustrating. When I do another water change tonight I'll probably try to remove as much as possible again.

I am in need of some advice on how I can tackle this issue as it's simply taking over the tank. 

My lighting is 3x 39W Nature T5, 1x 39W Day Light T5. The period is 6 hours with CO2 coming on an hour and half prior and ending an hour before lights out. The tank is around 165 litres when you take into account the substrate etc.

The tank is heavily planted - I'm currently waiting on the Monte Carlo to establish itself. 

I'm tempted to use something like Algaefix and remove the 3 Red Cherry Shrimps before using it - to just eradicate it in that way. 

Any other advice would be welcomed - I'll try upload photos later once I've removed the many plastic bags surrounding the tanks.

Many thanks
Alex


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## GHNelson (8 Jan 2017)

I have had good results in the past with AlgExit!




hoggie


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## AlexH (8 Jan 2017)

Thanks

I've come across this and I'm just doing some reading - it appears that it blocks the uptake of certain nutrients through the use of an amino acid which is specific to algae (the same pathways not being used by plants).

I've ordered some - Amazon have a great deal on atm for 500ml of the stuff - £6.49 with Prime Delivery you'll get it tomorrow if you're interested. 

Lets hope this works!

Alex


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## louis_last (9 Jan 2017)

No peeking is the golden rule of blackouts. I've made the same mistake with cyanobacteria and can confirm that even a little peek can give it enough light to survive. Might be worth manually removing for another few days and then trying another blackout but this time resist the temptation. It's like Schrodingers algae, the second you check if it's still there it will be, or even worse it might be a dead cat.


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## AlexH (10 Jan 2017)

Lol

The cat made me laugh - serves it right going for the fish, but i suspect it would cause an ammonia spike lol.


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