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  • Users: Ray
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  1. Ray

    Do I have BGA?

    Based on this comment in another thread it looks like the Ultralife BGSSR did the job? @Ruskie - please can you confirm that's the case?
  2. Ray

    A Fresh Look At Preventing Algae?

    Its worth noting that @Ruskie, @mrhoyo and myself are all currently struggling with BGA in low tech tanks. I’ve a feeling this is because the plants have more trouble out competing the BGA without CO2 and hence I’ve now gone big on stems to see if that will tip the balance. I’m dosing Tropica...
  3. Ray

    A Fresh Look At Preventing Algae?

    That photo gives me the screaming heebie jeebies! If I can get PTSD from BGA then that photo triggers it!
  4. Ray

    Cyanobacteria Identification - At Last!

    They do not disclose. The dose is 1 drop daily per 20 l of aquarium water to prevent diseases. In case of blue-green algae infestation, apply 1ml directly to the affected areas - so a 50ml bottle will go a long way! Some people...
  5. Ray

    Cyanobacteria Identification - At Last!

    Possibly Phyton Git? https://www.aquasabi.com/ADA-Phyton-Git-Plus
  6. Ray

    Do I have BGA?

    The pathways for nutrient absorption are not the same as those used for photosynthesis. Plants respire 24/7, they grow overnight, a wilted plant watered in the evening will perk up overnight - so my understanding is yes they can do that using stored ATP manufactured during the last light cycle...
  7. Ray

    Do I have BGA?

    I think you have to dose so your plants don't get unwell or other problems will come. I'd dose after lights off so the plants have overnight to wick it up before the algae gets a look in. Back in the day there was a school of thought that mega dosing nitrates would hammer BGA. I'm not sure...
  8. Ray

    Do I have BGA?

    In my experience it can also work like a reset button on a computer - restores a stable known state in favour of the plants. This does have to be combined with root cause removal and a massive clean up, of course. Re siphoning: I think if you calculate how much Blue Exit you dosed per litre...
  9. Ray

    Do I have BGA?

    I am not sure. You certainly can’t buy it over the counter in a pet store like you can In the US. I do not condone or recommend what I did and in hindsight it was perhaps ill advised. It seems some of us were cowboys back then: https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/erythromycin.4699/ Today, I...
  10. Ray

    Do I have BGA?

    I finally got rid of my BGA with a blackout and antibiotics I picked up in a trip to the US. This was a last resort for me after a complete nightmare that this thread is bringing back vividly. I think blackout and blue exit treatment could be effective too. I’ll quote what Clive advised me when...
  11. Ray

    Do I have BGA?

    What do folks think about combining treatment with a 3 day blackout?
  12. Ray

    Do I have BGA?

    Eyeballing your tank photos (green plants that are growing), and the results, and speaking as someone who just used a set of JBL test strips he purchased in 2007 to monitor the cycling of his Betta tank* - I think these results are probably correct and you are good. No ammonia, trace nitrite and...
  13. Ray

    BBA, what should I do next

    Don’t forget to scrub the existing BBA off your hard scape first... I so wish you hand’t directed me to that thread. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
  14. Ray

    People's thoughts on wood causing algae

    It’s possible the wood is a red herring. BBA is usually triggered by CO2 fluctuations - for example if you run out of CO2 and don’t notice for a day or if you run the lights right after a water change rather than letting the tank settle overnight. I’ve also had it just because I neglected...
  15. Ray

    Cyanobacteria Identification - At Last!

    Interesting research - good work. Fact that there are so many kinds of BGA maybe explains why solutions one person swears by doesn’t work for another. I had problems with it years ago in my sand and after trying super dosing and boosting flow for a few weeks to try and eradicate it I got...
  16. Ray

    Staghorn driving me mad - what else can I do?

    My experience of Staghorn is it has to be removed. Hardscape needs scrubbing, leaves removing. Some people try spot treatment with easycarbo/flourish excel.
  17. Ray

    Cloudy Water Conundrum

    How quick should I notice a difference, I left it running overnight and this morning it was still pea soup!? Bulb is lit and there is flow, so I presume it is working.
  18. Ray

    Cloudy Water Conundrum

    Are you running 24/7 CO2 on your tank? 104 watts or 208? If I run 4 tubes = 156w its like lemonade in no time. But currently pea soup green, I'm waiting for a UV unit.
  19. Ray

    Cloudy Water Conundrum

    Thanks for answering Clark, I've aready got a 400lph internal out through a spaybar, so my plan is to switch them over for a few days, keeping flow patterns the same, all be it slightly stronger.
  20. Ray

    Cloudy Water Conundrum

    Thanks for that Dave. Does anzyone know if this UV filter do the job? : http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370133036377&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:uk I'm out of patience! Just want to run it for a few days until things are clear, not as a permanant fixture.
  21. Ray

    Cloudy Water Conundrum

    Good idea - they do want "big fish" and are not 100% sure about my pansy planted tank style designer tetras, so some big robot Altums could go down nicely. :lol: OK, lets get to basics - I'm putting 78w onto a 200l tank at 24 degrees C. Flow is good, I'm sure of that. CO2 is good too - DC is...
  22. Ray

    Cloudy Water Conundrum

    :lol: I know how you feel about fish, but the rest of the family find planted tanks without fish quite boring :) Anyway, my Ottos and Amanos earn their keep eating the background algae on crypts and hardscape. Isn't the onset of pearling a complex function of light, flow, nutrient...
  23. Ray

    Green Water - Dusko's lazy solution to the problem

    Fascinating Dusko - please can you give us details - tank size, flow and lighting strength? Thank you.
  24. Ray

    Cloudy Water Conundrum

    Thank you Clive, its reassuring to hear this is only a phase - everyone else is saying "UV" but I'll trust your counsel. Must say, I'm not impressed by my Zeolite. Its coming up to 3 months old, so I plan to swap it for more Eheim sintered glass media. Are you still running with Zeolite in...
  25. Ray

    Cloudy Water Conundrum

    This is driving me nuts - you can almost set your watch by it. Home from work, annoying haze, 7.30pm - crystal clear. Is it fair to say this must be the O2 coming off my plants - if so I need to improve oxygenation during lights off, i.e. more surface flow (hate airstones)? I looked at UV...
  26. Ray

    Cloudy Water Conundrum

    That's what I thought until I put in the JBL Symec Micro and it came out green. So I think its algae. It first happened 3 weeks after the last filter maintenance. I think I induced it trying to find out what my Ottos eat - various foodstuffs went untouched for 24 hours until removal. In my...
  27. Ray

    Cloudy Water Conundrum

    For the last 3 weeks I've been going through an annoying cycle. At lights on my water is slighly cloudy - front to back view is ok but looking down the tank is distinctly "hazy". After a few hours of lights and CO2 the plants are pearling nicely and the water is crystal clear! Next morning...
  28. Ray

    How to stop algae in sand?

    Its not BGA, its just normal algae like you get on hardscape and glass. Doesn't grow on my aqauasoil, just on the sand. I've got no algae anywhere else (Ottos, snail and Shrimp are doing a good job) and its driving me nuts. How do people keep it clean - do I need some bottom dwelling fish to...
  29. Ray

    DESPAIR: My BGA Problem.

    BGA is either flow and/or low nitrates - guaranteed. I had BGA in my sand before I blacked out (see my journal), after the blackout it kept coming back and I started double dosing EI and kept this up for 2 weeks before it gave up and vanished. By then my nitrates must have been through the...
  30. Ray

    Newbie trying to understand Algae problem

    Ah, being a cheapskate I let it carry on until it stopped :oops:, but I was adjusting rate for the last 4 or 5 days. However, I just swapped in a new bottle on an Aquamas reg. and the flow definitely drops over the first hour or three. I know this because I don't touch the needle valve, just...
  31. Ray

    Newbie trying to understand Algae problem

    This makes me wonder how much the ph in a typical tank fluctuates over a typical week assuming EI dosing and a 50% water change? If this fluctuation is substantial then just "dialing" the ph down until you have a nice lime green DC is simply not going to work - you are better off having a...
  32. Ray

    Green Water - Whats Best?

    The blackout worked for me, reset the system, see Clive's instructions in my journal. You have fish so you can only do 50%+ w/c. Dose after the change. Blackout. Dose 2 days into the blackout. 50-70% w/c after and dose. My 5 day blackout melted nearly all my crypts, and completely killed...
  33. Ray

    BGA treatment

    Speaking from experience, you might want to limit the blackout to just 3 days first time. My unplanned blackout extension to 5 days has utterly zonked the algae (still none after 2 weeks) but my plants were badly hit too. In a new tank BGA has to be either flow (surely not a problem with your...
  34. Ray

    How can I get rid of this?

    Perhaps you could offer a new service? We send you our algae infected plants and an SAE for return while you get free fodder for the shrimps :lol:
  35. Ray

    How can I get rid of this?

    I also have algae on my fissidens. I tried spot dosing with Easy Carbo and 24 hours later the fissidens was a brown mush - so watch out. If you manage to sort it out please let me know as I'm currently considering relegating it to a low tech tank and replacing it with java or flame moss...
  36. Ray

    New lights and new algae.

    Yes, flow looks quite OK - makes me suspect dosing and CO2 levels more. Where is your drop checker and do you get the same result where ever you put it? Also, silly question probably, but you are using 4DKh solution in it?
  37. Ray

    New lights and new algae.

    The photo's really bring home your pain! But something doesn't seem right - can you pop up a photo or diagram showing how your flow is set up - does that spraybar run the length of the tank? Where is the input and what is the location of the drop checker? Perhaps with that we can help with...
  38. Ray

    New lights and new algae.

    That's interesting Clive - I understood that plants need aprox 8 hours and then they are done. I know if light is too intense for available nutrients/CO2 that "overloads" chemical pathways causing ammonia to leech from the leaves and trigger algae. Why doesn't extra duration have the same...
  39. Ray

    Blue Green Algae linked to low/no co2?

    Good spot Clive, it surely was PO4... I've been following this for weeks thinking "this is so strange, Garuf has the WORST luck - he always has algae problems!". But there was, of course, a logical explanation...
  40. Ray

    cloudy water after bio ball replacement

    Yup, it sounds like a compact flourescent - my Malaysian light is the same - very powerful and cost (as noted in another thread) very little. If you have a reflector (mine does) you could remove that. If you have the cash get yourself another in the 11 - 18W range. I'm not sure if you could...
  41. Ray

    cloudy water after bio ball replacement

    18w is much more like it, like Clive says 36w is overdrive. I have 13w over a 25L tank (but no CO2) and it is borderline to the level beyond which CO2 is necessary rather than just Excel. I'm sure with CO2 things would grow like crazy because they are already going great guns. I think 13w or...
  42. Ray

    green spot algae

    Also check your flow and CO2 levels - poor CO2 can also cause GSA - you are using a 4DKH drop checker to measure your CO2? I've got a plague at the moment in my low tech tank - my own fault, I cut back TPN+ dosing by 50% to the dose on the bottle and now its everywhere :evil: Also I might...
  43. Ray

    algae please help

    I don't see anything in that list that contains Nitrogen? If you are not dosing Nitrogen that could be the root of the problem...
  44. Ray

    Dusko's Algae Guide

    Clive - how is your Zeolite coming along? Obviously since you only get hardscape algae anyway this will be hard to know. :D Plantbrain - your point is well made that we should not underestimate the power of filter bacteria to reduce NH4 to NO3. What happens, particularly with regard to algae...
  45. Ray

    Dusko's Algae Guide

    Oooo, keep us posted. Tell me, when the zeolite bonds with the ammonia is that in a form that can still be broken down by the filter bacteria? i.e. does the zeolite act as an ammonia capacitor aborbing ammonia spikes while allowing the filter bacteria to work at a constant rate? EDIT Found...
  46. Ray

    Dusko's Algae Guide

    Thanks for your patience and your answers Clive - you make a good case and well argued. I will download the Tom Barr report and leave you in peace now :wink: I still suspect the water change is a blunt instrument for combatting ammonia, but it may be the best we have. Most people do weekly...
  47. Ray

    Dusko's Algae Guide

    So let me try to summarise: - We have heard that very small, hard to measure ammonia spikes trigger algae spores in a high tech tank (is there a Barr report or somewhere where this is proven?). - We have seen that water changes are helpful to reset nutrient levels but not necessary because, as...
  48. Ray

    Dusko's Algae Guide

    That's OK we did wonder and to be honest I'm just a PEARL script re-posting the silliest questions I can find screen scraped from other aquatic forums! :shock: Actually a nice "Dutch" look (I'm not qualified to say if you follow all the Dutch rules, mind). Incredibly lush - very nice indeed...
  49. Ray

    Dusko's Algae Guide

    How many 6' tanks do you have Clive?! :shock: For months I've been thinking "this guy really knows his stuff, his plants must grow like crazy" so its nice to finally see that your tanks are super lush! This is a very interesting question. I would think a filter chock full of purigen and...
  50. Ray

    Dusko's Algae Guide

    Sorry to be splitting hairs a bit Clive but I think the reason for the water change is twofold - it puts a cap on nutrient levels before they get too high, resetting levels and removing the need for test kits as well as reducing levels of ammonia and algae spores. If it was just ammonia then...
  51. Ray

    Damn algae

    2ml of TPN is less than the dose on the bottle - they say 5ml per 50L per week. @300L = 30ml = 7.5ml/day. This is assuming you change 20% water every 2 weeks. I (and I am just copying George Farmer here) change 50% water/week so I dose more 150% that. Note George adds separate Nitrates now...
  52. Ray

    Black Brush Algea

    3.5ml as per the label, 7ml double dose - I double dose daily - no ill effects on fish (at least not my guppies), if you have shrimps have to see how you go.
  53. Ray

    Guide for algae?

    Right, I think this is the same effect that causes Cryptocoryne rot, for example? Ah ha! So if we have a high light tank with CO2 is this the same effect that means you get algae everywhere? Is the benefit of CO2 that the plants get going nice and quick and tidy away the ammonia is short...
  54. Ray

    Guide for algae?

    Hi Clive, that's a very interesting post. I think I am close to an epiphany - I _think_ I nearly understand the whole aquatic plant growing model! You are confirming that its the ammonia and condition changes causing the algae. It is interesting you say that the drop in CO2 might actually...
  55. Ray

    Guide for algae?

    I too find it baffling. I understand that algae can be triggered by sudden drops in the CO2 level. What I don't see is how this works. I mean, in a tank with all the correct PPM of CO2, Macros and Micros there is enough nutrients, CO2 and light for everything, plants and algae. But the algae...
  56. Ray

    Green Water

    At the risk of putting the cat amonst the pigeons, I read in a JBL lighting handout that the reason direct light causes a problem is because your plants have adapted to the wavelengths of light available from your tubes. The sunlight comes and of course the agae can react quicker to exploit the...
  57. Ray

    Anubias and algae

    Excuse this newbie question, but how does extra phosphate stop GSA?
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