Blue Green Algae linked to low/no co2?

[Ray]

There must be something wrong with your dosing or flow. GSA doesn't just show up widescale unless there is a PO4 shortage. Neither does BBA. Could your powders be mixed up or could you have massively miscalculated? This is very strange.

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...

 

[Garuf]

Thanks, Ray. Lets just hope this is the last of them hey guys. 🙂

 

[Garuf]

Blue green banished, clado back... along with something that looks like really long but non branching clado.
I've upped co2, and will be continuing to double dose EI. Is there anything else I need to cover?

 

[ceg4048]

Good golly Miss Molly If you're doing 2X EI and are driving the dropchecker into the yellow you ought never to see Clado. This really sounds like a flow problem. It's been a while so could you restate your dosing procedure? How did you prepare the solutions and how many ml are you adding - and how many times per week? Have you added a powerhead? What is the water change schedule?

Cheers,

 

[Garuf]

Sure, Yeah I added a 400lph powerhead but it shook its self apart (the shaft shattered). My drop checker is bright yellow all day and I am dosing following your tutorial. Except that I rounded all of the doses up where they where halves also I added an extra tea spoon of kso4. I then dose 100ml every other day, 3 times a week, there's then a 2 day "rest" and then a water change of around 50%. When I carry out a water change I waft my hand through the plants so that everything that has settled is kicked up into the water, I then siphon it out before it settles again.

 

[a1Matt]

When I carry out a water change I waft my hand through the plants so that everything that has settled is kicked up into the water, I then siphon it out before it settles again.

Does a lot of settled debris come out when you do this?
If so then IMHO that could be a sign of too low a flow in the tank. Thats just my two penneth, I wouldn't consider myself an expert.

 

[Garuf]

Yeah, loads. I think you've hit the nail. Damn my financial insecurity, I'd have bought a tetratec ex1200 by now.
On the algae front, It's been a week since I double dosed and the algae has shown no signs of subsiding nor any sign of advance so I'm picking at it every day and keeping dosing high.
I'll be keeping my eye out for a way of boosting flow in the meantime.
Unfortunately it looks like I can't take my tanks with me to uni so this could be the end of my planted tank hobby for the time being. 🙁