Ultra life Blue green slime remover

[Hanuman]

At 15ppm of NO3, it doesn't seem low nor high to me. Can you share a picture of your tank please?

 

[Ash J]

Hi @Hanuman,
Here are some pics of the tank. I've tried to highlight some of the spots that are more prone to the BGA which is mainly the hardscape though the BGA has started to settle alot more on the Hydrocotyle tripartita, Hemianthus micranthemoides and Blyxa (both Blyxa and tripartita are in high flow areas)


Cheers
Ash

 

[Hanuman]

Here is my assessment.
1. Considering the prominence of the hardscape/wood centrally located all along the tank, I am not convinced that a spray-bar is the best here. Water flow patter is being disrupted.
2. I am concerned those two wave makers/pumps could be a bit excessive.
3. You could slightly increase NO3 but I am not sure that will fix the issue. I think the wood is probably releasing lots of organics and that is not helping.

Overall I would try improving the CO2 and O2 distribution in that tank for long term BGA control and stability. I would also use Chemiclean or similar product because that would alleviate your issue for a good while. It's not good to let cyanobacteria proliferate specially for the inhabitants...and the smell, it's pretty awful too!

 

[Ash J]

Here is my assessment.
1. Considering the prominence of the hardscape/wood centrally located all along the tank, I am not convinced that a spray-bar is the best here. Water flow patter is being disrupted.
2. I am concerned those two wave makers/pumps could be a bit excessive.
3. You could slightly increase NO3 but I am not sure that will fix the issue. I think the wood is probably releasing lots of organics and that is not helping.

Overall I would try improving the CO2 and O2 distribution in that tank for long term BGA control and stability. I would also use Chemiclean or similar product because that would alleviate your issue for a good while. It's not good to let cyanobacteria proliferate specially for the inhabitants...and smell, I can't stand it. 😅

Thank you very much for the reply @Hanuman
I've tested many methods of flow to optimise co2 distrution and feel this the best one. However, there is still issue with this. The spraybar flow is very weak on the left compared to the right, it also doesn't spray out straight, more of a diagonol which means without the use of the right wavemaker the co2 is concentrated more on the right. Due to the weak flow out of the left part of the spraybar the left almost becomes a complete dead spot. The wavemaker oliviates this. Maybe my spraybar just sucks and needs replacing.

In an ideal world I would love to use lily pipes of sort on the left side of the tank, but I'd need to butcher the rim on the Roma tank and it'd still be a very tight fit.

With the wood releasing alot of organics, I'm assuming this will this eventually slow?

I've been considering adding a Chihiros New Doctor/Twinstar alternative to increase oxygen levels though it's another big investment, would this be worthwhile?

I'll pick up some ultralife as chemiclean isn't available in the UK as far as I'm aware.

Cheers
Ash

 

[Hanuman]

With the wood releasing alot of organics, I'm assuming this will this eventually slow?

I can't answer that definitively, but I would assume that yes. Wood will always decompose anyway but if the wood is young and has never been in a tank or washed in a river for some period of time, I would think it would release more organics than a wood that has aged significantly. A botanist or a biologist would certainly better answer this question. The thing is that because the wood is exposed to light, it is also a magnet to algae in general.

I've been considering adding a Chihiros New Doctor/Twinstar alternative to increase oxygen levels though it's another big investment, would this be worthwhile?

Although I do have one for the sole purpose of increasing oxygen in the water column I don't think it's necessary. You can achieve similar higher oxygenation in water by increasing surface agitation and making sure that your surface is always clear. Also making sure that the skimmer is slightly pointing down enables you to bring highly oxygenated water to the lower stratum of the tank.

 

[MirandaB]

Dropped you a pm @Ash J I might have enough Chemiclean to dose your tank and I don't mind popping some in the post for you.

 

[Chrispowell]

I have had bga in both of my newest set ups...

I did a manual removal and then a 4 day blackout, it's not reappeared in either tank since then 👍🏻