Should I change my lighting?

[madagascariensis]

Just dosing normally with excel doesn't have the desired effect, in my experience. Besides that I think it is a smart idea to start out with the least invasive treatment...

[JudiJetson]

Just dosing normally with excel doesn't have the desired effect, in my experience. Besides that I think it is a smart idea to start out with the least invasive treatment...

Yes, you're right I hear ya. I was just reading an article about seachem flourish nitrogen and thought that was interesting, especially since my nitrogen levels are always so low. I should start using a bit of fertilizer for my anubias and java ferns.

[bethyMT]

Sometimes fertilizer will help. A lot. so then the plants can start growing well and the BGA doesn't have enough nutrients to flourish. I have BGA myself, and it's quite a battle...ITA with scrubbing it off and bleaching what you can.You may want to increase your plants as well. Water changes help knock it back, but not kill it. Water circulation also seems to help. BGA actually does not like O2, which is why H2O2(hydrogen peroxide) kills it. It acts very much like a plant, utilizing CO2 to grow.

What I have been hoping for is to just stem the tide a bit...once you have that bacteria in there, it's hard to elimiate completely without using a strong antibiotic and even then it may return.

Just another small note: I have a cheap UV sterilizer that I run after I do water changes and plant leaf scrubbings. I don't run it all the time, just for a day or so after the cleaning. It kills the BGA that's in the water column, and has thus far kept it off the new growth of the plants and anything I've disinfected. Mine is a sunsun, and I got it pretty cheap off of ebay...so if you get desperate, that's another inexpensive tool that may help.

[JudiJetson]

Thanks Beth, I did a good cleaning today, even my hoses and nozzles to make sure water flow is at it's best and dosed with the proper amt of flourish nitrogen for my tank size. A friend at work offered to give me a uv sterilizer called "green killing machine". I'll have to research that and see if it's similar to the type you are using. Tomorrow I'll start the bleaching routine and spot treatments. Do I just use a dropper or unused syringe?

Thanks all for the help, so appreciated!

[bethyMT]

Any kind of UV sterilizer will work...the mechanism is the same. And getting it for free is awesome! If this sterilizer has a flow control, you can turn it down to medium slow/lowish flow. The longer the water is exposed to the UV, the more microbes will be killed. And I think BGA could survive a nuclear holocaust, so you want as much UV to hit that stuff as possible.

Yes, for the H2O2, use a dropper or syringe. There is some sort of limit on how much you can use at a time, but I'd say get the more aggressive patches (only a few) today, and then do it again tomorrow, and repeat once per day until you've got most of it. You might be able to watch the BGA die...it'll turn from greenish to brown. So I've read.

[Taurus]

What I have been hoping for is to just stem the tide a bit...once you have that bacteria in there, it's hard to eliminate completely without using a strong antibiotic and even then it may return.

You need to be careful with antibiotics. You don't want to end up killing off the bacteria in your biofilter.
So, you need to create an environment where is difficult for BGA to survive. This is a low nutrient, oxygen rich environment. You do need to provide the correct nutrients for live plants to thrive.

Cutting back on overfeeding will help. Better circulation, and surface movement with help. A UV sterilizer will help and is a good suggestion.

And the bleach\water solution is very effective at killing the BGA bacteria outside of the tank. Antibiotics in the tank, while effective, may do more damage than good. I think that method is kind of a last resort?

[JudiJetson]

Taurus, you're right killing off my good bacteria would be the last thing I would want to happen. I gave the tank a good cleaning yesterday (gravel vac & removed as much algae from the back & sides as I could), today I washed my decorations in bleach/water mix and added the uv sterilizer from my coworker (Free Yay!). The uv sterilizer does not have a control rate but the instructions included a statement that the "flow rate is intentionally slow".

During the week I'm going to remove my manzanita wood and clean that. I have anubias and java fern attached to the branch so I guess I can carefully clean those off those also.

[JudiJetson]

Not completely off subject but I couldn't help but find this amusing...I'm sitting here drinking my Kombucha Multi-Green flavor and can't help but giggle when I read the ingredients:

Here I could have saved $ 3.50 and just poured myself a glass of my tank water!!!!

[Cermet]

I am very sure this is not the same common blue-green algae found in tanks since that tends to be toxic.

You say your nitrogen levels are low; that is strange if you have BGA. So, your nitrates are below 3 - 5 ppm? If not, your 'nitrogen*' levels are fine.

* nitrogen is never used by plants. This term should be used for 'fixed' nitrogen like nitrate.

[JudiJetson]

Cermet, yes..lol..I'm positive its not the same algae, just made me giggle.

Oh jeez, I did not mean to type "my nitrogen levels", I meant to type "my nitrate levels". I normally do 2 50% pwc per week so when I test nitrates they are usually 5 ppm or less. I'm so sorry for the error. The article I was reading stated that Flourish Nitrogen could possibly help with algae in a tank that has low levels of nitrates.