# How do I remove BGA if I have DSM tank



## HD Blazingwolf (May 12, 2011)

well u can spray it with hydrogen peroxide. keep it off the plants as they wont like it too much


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## kadium (Jun 25, 2012)

Is that safe for aquasoil?


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## HD Blazingwolf (May 12, 2011)

well i've used it before in my tank full of water and sometimes it gets on the aquasoil. doesn't seem to hurt it


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## willknowitall (Oct 3, 2010)

70 to 80 degrees ?


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

I believe you can kill the BGA by lightly sprinkling KNO3 on it too. This may be a problem for the plants if the crystals remain on the leaves.


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## Sotty (Aug 31, 2012)

Anyone ever tried mixing up a fairly concentrated solution of erythro and using that in a spray bottle during a dry start? 

I've not tried this but I don't see why it wouldn't work. Erythro is used topically in medicine all the time and the concentration you can deliver is actually higher when you dose topically. Even in super high concentrations it shouldn't have any negative effect on plants. Might be a fun experiment and definitely less risk (almost none I would guess) to your your plants then using h202 or kno3 during a dry start, which granted are both pretty low risk too if you are careful.

Long story short, I'm curious to see if this would work and want you to try. 

Wouldn't mind hearing Hoppy's, Blazingwolf's, or others thought on this.


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## Sethjohnson30 (Jan 16, 2012)

Hoppy said:


> I believe you can kill the BGA by lightly sprinkling KNO3 on it too. This may be a problem for the plants if the crystals remain on the leaves.


This will kill it. But like hoppy said the crystals left on the leaves could be a problem. 

I would try making a midly concentrated kno3 solution and spot treating with a syringe

I can't say I've tried this but have killed bga on exposed(above the water driftwood by sprinkling kno3. 

I know keeping the nitrates from getting to low in my tanks have kept the bga from returning. 

It seems like it would work, let me know if you try it, 


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## kadium (Jun 25, 2012)

Yes the tank averages about 70-80 degrees, in temperature.

Thanks for the advice. I already am treating the tank with E.M. Filled the tank up with just enough water to cover the plants and then dosed the recommended amount. 48 hours after the first dosage, I drained the water and filled it back up and did a second dose. So far the algae doesn't seem to be dying off. It's still pretty stuck onto the aquasoil. So I will now try this kNO3, btw where can I get it?


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## BoCoMo (Feb 23, 2009)

Anyone tried scrubbing for Phosphates (I am currently testing this on my 90 gallon) or an algae scrubber?


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## Sethjohnson30 (Jan 16, 2012)

Try a black out 


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

Stump killer is usually pure KNO3, and many hardware stores have it. Just check the ingredients before you buy it.


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## kadium (Jun 25, 2012)

Sethjohnson30 said:


> Try a black out
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


This would be 4th day without giving my tank any lighting. Besides regular room light which is very dim. How long do you think I can do a black out before my plants dye due to photo starvation


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## Sethjohnson30 (Jan 16, 2012)

I know this is different. In my tank (with water) I had horrible bga I started a blackout(covered with cardboard) 2 days before I started maracyn. I opened the lid to feed the fish and run test everyday. 7 days later I was done with maracyn, removed the cardboard and did a 75% wc I lost no fish or plants and the bga was completely gone. This was 3 months ago. I now pay close attention to my nitrate levels and everything is good.


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## Sotty (Aug 31, 2012)

Ive always noticed the BGA notably dying after 2-3 days of treatment with erythromycin. The "mats" of "algae" seemed like they would lose a lot of their "grip" and I could more easily remove them. 

I never really noticed a difference after one day, but I bet you would if you had access to a microscope with a 100x oil immersion lens.


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## kadium (Jun 25, 2012)

The bga is giving up only a bit about 1/200 ratio in terms of loose bga to bga still stuck. I think I'll have to keep dosing to see if i get good results like you guys. I have no fish in it so not really worried about killing anything besides hc.


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## HD Blazingwolf (May 12, 2011)

Well allowing things to dry out a little might help as well, of course u will need to go slow so as not to dry the HC out as well, a small computer fan inside the tank might help with this


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## Kai808 (Jul 19, 2011)

I was in this same situation last month. During the DSM, I was spot treating the affected areas with H2O2 and it seemed to work. I no longer saw the slime and continued the DSM for a couple of weeks. The BGA came back the day after I filled the tank(it was still still in the tank). Then I did the Erythromycin treatment for 8 days and trying to manually take out as much slime as possible. I could see results after the 2nd day and now am currently free from it except in substrate on the front side of the tank. Another bad thing about this is I pulled out some of the HC when manually removing the slime.  

Good Luck!


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## kadium (Jun 25, 2012)

Update, came home and moved some substrate and the bga came loose. So I stirred up all the effected substrate and siphoned all the loosened bga. Some were still in the substrate but I figure it should be dead. During the process I unrooted much of my hc. After I completely drained the tank I broke the hc clumps into smaller sprouts and layed them all over the substrate. I made sure it covered every inch so that the hc will have better growth and hopefully absorb most of the light in the photoperiod instead of any algae. Will uupdate wit h a picture later


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