# 54 litre new aquascape - cyanobacteria (blue-green algae)



## Jester946 (Mar 30, 2013)

> Fertilizers: none yet


There's your problem.


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## Joost (Feb 13, 2014)

Jester946 said:


> There's your problem.


Emptied the aquarium so the cyanobacteria can't spread, informed myself about EI dosing and ordered the required fertilization (powder). I hope it'll work.


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## discuspaul (Jul 27, 2010)

The hydrogen peroxide (or something like it) "quick fix" as you call it, is in fact essential to begin with, to get rid of the BGA first time around. 
Among other things, the main cause of BGA is a lack of, or insufficient, water circulation & oxygenation in the lower areas of the tank, and improving this condition should provide the long term solution.
I have found the most effective way of providing this is to suitably place a water circulation pump in your tank - although other methods may be used, e.g. a power bar, or stronger filtration flow.


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## Joost (Feb 13, 2014)

discuspaul said:


> The hydrogen peroxide (or something like it) "quick fix" as you call it, is in fact essential to begin with, to get rid of the BGA first time around.
> Among other things, the main cause of BGA is a lack of, or insufficient, water circulation & oxygenation in the lower areas of the tank, and improving this condition should provide the long term solution.
> I have found the most effective way of providing this is to suitably place a water circulation pump in your tank - although other methods may be used, e.g. a power bar, or stronger filtration flow.


I don´t understand how there can be a lack of oxygenation in the aquarium. All the plants are pearling (including the hc), which means that oxygen can no longer be dissolved into the water and the amount of oxygen in the water is at its peak.


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## Raymond S. (Dec 29, 2012)

I also have not found low Oxygen to cause BGA. Poor circulation seems to help the BGA
but all my tanks had it at some point just after start up. In most it went away as soon as more plant growth happened. Fairly slowly it just got less and less of it till it was no longer there. At these times I had no ferts. This was during my earlier years of having 
tanks. But more recently I had a bad case in one tank, but still before I started dosing ferts. A 5 day blackout killed it(or so it seemed) but it came right back.
So I drained 90% of the water and cleaned the tank as best I could. Some delicate plants won't lend themselves well to rough handling. Then I changed another 90% and then use that Antibacterial med mentioned in the sticky at the top of the Algae section.
The BGA hasn't been back. I was told that BGA sometimes happens when the water has high levels of "organics" whatever that is. So hense the double water change.
Starting of ferts has made my plants grow better and no BGA since then.
http://www.guitarfish.org/algae
What I see on your plants I would not call "Pearling" just Oxygen bubbles.
The picture is not very good so could have missed it but to me Pearling is that
string of bubbles coming up from usually the top of a plant. A steady stream of them.
That actually indicates the plant is growing well. It's just really a more reliable indication. The other could be, or could be from somewhere else.


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## greaser84 (Feb 2, 2014)

I agree with raymond. I had bga once due to poor circulation, I did some major water changes, cleanings and some bleach dipping. Added a couple powerheads for extra flow and dosed erythromycin a few times, haven't seen it since.


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## Joost (Feb 13, 2014)

discuspaul said:


> The hydrogen peroxide (or something like it) "quick fix" as you call it, *is in fact essential to begin with*, to get rid of the BGA first time around.
> Among other things, the main cause of BGA is a lack of, or insufficient, water circulation & oxygenation in the lower areas of the tank, and improving this condition should provide the long term solution.
> I have found the most effective way of providing this is to suitably place a water circulation pump in your tank - although other methods may be used, e.g. a power bar, or stronger filtration flow.


Since my aquarium is not filled with water anymore, would it help to spray hydrogen peroxide on the plants, rocks and substrate to remove the left over cyanobacteria (dry-start situation)?


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## discuspaul (Jul 27, 2010)

Joost said:


> Since my aquarium is not filled with water anymore, would it help to spray hydrogen peroxide on the plants, rocks and substrate to remove the left over cyanobacteria (dry-start situation)?


 I've not tried that, but it can't hurt - and may well work ok.
I would think you'd need to at least cover the plants with water immediately after dosing the H202, to permit it to go to work doing away with the BGA.
You should then see the BGA covered with oxygen bubbles, which will then rise to the water surface - a sign that it's working.

BTW, if your plants were actually 'pearling' from the CO2 usage - that of course results from a good amount of CO2 being supplied to the plants, thus the oxygen levels would be materially reduced in the tank water.


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## Joost (Feb 13, 2014)

So, I´m dosing EI for a couple of weeks now and the cyanobacteria still remains, although it is less than it was before. Due to not having any sort of test kit, and I'm not planning to buy one, it's impossible for me to measure any water parameters.


I´m using the following dosing schedule (assuming the volume of the water column is 50 litres):

- bottle 1: 1x 1000 ml bottle Macro solution, containing kno3 (31 gr), kh2po4 (12 gr) and mgso4 74 (gr)
- bottle 2: 1x 1000 ml bottle TNC trace, containing Fe, Mn, Mg, Zn, Cu, Mo, B and Co (7,9 gr)


Day 1)	50% Water Change, 25 ml Macro solution 
Day 2)	25 ml TNC trace 
Day 3)	25 ml Macro solution 
Day 4)	25 ml TNC trace 
Day 5) 25 ml Macro solution

The following calculator was used: http://www.thenutrientcompany.com/aquarium/calculators/

Now, I'm wondering if I'm dosing the correct amount, or if some kind of lack of fertilization is causing the cyanobacteria. I'd appreciate if anyone could help me out with the problem I'm facing.


Edit: I've read that increasing KNO3 could solve my cyanobacteria problem. Would it work adding more KNO3?


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## dru (Mar 9, 2013)

Brown ramshorn snails will help eliminate any trace of BGA

Just another mitigating factor along with increased flow and getting fert amounts set


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