# Green Dust Algae Cure



## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

In 5 days this has had no responses! That bothers me a bit, but I think the reason is that it goes against all of our experiences, against all that we think are the causes of this algae. My response has to be that I don't believe this will work for even a small percentage of us. I hope someone else has tried this and will tell us how it worked for them, or explain why it might work.


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## happi (Dec 18, 2009)

am not sure how you have Nitrate=0 when using EI?

IME GDA has nothing to do with flow, it will grow even in the highest flow, doesn't matter where you point the outlet or inlet. i use to get GDA soon as i dose higher amount of KNO3, but since i reduced the KNO3 dose, GDA is hardly any issue.


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## Numba1Assassin (Aug 14, 2014)

I am well aware that many have different experiences with GDA; I've spent many an hour researching online how to get rid of it and how others have gotten rid of it. I can also understand why many may doubt the method by which I finally achieved success with my reoccurring bouts with GDA. It's one of the reasons I was so specific in outlining my dry ferts regimen, as well as so many other parameters of my tank. I don't dose EI as I consider my amounts to be below EI, but yes my nitrates frequently drop to zero in between fertile God refills. However, to be completely honest, my bouts with GDA started before I ever even decided to start using ferts. I started dosing because everyone stated that having just the right fert regimen was the key to never getting any kind of algae ever again. However I quickly found that that using ferts is an overwhelming undertaking in itself. That, and for a short while that using EI actually made the problem a little worse until I dialed it back a little bit. Eventually, my final assessment led me to believe that a proper fert regimen only really solved my GSA problem. 
My first problem with algae was brown algae; but I solved that by upgrading my lights. Then came the GDA and GSA. So I decided to start dosing, but with dosing there is a constant tug of war with trying to get it just right. It never really ends to be honest; which is when I settled for a happy medium in my regiment, and then just automated it to remove the headache of it. At some point in the middle I experimented with increasing light by using my old and new lights since I upped my game with CO2 and EI; but I ran into BBA. So I dialed the light back to a happy medium as well. But again, GDA was never cured. Until now; until i ascertained what change I made to my tank that finally rid the problem. Also, it's not some fluke remedy that I posted, I have monitored my tank for many months after the change.
At the end of the day though, I expect that this remedy may not work for everyone. Especially since I have not been able to find a clear and definitive reason, or cause and effect factor that creates GDA. It was my intent from the beginning of this article to state my remedy with the hope that one day someone who was in the same hopeless position that I was in can find this solution, and solve their problem in the same manner that I did. Regardless, I don't expect to alter the opinion or mindset of anyone that has cured their GDA by other methods; which is why I close with the statement that I encourage you interpret my findings and parameters as you see fit.


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## jordie416 (Jul 1, 2016)

What the heck, won't hurt to try. Thank you sir!


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Numba1Assassin said:


> *The short and quick answer: Change your waterflow!*
> 
> *The long story:*
> I decided that I wanted to increase the flow of CO2 over my newly plugged carpet grass (Monte Carlo). I was injecting pressurized CO2 through a CO2 reactor, then returned to the tank through a pair of standard return tubes. Since I have a 150 gallon long tank, its still about 22 inches from the return tube to the carpet grass. In an effort to get the returning water and CO2 closer to the carpet grass, I decided to take up a project of changing how the returning water flow is returned and dispersed throughout the tank.* First, I bought a pair of marineland long intake tubes, and converted them into return tubes that extend halfway down the tank before the returned water is dispersed throughout the tank.* At the end of the intake tube, I modified the strainer by applying aquarium safe silicone to the back half of the strainer so that water is dispersed in a forward arc where the carpet grass is. This all worked pretty well, and the return jet was alot closer to the bottom of the tank.


I don't quite understand this. Did you basically add another return tube? You basically increased the flow of the Co2?


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## Vidikron (May 21, 2015)

Hilde said:


> I don't quite understand this. Did you basically add another return tube? You basically increased the flow of the Co2?


My interpretation isn't that he didn't actually increase the amount of CO2 being injected, but rather that he extended and angled his return tubes so that they flowed over his carpet first. Thus, the carpet gets first crack at the freshly injected CO2.


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