Crucified with BBA

kylith

There is black beard algae all over my tank. I've tried getting more plants, I've tried adding EasyCarbo to encourage the plants to grow faster, I've even blocked out all light other than for 4 hours a day. All that's happened is the algae is still flourishing and all my actual plants are dying.

Is there a nuclear option anyone can recommend? A US site recommended applying EasyCarbo to the leaves themselves but this just ate holes in my anubias.

CruelCoin

CO2 buddy.

I recently installed co2 into my 240lt tank and have noticed immediate benefits. It's at the point now where i'm actually adding nitrate into the tank for fertiliser...Without it my readings are 0ppm/0ppm/0ppm....

Now, this may draw some flak, but hear me out. Pest snails. There i said it!
A small population of these will munch on goddamn everything algae, but there is a lot of work involved to ensure they don't become unsightly.
I have recently lost that battle and have has to dose medicine to kill the snails, but untill then my tank was the cleanest it had ever been!

Also, how often are you changing water? Are you testing your tank water? You need to control your Nitrate and organic waste compound levels to keep algae under control. Best way is regular water changes. I'm talking 50% a week. Or as much as you goddam need to to keep nitrates below 30ishppm.

I also tried the rubbing easycarbo in the past, but no joy.

Hmmmm, what else....Lights. What kind of light tubes do you have? Day light, colour light, etc.
Different plants need different colour spectrums. Green plants will use a different spectrum than red plants for example. If you have plants that need a green/blue spectrum for example, then supplying red/orange will starve your plants and allow red/orange loving algae to make use of the nutrients your starved plants are not using.
You can see the light spectrum readings on the back of any light tube box.

kylith

I'm changing about 10l a day 5 days a week, and it's a 120l tank. I tested during the week and came up with 0 on everything, but I discovered yesterday that my test kit is about a month past it's Best Before so I don't know if that would make any difference. I'll have to check my lights to see what kind they are, as far as I know they're the standard Juwel lights that come with the tank. I'm willing to try pest snails. What would be involved in a simple CO2 set up?

CruelCoin

kylith wrote: »

What would be involved in a simple CO2 set up?

2 Options: Bio and bottled

Bio: Sugar and yeast ina reaction chamber. Yeast produces co2 that is run into the tank, cheap and simple, but not very effective (slow co2 production).

Bottled: Co2 cylinger with a regulator (tap+meter to control flow rate), bubble counter. You need to measure the water hardness and ph of the water in the tank. Compare these on a co2 chart to see how much co2 you have in ppm. Then adjust your co2 regulator as needed untill you get approx 20ppm co2.

Bottled is more reliable, more adjustable but more expensive. Full mid-range set (JBL) set will put you back approx €350 depending where you get it....

kylith

I'm pissed off with it, but I don't know if I'm €350's worth of pissed off...

CruelCoin

kylith wrote: »

I'm pissed off with it, but I don't know if I'm €350's worth of pissed off...

http://www.seahorseaquariums.com/JBL-ProFlora-u401-CO2-System//1556

€180 for a more basic kit. You could shave off another 20-30 if you go online for it (amazon).

Bottle, reactor, regulator and co2 tester. Everything you need.

That bottle is disposable, so you'll have to buy a new one each time it runs dry. Cheaper up front, but if you use the system for a long time, it'll be more expensive in the long run thanks to buying bottles as opposed to getting a refillable bottle refilled.