algae

[Rod]

Can anyone please tell me how often and how much Nutrafin Plant Gro i need to dose my 215 Ltr tank, to keep the Black/Red tuffed algae in check - or better still , to kill the stuff , without affecting the fish or plants..

tnx Rod.

[supasi]

Hi there

You will need t give us a bit mre information to work with here.

I believe that is a liquid fert and will not kill BBA.

What plants do you have, how established is the tank. What sort of lighting and filtration.

Water parameters. All this will help us to help you

[Rod]

Thank you for the reply.

I will post the info later on to-day. But first, what is the prefered size of photo's that can be posted.

I have a fairly decent photo of the tank that might help , but its size is 2.51Mb & 3648 x 2736 pix

I can resize it for posting , But I knowing the limit would help

Tnx Rod.

[phoenix44]

Hi Rod,

the size limit on these boards is 640p.

+1 to what supasi said as well.

[Rod]

Hi

The info about my tank is as follows :-

AquaOne AR980 (215 ltrs)

I use their standard lighting set-up on for 10 hrs using a timer

their trickle filter with each compartment using

black foam , wool pad , black foam , ceramic noodles

I also use a Fuval 204 canister filter using

foam pads , ceramic noodles , filter wool , ceramic noodles

Both suction pipes are together with the heater

That combination gives a water flow of about 1680 ltrs per hour, or about 7 1/2 water changes per hour

the Fluval return water cascades over the AR's power head and the AR's return is at the other end, without the

extention , resulting in a gentle cross flow.

Also I am using a U V sterilizer

I change 90ltr per week ( approx 40% )

the water peramiters are farly constant at :-

Temp 28 c . Ph 6.4 . Amonia 0 .Nitrite 0 . Nitrate <> 10

The tank contains :-

Discus x 6 . Clown Loach x 2 . Pearl Gourami x 1 .Coolie Loach x 1

The fish are fed 3 times per day - TetraMin Tropical Flakes and TetraColor Granules,

and mid-day some blood worm and a TetraMin Tropical Tablet

The substrate is pea gravel between 20 -40 mm deep

The plants - I am not sure about, But I think they are Cabomba

-------------------------

I was hoping to attach a photo, But i'm not sure how.

Hope this helps

Tnx Rod

[Rod]

Hi there

You will need t give us a bit mre information to work with here.

I believe that is a liquid fert and will not kill BBA.

What plants do you have, how established is the tank. What sort of lighting and filtration.

Water parameters. All this will help us to help you

What about Flurish ?

[DennisP]

i had a staghorn algae outbreak a few weeks back. i got some flourish excel, in 3 days, it was all dead.

[Rod]

i had a staghorn algae outbreak a few weeks back. i got some flourish excel, in 3 days, it was all dead.

tnx for the reply - I will try it

[Jennifer]

Sounds like you have a good set up. Flourish excel at a dosage of 1ml per 15 litres seems to be pretty safe for a short term treatment (10 days). Be careful with discus though - it is best to increase the dosage slowly and watch carefully for any signs of distress. A maintenance dose of Flouish excel is around 1ml per 30 litres - it seems to have a good algicidal effect and the liquid carbon is useful for the plants.

Trace fertilisers should be added every day if possible to give the plants enough so that they can outcompete the algae. The UV light will inactivate some of those nutrients so you might want to consider cutting back on that if you can.

Be careful to rise any fresh food before you add it to the tank or you will be adding a lot of excess phosphates which will make it more likely that there will be an algae outbreak.

[Rod]

Sounds like you have a good set up. Flourish excel at a dosage of 1ml per 15 litres seems to be pretty safe for a short term treatment (10 days). Be careful with discus though - it is best to increase the dosage slowly and watch carefully for any signs of distress. A maintenance dose of Flouish excel is around 1ml per 30 litres - it seems to have a good algicidal effect and the liquid carbon is useful for the plants.

Trace fertilisers should be added every day if possible to give the plants enough so that they can outcompete the algae. The UV light will inactivate some of those nutrients so you might want to consider cutting back on that if you can.

Be careful to rise any fresh food before you add it to the tank or you will be adding a lot of excess phosphates which will make it more likely that there will be an algae outbreak.

Thank you very much for the reply

YES. I will take note of your comments. I did not give " washing the worms " a thought , But I will do that

and the UV is on all the time , so do you think , puting it on the light timer ,will help

AGAIN - Thank you for your help

:bounce: :bounce:

[Zev]

Thank you for the reply.

I will post the info later on to-day. But first, what is the prefered size of photo's that can be posted.

I have a fairly decent photo of the tank that might help , but its size is 2.51Mb & 3648 x 2736 pix

I can resize it for posting , But I knowing the limit would help

Tnx Rod.

Hi Rod

Details on posting pics here:

viewtopic.php?t=2406

Photobucket allows you to resize when you upload your images.

If you get stuck, email them to me and I will post them to you, just click the email button at the bottom of my post.

[Rod]

I hope this works , My 1st test post from PhotoBucket -

IMG]http://i1000.photobucket.com/albums/af122/Rods_Fishy-Photos/Tank/01240010-75.jpg

Ooops it looks like a fail

[SamH]

You forgot the first [

[Rod]

You forgot the first [

:bounce: Thank You , Thank You. :bounce:

Now after all that , This photo go's with my initall question

and the algae is on the top flat part of the rock on the right.

Tnx Rod

[supasi]

If its just on the rock, remove the rock and do a bleach dip on it.

Or else squirt some Flourish Excel directly onto it and it should start to turn pinky grey and die.

[Adrienne]

it will be a lot easier on the fish to take the rock out. My experience with discus is that they can cope with the odd 1 1/2 times the normal dose (add water to the excel first as adding straight into the tank by the discus can cause burns), but as a daily amount you are better to stick within the guidelines.

[Rod]

If its just on the rock, remove the rock and do a bleach dip on it.

Or else squirt some Flourish Excel directly onto it and it should start to turn pinky grey and die.

Thank You

Rod.

[Rod]

it will be a lot easier on the fish to take the rock out. My experience with discus is that they can cope with the odd 1 1/2 times the normal dose (add water to the excel first as adding straight into the tank by the discus can cause burns), but as a daily amount you are better to stick within the guidelines.

Thank you, If I add any thing to the water I usualy put it in where the water flows back in to the tank from the AR's filter inflow. To much disturbance in the water , there, so they stay out of the way.

Regards Rod