Green slime algae

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Ok... still can't shift this ruddy stuff... so what are the chances of me killing off my plants if I do a blackout? What length of time will be a) less likely to kill my plants, and b) get rid of the algae? I am also going to up the amount of KNO3 that I'm dosing and, once we move my other tank, am pinching the filter out of that one, so I will have a U2 and a U4 in my tank, hopefully improving circulation. I've never done a blackout before, however, I have killed many plants, especially the last time my lights broke... so any help would be appreciated :)
 
Get a storage bin for your plants and put the light over it so your plants live and you then take away the ability to turn on the light over your tank.

Like my first post said, there are products that work, but it never eliminates it. The products make it manageable. I stripped my tank down, bleached it, and started over. Your plants may have spores on them too so it could come back with them in a new tank.

As far as the blackout to kill it but not the plants. I'm really not sure that the plants will survive where the algae won't.
 
Ok, I'm thinking of switching to either eco complete or flourite substrate anyway, so what about syphoning all my substrate out and getting rid, putting plants and fish into a bucket, scrubbing the tank out with vinegar, then putting new substrate in with the fish, boiling all the rocks etc, then blacking out the tank for a few days, with the plants still in the bucket, so that any remaining spores are killed. Then dipping the plants in a weak bleach solution and then into a conc safe solution before replanting? Then to avoid reinfection, avoid having my nitrates bottom out and introduce a powerhead to avoid dead spots. Do you reckon this will work? Really don't want to change all my media in my filters as hate putting my fish through cycles....
 
Might be better off dipping the plants in a vinegar solution, just what I've read in the past. Even a weak bleach solution I would think is worse for a plant than a heavier vinegar solution. That's a question for someone who has a ton of experience in plants. I just know that algae is more of a survivor than a plant, like we all pretty much do.

As far as the media and cycles. You're going to have to put them through atleast a mini-cycle. Combined with a blackout, take the media and don't just rinse it with tank water. It has to be cleaned thoroughly, I didn't replace my media at all I sprayed it with a hose. I'm lucky that I have a whole home filtration system and no chlorine though so it's not as bad. And luckily for everyone the bacteria stays alive for quite a while as long as the media is kept wet. The other part of a mini-cycle is your substrate does a lot too with your beneficial bacteria. That being said, once you're done cleaning the filters fill them back up with water and have them ready to go back on the tank when it's completed and cleaned and continue with the blackout. Probably do a 1-2 week blackout with the plants getting the light where ever they are kept. Of course a few minutes for feeding won't hurt your fish at all either and we all know we're curious on how they are doing in this process.

What you've said as far as the substrate and glass, yes I do think that will work that's what I did minus I just bleached everything and threw my gravel away. Mostly because I didn't have any vinegar at the time lol. I WOULD NOT boil rocks though. Many rocks that we like contain air pockets in them and will explode in a boiling pot of water. Vinegar, soaking and rinsing should do just as well or if you want to use boiling water, pour the boiling water over them repeatedly.
 
I had it too and cut my lights to 5 hours a day and wala not a spec of nothing! Plus I added some Moss & Anubias to help combat.
 
BGA isn't really an algae but a bacteria that photosynthesise, so I wouldn't take the plants out when you do a blackout. I use potassium nitrate to boost NO3 to 10-20ppm in my planted tank.

If you clean as much of the BGA out as you can and do a large w/c followed by NO3 dosing and a complete black out for 3-4 days that should help. Most people put blankets over the tank to completely black it out.
 
The addition of UV filtration can help keep the water clear and kill any free-floating spores or microbes. In the last few years there have been many new affordable UV options available.
 
Done a 3 day blackout, it killed off half my floating plants, but it has also helped with the algae :) got much much less than I had now... Swapped filters from my other tank so will have more current, and upping the dosage of kno3... Can't afford new substrate ATM, my student loan came in today... And went out ten minutes later on rent... So the plan is to keep it at manageable level until more solvent (and can afford heating and eating) then will buy new substrate and do a full scrub down and replant... Can't afford uv currently, especially as I have read the bulbs need changing regularly.


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