"blue green algae"

[iatetheweatherman]

Hey guys, I have been dealing with what I think is called blue green algae. It recently popped up in my tank and I'm not sure what's causing it. I'm only feeding once a day and I dialled the lights back. Does anyone have any tips for dealing with this? Do I have to manually remove it all, or will it die off/disappear when the cause is gone?
-90 gallon, dirted/gravel, 4 t5ho lights 9 hrs/day. co2, weeklyish 30% water changes.

[exv152]

http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm

[iatetheweatherman]

Thanks, that's a good page. Will my plants take much damage from a 3-4 day blackout?

[Stussi613]

Probably not. I blacked out a tank for a week with garbage bags and blankets trying to get rid of black beard algae and my plants actually seemed greener when I unwrapped it.

[iatetheweatherman]

Well that's good news. I'm going to do a clean today and start a blackout. I hope you're right! I have the worst luck. I try to do everything right and seem to get the worst stuff. I was dealing with black beard algae in my 20g a few months ago too....

[daworldisblack]

Lol.. no one is algae free - everyone has dealt with a battle or two. Its totally worth it if you get to the bottom of it and get a fix in though! In your case, you might want to check you nitrates in your water column. Maybe wrm130 can chime in here - he does dirt too. Not sure if he doses the water column. KNO3 would be the dry fert you'd need to up your nitrate if need be. Available at hydroponics stores.. most folks here speak of B&B Hydroponics being great locally.

[charlie]

Based on the link provided , have you given any thought as to what is the under lying problem?
Regards

[iatetheweatherman]

I think the problem is the nitrates. I just did a test and it was reading possibly 0. So I think I need to get some KNO3. Does anyone have a link on how to properly dose?

[exv152]

...1 tablespoon into 250 ml of water. Each ml of this solution will give you 1.08 ppm of NO3 in 10 gallons of water.
http://www.rexgrigg.com/dosing.htm

[iatetheweatherman]

Awesome thanks! I guess I'm off to buy some.

[soleil1980]

I used to have a 125g that always had a blue green algea problem in it.  None of my other tanks were affected...  The only difference I could notice is that the 125g got a bit of direct sunlight in the afternoon.  The black out method seemed to work best and none of my plants were ever affected by this (however, my plants were not very demanding...  java fern, java moss...).

Good luck with this as I know how much of a pain it can be!

[wrm130]

My tanks all test 0 for nitrates as well, so I doubt that's it.

What is the circulation like in the tank?  Instead of a blackout maybe you could try tossing in a powerhead...Current is good for plants too:)

[iatetheweatherman]

Thanks for all your help wrm!!!

edit: and everyone else too !!

[Stussi613]

Well that's good news. I'm going to do a clean today and start a blackout. I hope you're right! I have the worst luck. I try to do everything right and seem to get the worst stuff. I was dealing with black beard algae in my 20g a few months ago too....

BBA is a pain, but its easy enough to deal with. Get a couple of young true SAE's and spot treat the BBA by dosing the max dose for your water volume directly onto a small portion of the BBA with a syringe with the filter off. Wait 15 minutes and turn the filter back on and the BBA should turn grey within 24/48 hours, at which point the SAE's will devour it. Repeat every 48 hours on a new spot until you're BBA free.  I had a large piece of drift wood covered with a 3" long carpet of it and I got rid of it within 2 months and grew some big SAE's in the process.