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I've got right at 2 wpg lighing in a 125 gal tank (22" deep). I've got a problem with algae growing on the gravel. It usually starts in the center of the tank and spreads out. I used to have the lights on for 10 hrs per day, I've been adjusting it and am now down to 6 hrs. I have a 35 watt bulb that comes on in the morning for feeding and stays on until the rest of the lights turn on. The last suggestion someone made was that I may not have enough circulation in the area so I repositioned the spray bar on one of the filters but that didn't seem to work.

Any other suggestions?

James

James,

2wpg in a 125G is about medium light which can cause algae to appear when the parameters are out of sink.

You neglect to mention what kind of algae you have, although your statement of "The last suggestion someone made was that I may not have enough circulation" makes me believe that we are talking about BGA.

Can you specify the tank some more, like plant type and mass, filtration, fertilizer routine, water change routine, water parameters (ph, KH, N, P, and whever else you can get), light type and K rating, fish type and numbers, and all other things that come to mind when trying to identify the cause of algae.

Until then,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I think it's BGA, I originally had live plants but about a month ago I replaced everything with plastic plants. I've got a Rena XP2 and a Marineland 350 deluxe on the tank. I do 20-30% water changes weekly. ph is 7.2, don't have a hardness test kit (water is well water that is run through a water softner) amonia, nitrates and nitrites are all normal.
Stocking:
12 quarter to dollar size angels
3 clown loaches
15 black neons
2 otos
3 SAE's
1 whiptail pleco

Here's a pic of the algae
http://community.webshots.com/myphotos?action=showPhoto&albumID=459553078&photoID=2869150680054074011&security=YsaibF

Thanks
James
p.s. I posted this under aquascaping becuase there are no live plants...someone moved the post to this section.

also, I've got an XP3 that I took off the tank. I only had it on there for about a month after setting it up and thought the water flow was too much so I took it off.

James

?

James,

I guess nobody can list you a definite reason for your BGA. Neither can I, but why do you run 2wpg on a fake planted tank? What do you expect to grow? Algae - well, that worked .

Seriously though, I also would have suggested that the area in which the BGA starts does not get enough water flow, but I guess you checked that.

One way to get rid of it is by doing a black-out for a few days (I think I read 3 to 5), another is by adding Maracyn tablets to the tank, I used half dosage for 5 days. But these are only ways to fight it, not to prevent it.

Overall, proper light (not too much), proper feeding, good circulation, good vacuuming, and regular good water changes should take care of it, but I cannot be certain about my thoughts.

Sorry I cannot help more,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Try keeping your nitrates UP a bit (above 10ish... aim for 15-20ppm)... that generally helps quite a bit.

As Ingo said, blackouts work if you've got fake plants, not real. You will probably want to put a sheet or a blanket around the glass of the tank, and be sure to monitor the temp frequently, 'cause it might get a tad warm with the extra insulation.

I'm assuming you're not injecting CO2 because you've got fake plants? If not, definately increase water movement quite a bit (like a LOT).

You might want to reduce the lighting on the tank, if possible.

HTH

I guess nobody can list you a definite reason for your BGA

Yes that is true. I believe there are several factors that can result in BGA. As you probably know BGA is really a bacteria and not an algae. I have found a big contributor is when ones biological filter is not prepared to handle the waste load in the tank. Not having any real plants with 2 wpg certainly doesn't help.




My Scapes

Oh, forgot to add to be careful when handling the BGA. WASH YOUR HANDS VERY WELL AFTERWARD, don't get it in your eyes, mouth, nose, cuts, etc.

The stuff is teH ubErtoxic and some species of BGA are leathal, and most (if not all) are toxic to some degree.

I've personally been poisioned by the stuff, it's NOT fun... I spent the entire weekend throwing up all over the place, and then felt loopy for the rest of the week

Thanks for all the info. I'm going to:
1. reduce the lighting.
2. Put my XP3 back on the tank.

Will the Maracyn kill off the algae in the tank also? I've got quite a few algae eaters in there.

Also, what kind of affect can this have on the fish? I had two male angels that were injured from what I thought was fighting. Now that they are seperated the male that wasn't paired off has more areas on him that look like something is eating holes in him. The two original holes seem to be healing. Several other silvers are now showing some spots so i was thinking it was some kind of parasite.

James

Good news and bad news. I turned off all but one 35w bulb in the tank and began dosing (half recommended dosage) with Maracyn. After 2 1/2 - 3 days I could see a difference. After 5 days it was almost completely gone. Unfortunately I lost 3 fish after about day 3, one angel that was a little smaller than 50 cent size and an SAE that was about 2 1/2", on day 5 a second SAE that was about 3-3 1/2" died. All seem to have developed bloated stomachs almost overnight and died within a day of showing this. So far all other inhabitants seem fine. I've replaced two of the 55w bulb with 36w bulbs and will be replacing the remaining bulbs soon so that I've only got about 1.25w/gal rather than 2w/gal. I also replaced the Rena XP2 with my XP3 for better circulation.

Keep your fingers crossed that this works!

James

I have same problem with my 4ft.
Used to have it planted, but since removal of plants, the cyanobacteria problem is becoming a nightmare.

Well it's a nitrogen fixing bacteria, so found in when nitrogeous compound is really low.
I have two tanks with similar parameter except for nitrate level, the one with cyanobacteria has nitrate less than 5ppm but the one without cyanobacteria has nitrate out of the chart

Also, it consumes carbon dioxide and turns it into carbon molecule. Just like chloroplasts in plant cells, they are photosynthetic. It's been suggested that chloroplasts are cyanobacteria "living" inside plant cells by evolution from endosymbiosis. So i think high concentration of carbon dioxide might be one of the causes.

Since it's photosynthetic, high levels of light will promote its growth.

Also, with treating with antibiotics, you are risking that your benificial bacteria getting wiped out too.

Cyanobacteria are gram negative bacteria, and your nitrobacters are also gram negative bacteria. Hence they will have similar response to same antibiotics. Be careful when you are treating with antibiotics.


With my problem, I have done a week long black out and added water circulation by extra power head. Also, light hours are cut down from 10 hours daily to 8 hours daily. About 5 litres of water is introduced from my high nitrate water to low nitrate water. Added some plants. Used to have 72 watt on the 55G, now down to 36watt.

So far the results has been positive.

Good luck !!!