pinkfloydpuffer

Ok, so I still have cyanobacteria coming back in my 20g aquarium. It started when the tank was brackish, which was about 6 months ago. I'd get rid of it, then it'd come back. Over and over and over. I am getting so unbelievable frustrated. I've tried blackouts, the heavily planted method, and erythromycin. Erythromycin takes care of it for a while, but then it comes back. I'm on about the 3rd or 4th time treating with ery., and I think it's losing it's effectiveness. My my big beautiful dwarf hygrophilia has turned into a pile of melted mush, and I am sooooooo angry about that. Although the BGA doesn't grow on the plants (except the moss), it seems to kill the plants by stealing all the nutrients from them. I really don't know what to do, and I am just so frustrated! Any ideas?

Lucy

Hey there PFP
SDS has a good article about it in the April 2008 FL Magazine:
Cyanobacteria

Good luck

pinkfloydpuffer

Thanks Lucy
I have read that article before, and I've tried the blackouts and all that it says.... but it just keeps coming back.

Does anyone think changing the lightbulbs to a different spectrum would help?

Annadvn

What is the phosphorus level in the tank? How much water movement is in the tank?

I found the key to getting rid of the cyanobacteria in my salt tank was increasing the amount of water movement and keeping close eye on the phosphorus and nitrate levels.

I would for now take the moss out of the tank and rinse it in tap water (use the chlorine in the water to kill the bacteria) put the moss back in after syphoning all the other cyano out of the tank and retest the water parameters before the cyano has had chance to start utilising the excess nutrients. Depending on what fish you have you might want to add a power head to the tank and aim in where the cyano normally builds up.

Do you feed frozen foods in that tank?

Anna

Lucy

I get it in one of my tanks...sheets of it. I haven't tried meds or black outs...just cleaning it off during water changes.
I think you're on to something with the lights. This is the only 10g I have with a fluorescent. The 10g's with incandescent doesn't get it.

Edit:
Interesting point. The one tank I get it in, I decreased water movement for my betta. The others haven't been altered.

BigJoe

problem is downgrading the light might hurt the plants... i'd go with the phosphates or maybe nitrates being high... do you use RO water? if not you may need to get some kind of phosphate reducer... there are products you can buy but other than those options i don't know what to do..

pinkfloydpuffer

I've tested it before and it was at 0. Haven't tested recently though. For water movement I have the Aquaclear filter running plus one airstone.

I can do that. The tank has two dwarf puffers and one south american puffer. I do feed frozen foods. I thaw it in a glass with some Vitachem and feed with tweezers.

I do have a 48" long flexible bubblewand that I could use in that tank (24" long).... might be overkill, lol, but it'd sure give it some movement....

I was thinking of not downgrading but actually changing the spectrum of light. It's sort of a yellowy light. I could go with something closer to the blue end or white or something.

ABCDemily

Apparently as lights age they give out light from the red side of the spectrum, so it simply could be the need to replace the lighting, it moves from blue to red as it ages, and red encourages algae growth. I think maybe the light just needs replacing?

I do this from experience, I wondered why I was having a permanent hair algae bloom, and out the light had ages from blue to red.

Algae's all gone after a nice light re-fit

pinkfloydpuffer

Well, the BGA appeared soon after I upgraded the lighting to brand new bulbs, and it's persisted since then....

ABCDemily

Well then I'm stumped. If they were higher wattage then the originals that this could've caused it.

Apart from that I don't really think I can offer too much assistance.

pinkfloydpuffer

Yeah... we built custom lighting so that I could have plants, since the original fixture had only 15 watts (20g tank) and the new one has 40

lew2000

PFP try this link - usually lights that are heavier into the blue spectrum can cause or excacerbate this type of problem, given that this algae is as you know, actually a photosynthetic bacteria. Such as lighting specifically for plants.

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f...osythesis.html

pinkfloydpuffer

Thanks, I'm bookmarking that to study it...

lew2000

Your welcome - this is at least what i did when i had this problem i went more towards a lesser Kelvin value - and ended up using a 5500K bulbs (daylights) - about an eqaul mix red/blue. Everything i have read (doesn't make me an expert - with all the lumens, K value, etc.) on planted tank sites - the more into the higher K the greater the emphasis toward the blue spectrum/wewavelength. As ABC demilly was talking about the red wavelengths - an issue with true alages. Not trying to tell you anything you don't already know. Sorry for the rambling, been dealing with the CA -DMV all day.

pinkfloydpuffer

Lol, no prob. I like all the advice and info I can get.

harpua2002

Have you tested your tap water for phosphate? It could be that you have some present in your tap water, and the cyano is soaking it all up and giving you a false reading in a sense. In that case, Chemi-pure may help I think. I don't know how much the spectrum of your bulbs plays into cyano, but maybe you're onto something with that. Good luck!

pinkfloydpuffer

I believe I have and it was 0. I have the API test and can test again when I get home though.