Amano shrimp are best.
Some Excel can help also.

Regards,
Tom Barr

hi tom, I got my plants now let's see whether they grow!
the shrimps will have to wait till the new tank. don't want to put too much stress on them.

excel against green thread algae? hmmm, never heard that it works against green algae. BBA of course, that is common knowledge by now. but also the greens? did you perform any secret experiments in this regard?

previously I melted my potamogetons. it is now growing back nicely since I stopped dosing excel, so maybe the real or lower aquatic plants, which includes green algae (also clado???), are excel-sensitive.

greets,

yme

ps: do you know anything about a meeting on shallow waters that is held in Dalfsen, the netherlands on 15 juni? got my hands on an abstractbook and it looks pretty cool!

There is a good research group of people in Europe that focuses on such systems.
Our group here is generally dealing with Florida and some Latin American countries.

More tropical.
But many of the same processes play roles.

Excel likely will harm Pondweeds, Potamogetons etc.

I have tested Excel against Sago Pondweed and it does not impact it.

Regards,
Tom Barr

hi tom.

very nice to know a bit more about your research area!
I think we now indeed now that excel harms at least some potamogetons, but are green algae like microspora, spytogira and cladophora also affected???
from the other forums i think that a conclusion can be made that they don't melt away like the reds. but maybe it tips the balance in favour of the plants and the algae are somehow inhibited in their growth?

greets.

yme

an update:

tank is doing good and not so good. I have growing a lot of thread algae (microspora) and I cannot get rid of it . I had to throw out my wallichii because it was the most ratty one ever!
On the other hand, my tonina fluviatilis and belem are doing great! the eriocaulon setaceum is also doing fine, but was in a bad condition when I received the plant (which you still can see) and the plant is really sensitive to the thread algae.

but of course a pictures is much more informative! (although this is not the nicest picture in the world...)



greets,

yme

YME,

the 3 day blackout + Excel + water changes each day of the blackout seems to beat up all green algae very well.

This adds 3 hard punches to the alage.

Now that and some pruning, and picking will get rid of it, now keeping it away is up to you.

I go after algae very agressively manually.
I'll remove certain plants that get infested easier than others.

I'll toss them in a bucket fo 2-3 days and little excel, then bring them back later. Or add them to a tank full of Amano shrimp which pick the plant clean........

Regards,
Tom Barr

hi all,

A month further and still the battle continues.
I added amano shrimps, oto's and black mollies. Most of them died. I think it could be due to high CO2 levels. It is the only thing I can think of. therefore I set my pH 0.2 higher, at 6.2. So far, noting has died since. Could mean I am right.

Tried an excel treatment at half the dose --> only effect was the melting of some plants: potamogeton species. However, I also observed that my tonina was melting. After stopping the excel treatment, the melting stopped as well. Unforunately, I also played with my Mg levels at that time. At the sme time as I started the excel treatment I highered my Mg from 2 to 5 mg/l. After I saw the tonina melting I stopped the Mg increase as well as the excel treatment. So now I have the problem that I don't know what triggered the melting: excel or more Mg?? any idea?

However, since I lowered my CO2, I also see more BBA. I think there is plenty of surface agitation, with 3 powerheads in 90 liters, so I am affraid of increasing my CO2 again. Don't want to kill more organisms. Far too many already have .

Anyway, not really any news from my side, but I would love to know what triggered the melting of my tonina.

greets,

yme

Namely CO2 I'd say.

You should be able to do some larger water changes, pruning, you have mostly stem plants anyway, and add some SAE;s they should maul the BBA also.

I'd just be very agressive about it.
Nutrients are hardly any related issue for BBA, it's almost all CO2 related.

One thing you might want to re- evaluate: the time it takes for the CO2 to get up to high enough levels, especially in the first few hours of the day cycle.

It's likely okay if you stop adding CO2 the last 45 min of the light cycle, but the first few hour are the most critical.

Even though I was adding plenty of CO2 into several tanks, I still had BBA.
I could gas the fish if I added more.

Yet why was I not able to get rid of it in thiese tanks vs the others I had using this same method?

The key was I used the glass diffusers, which took about 30-60 minutes to pressurize and get started adding the CO2, by then, 1-2 hours had elapsed under high light.

When I re set he CO2 to add it at 1 hour before, the BBA started going away.
In another case, the filter started degassing more and more when evaporation water was not added, this reduced the CO2 and induced both hair and BBA algae.

CO2 mist also showed to be effectiev at getting rid of the algae.
I think a combo of tweaking the CO2 well over the light peroid, good pruning and cleaning, some SAE's, some Amano shrimps etc ought to work for you.

Afterwards, you should not need so much labor/work.

Regards,
Tom Barr

hi tom,

quick answer

I must say that I am not able to do more waterchanges. I do two water changes per week. 50% each. Before I prune away most of the algae.

Your advice to check the CO2 in the morning I will follow. The CO2 is on though one hour in advance.

The best CO2 mist I have achieved so far is connecting the powerhead with a spraybar. The co2 bubbles are nicely released into the water. I would say it is not bad. without a spraybar I can get better bubbles dwarling around the tank, but this also means that the current is that strong in the near proximity of the powerhead, that the plants are simply blown away. Not an option for me.

And SAE in 90 liters is not a good idea in my opion. Too little space and I don't like big fish. But that is just me .

not any idea about the melting?

thanks!

yme

btw: I think I could do worse: tonina flufiatilis, belem and eriocaulon setaceum are doing just fine, without any ADA AS or watsoever.

You really should give the ADA sediment a try, I think you'll be happy.
I know you have it planned for later.
You might reconsider the species also and try other species that are not so troublesome.

There are some 300 plant species available to chose from, many are very nice and much easier to care for.

SAE's get big, but it takes awhile. Later, you can donate or sell them at a club meeting etc.

Water change routine is fine.
You might up the Trace mix if you use the Tropica brand.

I would really go after the algae that's there really aggressively.
clean all non plant items well etc(bleach etc).

Regards,
Tom Barr