# reintroduction of BGA after blackout



## yme (Jul 25, 2005)

hi all!

I did a blackout of three days according to the well known method to remove BGA. It seems that the BGA died according to plan. However, I have a second tank that also suffers from BGA. I did not treat it so it is still there.
The problem is that I normally use the same hoze and buckets for water changing. I didn´t think about it (shame on me), but could it be that there was still some BGA in the buckets or hoze due to the water change last weekend of this BGA containing second tank and that I just reintroduced BGA into my tank that just had a blackout?

greets,

yme


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

It is possible, but i doubt it. The hose would have just flushed the BGA out, and as you wound it up it would have squished the water out leaving no water left over for the BGA to live in. The bucket might be a better method of transferring the BGA because of its shape. But i don’t think it would be reintroduced by the bucket/hose.


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## RTR (Oct 28, 2005)

BGA are ubiquitous. They are one of the commonest forms of life on this planet. BGA will be reintroduced into the tank sooner or later. Whether or not it establishes a visible presence or even takes over the tank is a function of tank operation and upkeep.


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## JaySilverman (Jun 19, 2005)

Your blackout did not kill all the BGA. And it won't so don't bother doing another one. Remove as much as you possibly can and plant more plants and increase your no3.


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## locus (Dec 7, 2004)

I have battled BGA in my tank for a while now... I have done a couple of blackouts, which had success in killing off the BGA but it did creep back in again.

I am pretty much on top of it now though, I have the occaisional small bit show up between the substrate and glass but I just keep on dosing my macros and micros as normal and it never gets a foothold.


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## yme (Jul 25, 2005)

thanks for the replies!

I am tying to keep nitrate above 20 ppm and fosfate above 1 ppm.

greets,

yme


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## yme (Jul 25, 2005)

well, the BGA is already back......

don´t like it....

I changed 40% water before blackout
I added 10 mg/l NO3 before the blackout.
blackout of 3 days
changed 50% water
added 15 mg/l NO3 and 1 mg/l PO4 

the BGA was gone,, but now it is there again, only 2 days later...

greets,

yme


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

For everyone who has done a blackout to rid their tanks of BBA unsuccessfully can you describe your method?

I have tried the blackout method once for BGA and it worked like a charm.


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## yme (Jul 25, 2005)

then I´ll give some more info:

I placed 1x1 meter hardboard on the front and sides of the tank. I taped it to the tank and put a large blanket on top of it to be sure that no light could enter. 

I turned off the automatical PO4, NO3 dosing pumps as well as CO2 supply. 

PO4 was around 1 when I covered the tank and was zero blackout and waterchange. Thus, I added 1 mg/l PO4 after the waterchange. NO3 was, I think, at 10 after the blackout and waterchange, but I added 15 mg/l more. Oke, maybe a bit much, but I was determined not to have a lack of NO3. 

After a close inspection, I couldn´t find BGA. So I was happy. 




and now I am not......

greets,

yme


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## BigChuckP (Oct 8, 2005)

How is the circulation in your tank? Are there any dead spots where water does not circulate very well? Is the BGA usually always in the same spot? If so this might be where the circulation is poor.


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## yme (Jul 25, 2005)

The flow is good. it's a 160 liter tank with an eheim professional 2224 and a powerhead (forgot the l/h, but it is something around the 600 l/h?) 
I have no BGA on the gravel, only on the leaves of several plant species. Nothing in particular, although there is a tendency towards the leaves that receive more light, i.e. near the surface.

greets,

yme


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

yme said:


> I placed 1x1 meter hardboard on the front and sides of the tank. I taped it to the tank and put a large blanket on top of it to be sure that no light could enter.


Sounds like a fairly decent blackout routine with the exception of a filter cleaning. I asked about your blackout methods because a lot of folks seem to think a blackout is merely turning the tank lights off.


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

The only thing I can think of is related to NO3 and CO2:

- What are you using as a source of NO3? KNO3?

- How much (grams/tsp) did you add in a 160l tank to get 10mg/l, 15mg/l?

- I've found that if the NO3 is good and BGA is still coming back, it usually means CO2 is too low, no matter what the chart says.


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## yme (Jul 25, 2005)

I indeed use KNO3 as source. my stock solution contains 50 gram of KNO3 per 500 ml= 60 mg NO3/ml. 1 ml of stocksolution adds 0.4 mg/l in my tank. So 25 ml gives 10 mg/l and 37.5 ml gives 15 mg/l.

my pH is 6.5 and KH 4. The plants are pearling very moderately. So I could increase the CO2 concentration by lowering the pH. shall I drop it 0.1 or 0.2 points?

In the mean time BGA is growing happy. The plants are not yet recovered from the dark. especially the blyxa looks crappy. So I am a bit affraid to do another blackout. What do you suggest?

greets,

yme

ps: I am not scared by the BGA, I just don't like it!


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## plantbrain (Jan 23, 2004)

Have you vacuumed the gravel?
Clean the filters good?

Do that prior.

Then do the blackout and dosing KNO3 more.

Two things about BGA: organic matter/low O2 and low NO3.
If it's growing well on the gravel, you have a lot of driftwood/cork etc, any sources of carbon/organic matter in higher levels, BGA likes that.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## yme (Jul 25, 2005)

he tom!

I vacuum the gravel every week. But it is true that there is some dedritus lying on the gravel. In my opinion too much. But I clean most of it every week as I did for the blackout.

I clean the filter, I think once a month. It is filled with white foam, but it does not get very dirty.... I did not clean the filter before the blackout, so that is 1 mistake! 

About the O2, I have no Idea what the concentration is. The only thing I can say is that I have an OFA (skimmer in english?) to remove the organic film on top of the water. (also a sign that my tank isn´t optimal functioning)

The BGA is not growing on the gravel. Only on the leaves of plants. And I don´t have any driftwood or in my tank to avoid additional organics. 
Is it strange that I don´t have any NGA on the gravel? is a different species?

greets,

yme


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## plantbrain (Jan 23, 2004)

So the BGA grows on the vegetative cones of the fine needled plants?

It's all the same species.

This is a common problem, but not that serious.
Good fertilization will help but also something I call "fluffing" the plants.

Using your hand, you flick water rapidly across the BGA infested plant to tear the BGA off. Fluffing the plants removes a lot of algae, much more than many people think. I stir my tanks around good each week with a net and remove any loose leaves, detritus etc.

Also, a good trimming to keep the plants away from the surface of the tank is wise. You can beat this BGA without antibiotics, blackouts etc.
You just need to bother the BGA this way for a few days.

With good nutrients, CO2/light, this usually goes away fairly fast. 

The other rather deceptively simple thing: remove the infected plants, place in bag and put in the dark for 3 days after fluffing first.

You do not need to blackout of the whole tank. Just the infected plants. They can returned to the tank later.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## yme (Jul 25, 2005)

hi Tom,

The BGA is again growing on virtually all species. Since I have no fine needled plants, BGA is not growing on it 
However, it is growing on the potamogeton gayi and stargrass just below the vegetative cone. 
The tonina fluviatilis contains some BGA as well. The strange thing is however that it starts on this plant as "patches". Then it spreads like normal BGA. 
I saw today some BGA starting to grow on elatine tiandra and blyxa japonica.

Therefore I decided to do another blackout. My tank is just too much covered with it....

Before the blackout I changed 50% water, trimmed the plants, removed as much BGA as possible (which was quite hard to remove from the leaves...) and cleaned the filter. The tank is now covered and taped with plastic bags. 

Since I indeed bought the Hanna C205, I calibrated the tests and found that my NO3 was after the waterchange 18 mg/l and PO4 1 mg/l. Good enough in my humble opinion.

I will wait again 3 days...

but need some advice:
Do you think it is recommended to cut back the light and micro´s after the blackout? Just to "slowstart" the tank again, because I think the plants are not happy with this second blackout within two weeks. 

greets,

yme


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## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

I would forget the blackouts, that's just a band-aid. Increase your bio-filter capacity by adding as much porous filter media as you can to your filter and plant more dense plants. After the BGA is under control you could slowly remove the plants you don't want to keep.


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## plantbrain (Jan 23, 2004)

No, just crank the CO2/nutrients back.

HofCards also has a suggestion along the same lines as cleaning your filter regularly and providing stable flow.

I'd ignore the readings for now, just dose the KNO3 as suggested.


Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## yme (Jul 25, 2005)

I must say thanks again!

I´ll try to find some additional plants. That shouldn´t be too hard. I will add again some porous pipes.

I´ll dose as suggested and everything will be fine!

greets,

yme


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