wrote:
Shawn you will never have good results at prevention/reoccurance
without using KNO3.
I took this advice and it has worked for me so far. I did the blackout
for 4 days in my large tank and I make sure to add a small amount of
KN03 weekly at water change time. I monitor the Nitrates and
Phosphates throughout the week and only add KNO3 when the measurable
nitrates are below 5ppm.
A 3 day blackout
50% water at the start and the end
Adding 1/4 teaspoon KN03 per 25 gal after each water change
Then adding 1/4 teaspoon at least 1-2x a week thereafter will prevent
BGA and other algae from ever bothering you.
This is sound advice, as I recommended above. However, I think Tom is
assumming we all have aquatic jungles with low fish loads when he
advises to add KNO3 twice weekly thereafter. Sure, it will ward off
BGA, but without sufficient plant growth you will suffer a green algae
breakout in my experience.
try ordering from Greg www.gregwatson.com
Get:
2lbs or so KNO3
1 lb KH2PO4
1 lb Trace mix with Boron.
I took this advice also and over did it. Once again, I had what I felt
were alot of plants. Hey, it was more than I ever had! At the time I
had 5 $2.99 bunches of plants and some java fern in a 55g tank. When I
added KH2P04 and KNO3, in no time I had green algae covering every
surface in the tank. Nice furry hairy stuff. It took bleach dips and
massive water changes to clear it. Now, I closely monitor both
nitrates and P04 (phosphate) and only add KN03 and KH2P04 when
necessary. In fact, I haven't dosed with KH2P04 again. I've since
bought some KCI potassium and use that for my K dosing. Now my tank is
running fine. I've also added many more plants and I expect to be
seeing my nitrate levels diminish throughout the week. I haven't yet
though, because the fish food going in has not yet equaled the plant
usage.
http://www.geocities.com/erviservy/plantsFeb13.jpg
Just do this and do all of this advice and you will not have any BGA.
If you delete the KNO3, the BGA will simply come back.
Another data point: In my fry tank I had long term BGA that I finally
had to take care of. The clump of java moss in there was turning into
the blob; a great big slimy ball of gelatnus goo. I used the Emycin
antibiotic treatment to kill the BGA and now use a very small dose of
KNO3 to keep it away.
steve