[Mr.PlantedTank]

So, I've been doing 50% water changes every week for the last 4-5 months on my 29g planted tank, which has been running for 2 years. I feed my fish every other day and I'm careful to not overfeed them and make sure the consume all the food. I have an algae outbreak that has started within the last 2-3 weeks and I have no idea why. Some blue-green algae is the newest addition, I've started to do water changes every week and a half, instead of every week, to up the nitrates and I manually push water to the blue-green algae, I was thinking the growth maybe due to there being a dead spot. The blue-green algae isn't everywhere, it's only in a couple locations. 95% of my plants have algae on their leaves and I don't know what to do. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

I use the API freshwater master test kit, so some of the color values appeared to be between the guide's color scale.

Water Parameters:
pH: 6.8-7.0
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 10-20ppm (usually its 5-10ppm, I thought maybe I was changing the water too frequently and not allowing for enough nitrates. I read that could cause blue-green algae?)
Substrate: Controsoil Normal Soil - UNS - Red (rescaped my tank 3-4 months ago)

Temp: 74 F / 23 C
Photoperiod: 7hrs, originally was 8hrs.
I use the Aquarium Co-op easy green liquid fert. 3 pumps a week after water changes

Set up:
Fluval aquasky LED 600mm
Settings:
Red: 100%
Blue: 100%
Green: 100%
White: 100%
I was thinking I may want to reduce the intensity?

Fluval 206 canister filter, I forgot the type of heater I bought.

Flora:
2x Anubias sp.
6x Golden anubias nana, its began to melt. I felt it was rhizome rot so I moved them to allow more water flow.
Jungle Val
Java Moss
5-6x Java ferns
3-4x dwarf chain sword
1x melon sword (I have not seen new growth in over a year )
1x amazon sword (Same story as melon sword)
2x crytpocoryne wendtii
3-5x bucephlandria peacock
Water spangles

Stock:
1 peapuffer
6 rummy nose tetra
2 cardinal tetra
3 ruby tetra
4 green neon tetra
4 pygmy corydora
5 panda corydora
3 three-lined pencil fish
3 amano shrimp

 

[Kubla]

I've dealt with it some in the past. Just keep in mind that if it's BGA it's not algae, it's a cyanobacteria. I had good luck spot treating with H2O2. You might want to do a little research for what you think is a safe level but I think it's usually about 1ml per gallon for 3% hydrogen peroxide which is what you'll typically find for a buck or 2 at the drugstore. I researched until I came up with a level I was comfortable with and then cut that in half. Turn off the filters, let the water settle and spot treat with a syringe. Wait for a 15 minutes or so and turn the filters back on. To high of levels can adversely affect flora and fauna, particularly mosses and riccia.
Is the algae on the plant leaves different? You might want to try to direct some more flow to the problem areas. BTW I think you have a typo in the 2nd line "I'm careful to overfeed them".

 

[Mr.PlantedTank]

I've dealt with it some in the past. Just keep in mind that if it's BGA it's not algae, it's a cyanobacteria. I had good luck spot treating with H2O2. You might want to do a little research for what you think is a safe level but I think it's usually about 1ml per gallon for 3% hydrogen peroxide which is what you'll typically find for a buck or 2 at the drugstore. I researched until I came up with a level I was comfortable with and then cut that in half. Turn off the filters, let the water settle and spot treat with a syringe. Wait for a 15 minutes or so and turn the filters back on. To high of levels can adversely affect flora and fauna, particularly mosses and riccia.
Is the algae on the plant leaves different? You might want to try to direct some more flow to the problem areas. BTW I think you have a typo in the 2nd line "I'm careful to overfeed them".

Oh okay, that is good to know about BGA being cyanobacteria and not an algae! I treat all my plants with a solution of 2ml/g of H2O2 for 20 minutes before adding them to the tank. So I'll give the spot treatment a go. I did notice around 2-3 weeks ago when the BGA appeared, that my java moss began to melt for unknown reasons. I had propagated cuttings around the tank and had initially showed amazing growth, then the moss hit a wall and melted I'll keep you updated on the spot treatment if that's okay.
I also just ordered the duel stage regulator with integrated solenoid from CO2 Art. Do you think the addition of CO2 would help the plants outcompete the BGA and other algae or exacerbate the underlying issue causing my BGA?

 

[nicole.ouellette99]

Hey there, I also had an outbreak of BGA. Make sure that is what you have. Everything i did, it would always come back. Welll, finally i got my hands on some erythromycin, an antibiotic that kills BGA, and dosed that in the tank at half the amount it said in a longer period. I also performed a lights out for 3 days. Afterwards, I addressed the MAIN PROBLEM as to whhy I had BGA; too much light. My tank gets some indirect sunlight and over the summer with longer daylights, that was really feeding the cyanobacteria so i cut my lights down at first 2 hours and then i added in another hour once htings calmed down. Knock on wood it hasnt come back yet, although every now and then i see a spot of it under the substrate at the glass but recently ive been keeping up with WC and lowering nitrates so i havent seen any BGA in a bit.