Recent content by Puddle

Hi there, For all its worth, I used to have BGA really bad and just did a 3-4 day blackout and not had it since, as long as nitrates are not bottoming out seems to be an easy cure....:D

Hi, that's what I am doing at the moment - well have been for months really ha ha... Am taking on board the spot dosing suggestion - me thinks its much better - did my after pwc 5x dose this w/e and things looking better the next day - more pinkness around! Did the 2x dose as a spot dose also...

I wondered it if was to do with the dying algae secreting 'nutrients' that feed the green algae (I assume it would be a good idea to do a pwc sooner rather than later for this very reason)? Hmmm...:-|

Hi again I don't know whether anyone else using Excel has noticed this but I know I said the hair algae was definately going, well now that the BBA is dying (its definately going now!) the hair algae seems to be slowly growing again! Any thoughts anyone?! :rolleyes:

Thanks for your ideas - I agree with you but I am hoping the SAE will help me with that problem (I have 4, 3 young one's which are eating like mad) now that the algae is pink - it is definately dying off though! I gave the tank a 3x dose this morning, got a bit carried away but the fish and...

Hi all thanks for your post! So, after a week of 2x normal treatment (my last post) and a pwc I tried the initial dose as a spot treatment adding max vol of 5x Excel. The next day, the BBA that I treated on background and wood is definately pink, hooray! :) The following day I did a 2x normal...

BBA is fairly bad - have alot of it on driftwood and my background. It was just growing back after I was pulling it off. Also have quite a bit on my foreground plants as they are v slow growing but not so much on the stemmed faster one's. Also have it attached to the few resident mini-snails as...

Yes, the KH reading was in degrees, not ppm. I agree with you - it is a bit odd! Perhaps the tap water does have a CO2 level lower than atmospheric which is why the pH drops/CO2 goes up after sitting out, and therefore the pH/KH reading is not accurate (it is a dip test so would not surprise me)...

No I'm not using anything like that - its a low light simple set up (40g (uk one's!) with 60w lights, quite a few stemmed plants and gravel). I do have a background that is a rock effect - not sure if that would do anything but prob not... otherwise no idea!

Hi thanks for reply! I don't inject CO2 and my tap water after 24hrs out was KH 10, pH7.6. My tank is KH 10, pH8.0 which was the same as tap water straight out. I do have driftwood in there, however if tannins were being read as acid the CO2 would be higher?!:confused: It seems that tap water...

Thanks purrbox, my CO2 levels are def below 30ppm if the calculator is to be believed, they are more like 3 (about KH 10, pH8.0) considering they went up to 8 (KH10, pH7.6) after standing out 24hrs (though I think that 8 cannot be right for water that has degassed, right?)... so may as well...

Thanks for your reply! I'll go with the new kit - have been dosing NO3 as well, never mind! With the new lights and regular dosing of excel, the plants should take it up :confused:... or I could do a pwc...:-| I have quite a bit of BBA on my background and on the driftwood, the plants aren't...

Ok, so I have now got new bulbs (which are lots brighter!) - am dosing excel and I also bought a new NO3 test kit (API). Yikes - My old Hagen NO3 test kit (5 months out of date!) said it was 10mg/L, the dip test said between 100-200 and the new one said 40mg/L!!!?? I have thrown the old one as...

Hi Can I ask how much Excel and how often you dose with your wc? What they suggest on the bottle?! Thanks

Hi Thanks marchmaxima - I think my phosphates are fine tho... Just tested some tap water that I'd left sat out o/n - the pH went to 7.6 which seems that the co2 then is up to 8 meaning a low CO2 in the tap water? Also the dip test said the No3 reduced (but not sure I believe that).:mad...