Treating BGA

[Tetra22]

I have had a massive BGA problem in my 55g planted tank for a while now. It would take me hours to suck it all up from the gravel and scrape it off of every leaf. I researched it and found that a blackout would help. So I've had no light in my tank for over a week now and It looks to be almost all dead. I'm ready to do a water change and turn the lights on again but I really don't want the BGA back. I know it's also caused by low nitrates so I want to make sure I have enough. I use API Leaf Zone ( Leaf Zone - 4 oz. | Plant Food | Fish Food | Aquarium - ThatPetPlace.com ) for my fert but I don't see "nitrates" anywhere on the bottle. Does this stuff not have nitrates or what? Is there something else I should use? Any help would be great.

ps. I have 160 watts of new 6500k T12 bulbs on the tank now.

 

[mgamer20o0]

shooting h2o2 or excel can help kill off the rest. leaf zone is just iron and potassium no nitrates or no trace elements. i would test the water to see what your nitrate levels are. personally i am a bigger fan of dry ferts since they are cheaper. you can get a year supply for $25.

 

[Tetra22]

Well I looked around and settled on getting some regular Seachem Flourish from Petmart when they get it in this week and I just ordered some dry kno3 and kh2po4 from this site.> Aquarium Plant Fertilizer | Green Leaf Aquariums I'm pretty sure that will get me started off pretty well. I did just check my nitrates, and for some reason, for the first time ever, I had about 10ppm of nitrates. I have added no nitrates at all though, but it has been a few weeks without a wc. I tested my tap and it came up with 0ppm nitrates though so when I do my next fat wc I want to make sure I have some nitrates in the water. What causes a rise in nitrates by just leaving the tank alone for a while?

 

[JohnPaul]

What causes a rise in nitrates by just leaving the tank alone for a while?

Um...do you have any fish in there? Fish waste is normally the source.

 

[Tetra22]

Ok, that makes sense. Yes I have fish. Is that a good fert setup I'm getting into? Any recomendations?

 

[corrado33]

Uh, I'd say that JUST getting the three major ferts isn't a great idea. If you're going to use fertalizers, you're going to eventually need some iron and trace elements. I'm pretty sure flourish is most of your trace elements, and you might be able to get iron from your water depending on what you use, but other than that I think you're good.

 

[Tetra22]

If I need iron, I always have my leaf zone. And exactly, the flourish is most all the trace elements.