Blue green algae (BGA) and Ferric Hydroxide

[frollo]

My problems with BGA all started with a three week vacation over Xmas/January with a neighbour looking after the aquariums. A small pinch of food once per day some how got translated into "the fish looked hungry everytime I went near the aquarium so I fed them some more."  which somehow equated to what I estimate as 6 months worth of food fed in 3 weeks. (My neighbour actually took the empty food container and went to buy more food.) My losses consisted of all the loaches and a chinese algae eater. The remaining fish were all gasping for air at the top on my return.

I did a major water change, cleaned the canister filter and  kept the water aerated which provided  relief to the fish. Since then, I have been doing a small water change every other day to combat the bga growth (and the extra bio matter as a result of the otto's, pleco and snails who have been happily devouring the green algae growth.) I stumbled on ferric hydroxide and decide to give it a try. It has been 2 weeks now and I don't know if it is because of the water changing or a combination of the ferric hydroxide that a managed to get the bga under control. The bits of java moss (most of the java moss had died from suffocation by the bga) is now starting to show signs of new growth. Only a few very small areas of bga left which I hope will eventually disappear and the green algae is back under control as well as I can see the plant leaves again.

Since the aquarium is now almost stabilized again, I have added loaches again to combat the population explosion of the snails. It is amazing how fast snails can repopulated without loaches to keep them in check and I have returned to my normal maintenance. Even my parentally changed angels have laid eggs.

I searched this forum for automatic fish feeder advice and I am trying to decided should I go deluxe or cheapie-do route since the use would be restricted to extended vacation times. The bonus of this experience is now I have become very efficient at water changes.

Now my real question... in addition to being a very effective phosphate remover, I have read that it may also strip out trace elements and other goodies required by plants.....Is anybody else using ferric hydroxide in a planted aquarium? Any thoughts on the use of ferric hydroxide?

[BigDaddy]

I can't comment directly on ferric hydroxide having never used it.

However, in general, the only additives you need in a planted tank are CO2, NPK and a trace element mix.  Any and all algae problems can be regulated without the use of chemical additives.

Too bad you didn't read the blackout article before hand... you could have had a pristine tank in 4 or 5 days instead of 2 weeks.

In answer to your question, yes I believe the water changes are the majority of the solution to the BGA issue, as poor water quality is a good trigger for BGA

[normc]

When I had BGA i did multiple water changes siphoning as much out as I could and it was all gone in a couple of weeks.

[frollo]

I did read the black out article and I have used it in the past to kill algae (once again algae problems as a result going on vacation.) I couldn't part with any of the comforters on the beds to black out the aquarium...brr too cold for us humanoids.

Technically I don't consider ferric hydroxide as a chemical additive, but is a filter media (it is more like adding chips of rust) which is suppose to be a phosphate sink. (Ferric hydroxide is used by some municipalities as a filter media for their water source to remove arsenic.) 

I am one of these no fuss kinda fish keeper, apart from fertilizers for the plants, I don't use other chemical additive in the aquarium water. Lucky me I am on well water so I don't even use any water conditioner. The only thing with my water is that it is very high ph so when it comes to new fish I always use a drip line and it is pretty much a half day affair so they don't get ph shock. I use driftwood, peat moss and CO2 to try to lower the ph, but even then, it is still pretty high.

I was just curious if anyone else has used ferric hyrdoxide in their filter.