Help with BBA

[Ilminded]

Hello everyone, I am posting this as I am have a problem with BBA (black beared Alega) in my 10 gallon planted tank at work. The plants I have are moneywort (suffer the most from the BBA), Red Wendtii, and pygmy Amazon Sword Grass. I have a male Half-moon Beta, some endler guppies and 3 cory cats as the stock (some pond snails to aid in decaying veg. that when I notice more than 3 I crush and leave as a snack for the fish). I have a DIY CO2 system I change out every other week (1 tbs. yeast with 2 cups of sugar in a 2L bottle) and was dosing liquid ferts. (EasyCarbo was everyday but cut back to twice per week, Flourish Comprehensive which I cut back to not at all, and Easy-Life Ferro that I pipet into the gravel once per week). I am trying to rid of the BBA without using H2O2 so I don't have an accidental kill. I do water changes once per week and have found out the is 0.5 ppm of zinc orthophosphate that is used in the pretreatment of the water supply here (I work for the local water department and I get the water from the plant that distributes the water). With that being said, is there anything else I can do to kill off the BBA? I hear water movement help rid of the alega, so I move my Aqueon 5-15 filter more towards the center to aid in movement and have the bubbler (which is on when the lights are off) towards the Moneywort on the one side of the tank. The lights are 2 CFL bulbs that are one 8 hrs (was at 10-12 before the alega went crazy). The only thing I haven't done is get the water tested for parameters which is difficult as I take care of it at work. Any advice will help out a long way.

 

[Rivercats]

Cut your photoperiod down to 6 hours for now. Also how are you spot treating with H2O2? Are you turning off your lights and filters for 15-20 minutes while your treating? Also how many ml of H2O2 are you using per 10 gallons of tank water?

 

[Ilminded]

Cut your photoperiod down to 6 hours for now. Also how are you spot treating with H2O2? Are you turning off your lights and filters for 15-20 minutes while your treating? Also how many ml of H2O2 are you using per 10 gallons of tank water?

I haven't used hydrogen peroxide yet. I am trying to avoid it. Will cut down the photo period to 6 hours starting today. Is there anything else I can do?

 

[Cichlid Kid]

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. Dreaded bba. Have you considered dosing the glut again? Maybe spot treatment with that instead of h202?
I had a BIG problem with bba in my 20g. Once i got the dosing of flourish excel right along with ferts and as rivercats stated photoperiod, it pretty much went away on it's own. I think the key is giving your plants enough carbon to successfully utilize the lighting and nutrients you have, leaving NOTHING for the algae to thrive on.
Your upping the water circulation will help also.>=))))(°>

 

[Ilminded]

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. Dreaded bba. Have you considered dosing the glut again? Maybe spot treatment with that instead of h202?
I had a BIG problem with bba in my 20g. Once i got the dosing of flourish excel right along with ferts and as rivercats stated photoperiod, it pretty much went away on it's own. I think the key is giving your plants enough carbon to successfully utilize the lighting and nutrients you have, leaving NOTHING for the algae to thrive on.
Your upping the water circulation will help also.>=))))(°>

So spot treat with the Easy-Carbo in affected areas? I thought my problem was excess phosphates. I didn't want to over do it with ferts just in case I am doing too much nutrients, but at same time I don't want to hinder plant growth. It just sucks that I have had the tank going for a year and this is whats happening.

 

[Rivercats]

Phosphate levels in a planted tank should be from .5-1.5 or even 2ppm. I run my 220 with 1.5ppm of phosphate. Did you do a phosphate test on the tank water? If so what was it. Most of the time too much light left on too long is the main contributor to algae (notice I said main no only).

You can spot treat with any liquid carbon at the same dosage 2-3ml per 10 gallons of water. But when using liquid carbon for this, the amount you use is your daily tank dosage.

 

[Ilminded]

Phosphate levels in a planted tank should be from .5-1.5 or even 2ppm. I run my 220 with 1.5ppm of phosphate. Did you do a phosphate test on the tank water? If so what was it. Most of the time too much light left on too long is the main contributor to algae (notice I said main no only).

You can spot treat with any liquid carbon at the same dosage 2-3ml per 10 gallons of water. But when using liquid carbon for this, the amount you use is your daily tank dosage.

No I have not gotten the water tested, let alone won't be able to for sometime. I know that the bare minimum of good phosphate would be 0.5 ppm from just the 30-50% weekly water change I do. Not only that, the trace element fert. has 50 ppb so the minimum in there being 0.55 ppm not including whatever phosphates being created and turned over into organophosphates. Sorry for the terminology, I have a degree in science and I got a little nerdy from time to time.

For now, I skipped the water change today and will do tomorrow instead. Will go back to dosing ferts. the recommended way. I will also cut back the photo period to 6 hours as mentioned. I already cut back feeding a bunch, a pinch of flake food on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays follow with 1 algae waffer those days and a pinch of Dried Mysis Shrimp and 2-3 small shrimp pellets on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

 

[Ilminded]

Just a quick questing, as I have rooted plants I figured that dosing Iron and Trace would be more beneficial if injected into the gravel (like a tab), but should I be doing the same with the liquid carbon?

 

[Rivercats]

Personally I don't see that it will be beneficial.

 

[aqua_chem]

Sorry for the terminology, I have a degree in science and I got a little nerdy from time to time.

I can dig it.

The point of osmocote or root tabs is that they are delayed release, so you have a slow release of nutrients rather than a spike the dissipates into the water column relatively rapidly. I agree that I don't see much point in dosing directly into the substrate with liquid/dry ferts.

As far as your BBA problem goes, I have a few additional questions. What's the total volume of DIY CO2 broth that you're using? What's the wattage of your CFLs?

In defense of H2O2, it really is quite safe if used responsibly. I managed to blast nosy fish in the face with it without noticeable damage. It's hard for H2O2 to damage a mobile target if dose within recommended ranges.

 

[Ilminded]

I can dig it.

The point of osmocote or root tabs is that they are delayed release, so you have a slow release of nutrients rather than a spike the dissipates into the water column relatively rapidly. I agree that I don't see much point in dosing directly into the substrate with liquid/dry ferts.

As far as your BBA problem goes, I have a few additional questions. What's the total volume of DIY CO2 broth that you're using? What's the wattage of your CFLs?

In defense of H2O2, it really is quite safe if used responsibly. I managed to blast nosy fish in the face with it without noticeable damage. It's hard for H2O2 to damage a mobile target if dose within recommended ranges.

My question with the Liquid carbon was due to the fact I wasn't sure if the plants I currently have would benefit from root entry or leaf entry more.

The volume of the DIY CO2 is about 2L. I fill it to where it starts to cone to the lid so when bubbles occur, they won't pass through. I do this to make sure there is more water to negate the ethanol being created in the process as it will have a stronger bond towards the water than the sugar. Now this bottle does go to another bottle with just plan tap water at the bottom that I use for a bubble counter which leads to a check valve to prevent back flow. Then it leads the tubing under a the top of a 500mL bottle with sponges to keep the CO2 in the water. When there is too much the bubble go through the top of the bottle and into my HOB filter.

The lights I use are 2 X 13 Watt 5000K CFL's with a metal (my suspicion is Alumium) reflectors. I still get confused at times with the CFL determination. Since these are 13 watts, it compared to 60 Watt bulbs, however I was reading the nice article about the conversion of CFL is about 1 X 1.75 ideally for the actual Wattage per gallon rule. The one thing I didn't understand about the rule was do I use the actual wattage or what it's compared too. I was just assuming actual.

The H2O2 addition would not be an issue with me, I just have bad luck with things and do not want to risk anything going wrong since I have had this tank going for over a year now. But like I said before, this is a tank at work where I am only there 5 days a week not even 8 hours a day if you include me traveling. I wanted this tank to be a stepping point for my home tank which it has gave me a better understanding about planted tanks. I have a 45 gallon at home (that I bought off CraigsList for $30 with stand) that I just need to clean now and make a lid (old lid won't suffice so I will making a lid with mesh wire to help keep the lights I want to get (hang lamps that I will put CFL's in from home depot that are ~$9 a piece) from falling in if hinge gives out. Also doing a Canister filter instead of HOB and will be doing a dirt tank as well) for. If it was for that tank, it would of been done already. I really want to avoid the H2O2 as I won't be able to keep check of the tank as frequently as I would like for changes. I will use it as a last resource. But with all algae outbreaks, there is a reason. I want to fix the problem and not mask it. If the problem is lighting as CO2 is not enough, then I will cut back lighting.

 

[aqua_chem]

Do you have a drop checker in the tank? What BPS are you getting?

Another potential cause of BBA is inconsistent CO2. This is especially prone to happening with DIY CO2 where CO2 output is inconsistent based on the age of the broth. With a single 2L on a 10g, you may be running into this issue. Another issue is that you might not be maintaining your CO2 levels as high as you would like due to the HOB filter if it's causing a lot of surface agitation, or if your diffusion method isn't working well.

 

[Ilminded]

Do you have a drop checker in the tank? What BPS are you getting?

Another potential cause of BBA is inconsistent CO2. This is especially prone to happening with DIY CO2 where CO2 output is inconsistent based on the age of the broth. With a single 2L on a 10g, you may be running into this issue. Another issue is that you might not be maintaining your CO2 levels as high as you would like due to the HOB filter if it's causing a lot of surface agitation, or if your diffusion method isn't working well.

I figured as much. I do not have a drop checker and I knew that the CO2 would vary with a DIY. I did it to get a bit more growth out of the plants as I plan on using a CO2 cylinder with my home tank after seeing how much a pain it is. The agitation of the HOB is at a minium as I try to keep the water level the same as flow out so there is not a drop into the water. Today I noticed, since pushing back the photo period to 6 hours 2 days ago, that some of the strains of the BBA are turning whitish. Whether or not this is a good sign I am not sure, but I hope that I am solving the problem.

 

[Rivercats]

When BBA turns white, pink, or red it's dying.

EDIT: I've had dying BBA turn all these colors before. Pink and white are the colors I've seen most turn but a couple times I actually had it turn a funny maron-red color. It was rather odd but it was after being spot treated.

 

[Ilminded]

Thanks for the info, this BBA started turning white by the end of last week. After I came back from the weekend, there were more white areas with some red/pink areas.