Ugh- BBA & ??? In 24 hours!!!

[Batt4Christ]

Ok- so I've been battling BBA for months now. After adding a 2nd bottle to my DIY CO2 setup, my indicator is nice and green- plants pearling, and growing faster than ever. I have maintained daily double-dosing of Flourish Excel in hopes of finishing off the BBA.

With quite a bit of it turning light grey, I decided yesterday to clean a bunch if it up by hand, trim some plants back, and generally manually remove a lot of it. Tank was looking good outside of just a couple of leaves I missed.

I just got home from a long day at the office to find a fresh "outbreak" of BBA. I also notice that some of the leaves that I pulled pinches of BBA off of have "fresh" growth... Some of it looks different. Could this be staghorn??? Ugh. Never ending battle. I'm almost ready to mix up a solution of Hydrogen Peroxide and pull plants to give them a dip. I'm am concerned which ones can take it...

Some pics to help y'all to help me:

 

[mfdrookie516]

Welcome to my world. What solved it for me is a split photoperiod. Not sure how much co2 your generators are producing, but if it doesn't get too high during the off hours, it might be a good idea to try.

 

[Homedog98]

What is BBA? I have some stuff that looks kinda like that in my tanks. I don't know what it is though.

 

[jetajockey]

the stuff in the top left looks like hair algae or staghorn, the top right is bba. Have you made any adjustments to your lighting to battle the algae problem?

 

[Homedog98]

Phew, then maybe mines just algae.

 

[Batt4Christ]

Cutting back on lighting. I'm puzzling on how to handle this-

Tank is 29g
Lighting: 2x24watt T5 HO (one 6700k, one 10000k)
What my schedule had been was 12 hours on each day. When I started w/CO2 I cut back to 10.5 hours.

I'm considering re-homing a couple of fish and getting a couple of young true SAE. My understanding is that they will eat BBA and staghorn (assuming I don't overfeed the other inhabitants).

 

[Batt4Christ]

Or might a couple/three Amano shrimp be more effective (not to mention lower bio-load and less $$$)???

 

[mfdrookie516]

I think your lighting routine is a bit much.... I run my lights for 7.5 hours a day. But, the split photoperiod in my 125 has proven very successful. 4 on, 4 off, 4 on

 

[Batt4Christ]

If I want to have any viewing time, I'll likely have to do that...

If I decide to help out w/ Amano or SAE... which is better at eating up that BBA and staghorn?

 

[jetajockey]

I know mfd may disagree with me on this but another possibility is that you have too much light in general. 2x24w t5ho is a lot of light, especially with half decent reflectors. According to the PAR chart found here http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/lighting/105774-par-vs-distance-t5-t12-pc.html, you are definitely in the high light area if not in the too much light area. Assuming it's a standard 29g, it's about 18" tall, subtract an inch or two for substrate, and you'd be at the ' 16" -On top of tank" section of the chart.(It's a general chart based on testing, it's not the be-all end-all by any means, but it beats the heck out of straight conjecture).

Cutting back on the photoperiod will help, but between the demand from higher light intensity and the unreliable nature of diy co2, it is an algae farm in the making.


SAE's are cool, and they do help, but I don't think they'll make much of a dent in the established BBA, plus they'd be fighting a losing battle if the source of the algae isn't dealt with first.

 

[Batt4Christ]

I know mfd may disagree with me on this but another possibility is that you have too much light in general. 2x24w t5ho is a lot of light, especially with half decent reflectors. According to the PAR chart found here http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/lighting/105774-par-vs-distance-t5-t12-pc.html, you are definitely in the high light area if not in the too much light area. Assuming it's a standard 29g, it's about 18" tall, subtract an inch or two for substrate, and you'd be at the ' 16" -On top of tank" section of the chart.(It's a general chart based on testing, it's not the be-all end-all by any means, but it beats the heck out of straight conjecture).

Cutting back on the photoperiod will help, but between the demand from higher light intensity and the unreliable nature of diy co2, it is an algae farm in the making.

SAE's are cool, and they do help, but I don't think they'll make much of a dent in the established BBA, plus they'd be fighting a losing battle if the source of the algae isn't dealt with first.

I was wondering if, in addition to reducing the light period, if I only ran one light part of that time, if that would help...

Plant list:
Amazon Swords
Ludwigia Ripens
Java Ferns
Anacharis
Java moss
Stargrass
Water Sprite

THINK all of those do ok with less than "high" light... Yes?

 

[jetajockey]

I grow everything on that list with far less light, so yes.

If you look in the photo section I have pics of my 125g when it was first planted and now a month later with subpar lighting. I have a single t5ho grow light with a so-so reflector lighting the tank approx 24-25" up.

 

[Batt4Christ]

Ok- 6 days after making changes:

Set light timer two a split photo period- on four hours, off four, back on 4, then off 12.

Only one light on of the two T5's

Have also been manually removing patches of staghorn and bba as they gain my attention.

Also added a pair of SAE

Observed results:

bba has slowed down, though not gone away (still dosing the Excel). Have seen the sae nibble on the BBA and staghorn, but not really making much if an impact.

Staghorn doesn't seem to be phased much by the reduction in light. Still growing. I pull leaves/stems of plants if they get much on them.

Swords still growing, though not as intense green.

Anacharis still growing, though maybe slightly slower.

Ludwigia Ripens has slowed down, and is no longer showing so much red (my wife's favorite). Still seems healthy, though.

Water sprite seems to have picked up the growth. New growth, the leaves are thinner than the older growth.

I'm wondering... What would happen if I were to get an actinic lamp for one of my T5 bulbs? Would that spectrum not encourage staghorn (I know it won't contribute to plant growth).

 

[jetajockey]

Are you dosing ferts? L.Repens needs iron to help that red come out.

I can't say for sure about the actinic thing, some people say that actinics have absolutely no impact on plant growth. But how true that is, I don't know. Remember that actinics are supposed to be for coralline algae, so it apparently works for this SW form.

I've had nothing but an 36w actinic bulb going in my bowfront for about a month now (haven't bothered to get a replacement 10000k that blew) and the plants are still alive. Not showing any growth, but they are still green.

If you really like the way they look then why not? I would still test it out for a week with only a single bulb just to see if it makes any impact on the staghorn growth, it should.

 

[Batt4Christ]

Flourish Root tabs, flourish comprehensive... And of course, Excel

 

[jetajockey]

Dosing Fe may bring back the red in the repens, but I'd definitely get the algae under control first before putting another fert on the table.

 

[Batt4Christ]

Well- been at this for a couple of weeks now- reduced lighting time, only one of the T5HO bulbs on at a time, 2nd yeast CO2 bottle added, manual removal of as much of the bba and staghorn as possible, and two plant thinnings later... And most of the bba and staghorn is gone.

Interestingly enough- most plants have continued to grow well. Water sprite actually growing taller faster, anacharis is faster as well, but not as thick. Ludwigea still doesn't have as much red as it did (adding flourish comprehensive seems to have helped a little).

 

[jetajockey]

Sounds good. My anacharis does the same thing, it gets really bushy when it's near the light or under higher lights, and gets lanky under lower light. For the red, flourish comp does provide a little bit, but you could dose flourish iron, or use an iron rich root tab under them.