EI vs. BBA

[JasonC]

So I started dosing EI method at the top of the week in order to hopefully help kick my plants in the pants and get them to out compete and get rid of the massive ammount of BBA and GSA in my tank.

Is this going to work? Can I get the plants to eventually starve out the algae, or am I fighting a loosing battle?

4 days into this, the BBA especially has gone nuts and gotten a ton worse. Is this burst to be expected and the algae will soon die away as my plants begin to grow at a speed that will leave me no option to call them anything but "Audrey"? Or am I fooling myself and should run upstairs right now and grab some heavy towels and start a 3 day blackout?

On another line of questioning, i am trying to use up all of my seachem fertz as I wait for my dry ferts to show up. When dosing EI, do I start the week dosing up to the target ppm and then maintain over the week, or should I be dosing up to that number gradually over the week?

Thanks!!

 

[mgamer20o0]

having high co2 levels will keep bba at bay. i use excel to kill off bba but its risky. another option is to shoot h2o2 at it or take the plants out and dip them in it. that will kill it off.

 

[JasonC]

I was hoping to get my CO2 up to snuff by injecting it into my filter... been a couple of days or so since I tested, but before when it was just glugging out of an airstone, it was at about 22ppm... I would hope it is over 30 by now ;P

With proper CO2, how long would it take to bite the dust? Would I be seeing signs by now?

Also, what is risky about the excel? I was actually curious if I could supplement w/ excel to make up for what my DIY CO2 cant do.

Re the H2O2, I had been doing that for a bit now... but my outbreak is *bad bad* I am really hoping that I dont have to rip the whole tank apart (gravel and all) to get this algae gone

 

[mgamer20o0]

co2 wont kill BBA just keep it at bay. excel lowers the o2 levels if you od too much. i did 1.5x the amount said in my 120. then full dose every day for a couple days to kill it. you will know the BBA was killed because it turns red.

 

[JasonC]

I think I may have to give the excel a whirl. I am soooo sick of BBA everywhere, its driving me nuuuuuts!!!

 

[JasonC]

So how many days did you have to do the excel treatment before noticing the start of an algae dieoff?

Thanks!

 

[mgamer20o0]

next day or so. if you inject it in the area of the bba its even better. then it turns red. i did 1.5x the first day and 1x ever other day for 4 days. i also added some power heads to help blow it off too.

 

[JasonC]

Ahhh... I've just been dosing the tank, not site injecting. I'll give that a whirl starting tomorrow.

I really hope this works...

 

[mgamer20o0]

just keep a eye on the fish. might want to add a air stone at night too.

 

[JasonC]

Yeah... I already run one at lights out, but will definitely keep an eye on the fish... I assume I am looking for stuff like yawning, and gasping @ the surface?

Had to pull my shrimp because they reacted *very* badly to the higher level of nutrients and esp. to the excel dosing, so I am hoping that I don't have any high risk-ers left in the tank.

 

[mgamer20o0]

yea gasping. it lowers the o2 level in higher concentration.