Needing help with BBA

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Smitty

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Howdy:

First a little background again... 55g tank, high light (4x54w T5HO), presurized CO2. Dosing with the estimated index (every day with dry ferts) and then nothing with 50% change on the 7th day (Sundays).

So, I've almost always had a problem with BBA. I thought that going to using these dry ferts and keeping to a good schedule would help, but it isn't. Right now I have BBA growing on all my dwarf hair grass and some on an Amazon Fern. Mostly that is it but it is REALLY bad on the grass. I'm pretty much at a loss as to what to do now.

I've contemplated pulling up all the grass but that would really stink, pluss would be costly to replace. I was also thinking about going back to dosing with excell, but was hoping to avoid that. I'm at my wits end and told my wife I was just going to throw everything away and save for a salt tank but it really isn't going to happen... I'm just so upset and tired of dealing with this.

Any hints?
 
See if this will help you
Greater Washington Aquatic Plant Association » Algae in the Planted Aquarium

You're dosing EI, which is fine, but next time on the 6th or 7th day (just before your water change) test your NitrAte and Phosphate levels and let us know what they are. It could be that you're overdosing a bit more than you need to be and those excesses are what's causing your BBA.

EI is a fine method, but by monitoring your levels you can tweak it down closer to suit your tank's consumption, and this can help ward off some algae issues.

Also, take a look at the PPS-Pro method. It's very different from EI, and takes a while to dial in, but IMO it's a superior method.
 
I did mean to test everything before this last water change and got distracted with a light out and forgot. I'll make sure to get the testing done this next time. Everything else seems fine.

I'll search but do you have any links or other information on the PPS Pro method?
 
How hardy is Dwarf hair grass? Can I dip that in the 1:20 bleach to kill the BBA and then clean and put back into the tank?

How does everyone clean? Just rince with water?
 
Here's the info on PPS-Pro.

As for hair grass, its really hard to remove it from the tank because it's so tedious to replant. Manual removal of the algae is about the only way to do it unless you're willing to pull it and replant it all. I spent hours doing my initial planting of my hairgrass in my 125.
 
Yea... I know it is a pain but I would rather do what I can to get rid of the BBA than let it sit. I probably have close to 20 individual clumps that would need to be pulled up and put back down. Guess we all have to deal with headaches now and then.

Thanks for the link, I haven't had time to look yet.
 
BTW, thanks for your help :)

If nothing else I think I've found a silly error that I've been doing. It totally makes since to add all this stuff in the morning before the lights come on but I've always been doing it at night like an hour before the lights go off. That alone could be why I'm having a problem.

I actually like this PPS Pro method. I think I could use a syringe to do the dosing instead of scooping all these ferts into a cup, mixing, and then adding to the tank. I have been trying to figure out a method of doing a pre-mix but just haven't done it yet. This is good!
 
my 2 cents...
bba is most commonly caused by co2 fluctuations and not nutrient issues. if it was a nutrient problem i would expect any other type of algae other than bba.
what time of day do you do your water change on sunday?
what is your diffusion method?
do you have a LOT of circulation?
 
do your water change not just an hour before your lights come on, but also a little bit before your co2 comes on (which should be at least an hour before your lights come on). fresh water from your tap is rich with co2. in a low tech tank, large and frequent water changes can cause bba just from the co2 coming from your tap and then running out.
on the other hand, if your co2 is already on at optimul levels when you change your water it can be a signifigant drop in co2 when your lights (very high lights) are already running. thats not good.
 
now. even though your drop checker says that you are where you are supposed to be... you are probably not. with that kind of light your plants are rapidly removing co2 from your tank. so up near your drop checker the levels might be ok. but in dense plant mass the plants may be keeping the co2 levels low. so having enough water circulation, especially through dense plant mass is very important to get co2 rich water flowing accross your plants.
 
fyi. i'm speaking first hand. i have a 55g with 4 wpg t5ho. bba was one of my first battles. took a while but i beat it.

the 2 of us are at a level that most people do not recommend. even the most of the pros say nay nay. tanks at our level require everything to be PERFECT. any fluctuations in ferts, co2, plant mass or disturbing the substrate too much can throw things WAY out of control.

i absolutely do NOT recommend that you switch to pps with that level of lighting. just like neilan said, it takes a while to dial in. while you're trying to dial in you will make mistakes and the result will not be pretty.
 
the best thing you can do is to take care of your co2 levels and increase circulation. there are ways to kill the bba by spot treating with h2o2 or excel and what-not but i would recommend just throwing the affected plants out. you'll have much faster results that way
 
Ok, was out of touch for a day so a late reply.

I guess I should have said that right now I have my lights coming on in two cycles, from 8-12 and 4-8. My CO2 comes on right around 8 am and off at 8 PM. I have a tube going from my CO2 to a power head in the tank...

I do my water changes late evening on Sunday. I work from 8 am until 4:30 and do it after I get home. I'm not going to be able to do a water change in the morning on any day though, even if I change days.
 
After a week of the fert schedule my tests are as follows:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10-20
PH: 7
Phosphate was I think off the chart which goes to 10, I would guess around a 12 looking at the others...

I didn't do the hardness.

So, I'm not sure how to proceed. Too much phosphate? I did buy a bottle of excel. Pulling out all infected plants at this point would leave me with an empty tank so that really isn't going to happen. I'll try spot treating and treating all the water. I don't think I can up the flow of the tank any more than it already is (have a Fluval 405 on there now plus the power head for the CO2).

The only think I've ever seen that helped with the BBA was constant dosing of Excel. That tends to get expensive... but I'm really tired of having it and really don't know what to do.

Edit: I am willing to drop some of the lighting to help, but still want to make sure I have enough for the plants I have now. I think the ones needing the most light are the grass and baby tears.
 
Kill it with fire, or H2O2. It will not only kill your algae but also oxygenate the water as H2O2 decomposes overtime into H2O and O2. Fill a syringe with 3% or 5% H2O2 solution which you can get at any pharmacy and spray it directly over the Algae. It will die in hours.

Careful though, I'm not to sure the effects of rapid oxidation on vascular plants. The reason algae is so vulnerable is because it's not a vascular plant. It absorbs everything in the water. The O2 rapidly oxidizes its cells, killing it on contact. The stuff has been used effectively before, with no adverse effects but try to keep at 5% H2O2 max. Use a siphon to take out any dead algae.

Secondly, always keep your CO2 on, even if it builds up it won't be enough in 12 hours to do any damage. Your fluctuating CO2 levels are helping the algae.
 
Kill it with fire, or H2O2. Secondly, always keep your CO2 on, even if it builds up it won't be enough in 12 hours to do any damage. Your fluctuating CO2 levels are helping the algae.

Is there a common name for H2O2?

If the CO2 is supposed to be on 24/7 is there a reason so many sell the electronic solenoids?
 
It's myth that you should turn off the CO2 at night. 12 hours of plant respiration won't be damaging and keeping the CO2 on won't affect the water chemistry as much as it will turning it off as the rate of CO2 diffusion into the atmosphere is much much greater than it is into the water.
Electric solenoids are sold because it helps conserve CO2 in very high concentration tanks (above 30ppm) where it becomes very easy to overdo the CO2 at night.. If your CO2 stays around 20-30 ppm you shouldn't worry about shutting it off at night.

H2O2 is hydrogen peroxide, the kind that you put on your cuts and scrapes and fizzes when you do.
 
Well, I'm happy to report that after several months I think I've finally conquered the dreaded BBA. I've been fighting this beast for 2 years now (at least it seems like that long). I still have some but it is all turning red and dying out.

I believe the biggest thing is what Crepe said and made the largest contribution-I started leaving my CO2 on all the time (so much for that 120 on an electric solenoid). I did spot treat (and still do) the H2O2 but I've been so sparatic with that I don't think it did the job.

So, I'm very happy! Hopefully will have a really clean tank soon! :)
 
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