HiJaC
Aquarium Advice Freak
Hi,
I'm getting my first bit of BBA on my tank after it has been running for 4 months.
It is appearing roughly down the centre of the tank on the Amazon Swords (some leaves) on the Crypts and a bit on my Hydrocotyle.
It isnt spreading fast (if at all really) and may have been triggered when I was setting up my pressurised & PH monitored CO2 kit. In that time I was experiementing with various ways of getting more O2 in the tank as well as running the lights for 10 hours not 8.
But i'm scratching my head now (a month and a bit later) about why it seems to be sticking around.
Water Params
Lights on for 8 hours
Ph - 6.6 -> 6.8 (over the course of a day, CO2 kicks in to keep it below 6.8, but hardly needs to come on)
KH - 4
Ammn - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 7
Phosphate - 5 mg/l
I do a 50% water change every week with gravel vac. I dose Iron and Potassium weekly and occasionally Excel Flourish.
Looking at the stats the Phosphate sticks out by miles. My tap water is straight off the Scottish Hills around Edinburgh and generally very nice, but is very high in Phosphates.
My testing kit indicates that the a value below of 1 mg/l is preferred. Is that for a planted tank?
Beyond that would the high Phosphates promote slow BBA growth?
Best Regards,
John
I'm getting my first bit of BBA on my tank after it has been running for 4 months.
It is appearing roughly down the centre of the tank on the Amazon Swords (some leaves) on the Crypts and a bit on my Hydrocotyle.
It isnt spreading fast (if at all really) and may have been triggered when I was setting up my pressurised & PH monitored CO2 kit. In that time I was experiementing with various ways of getting more O2 in the tank as well as running the lights for 10 hours not 8.
But i'm scratching my head now (a month and a bit later) about why it seems to be sticking around.
Water Params
Lights on for 8 hours
Ph - 6.6 -> 6.8 (over the course of a day, CO2 kicks in to keep it below 6.8, but hardly needs to come on)
KH - 4
Ammn - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 7
Phosphate - 5 mg/l
I do a 50% water change every week with gravel vac. I dose Iron and Potassium weekly and occasionally Excel Flourish.
Looking at the stats the Phosphate sticks out by miles. My tap water is straight off the Scottish Hills around Edinburgh and generally very nice, but is very high in Phosphates.
My testing kit indicates that the a value below of 1 mg/l is preferred. Is that for a planted tank?
Beyond that would the high Phosphates promote slow BBA growth?
Best Regards,
John