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BBA problem since...

Lusitanos67

Lusitanos67

Seedling
Joined
18 Feb 2015
Messages
20
Hi,

First, i'm sorry for my bad english... Some specifications:

Tank specifications: 250L (juwel240)
Lighting: 2 x High-Lite Day 54 Watt, 1047 mm => 7hours/day
1x 18w 590mm => 8.30hours/day (i use them for sunrise and sunset)
CO2: 1.5bps => 20-30ppm
Filtration - eheim pro 3 =>1250L/hours
Fertilisation routine - PPS pro

I have always problem with the BBA on my tank, who are only on roots, or old plant leaves. I have try to up the level of Co2, put hydrogen peroxide directly on BBA, check No3=4mg/L and Po4=0.4mg/L...
I even dipped my roots in bleach , but it has again reappeared above.

I don't know what to do.

Please, i need help.
 
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Phosphate maybe a little high but everyone on here seems to say it as no bearing on algae ...lighting n co2 look correct maybe look at if your over fertilizing or try another fertilizer ?
 
I prefer to discover what is my problem with this algae, sorry.
 
DescriptionOften grows on leaf edges of slow growing plants, bog wood and mechanical equipment. Also sometimes it grows in fast flowing areas of the tank. Grows in clumps or patches of fine black tufts up to about 0.5cm long.
CauseIn a high light tank it is an indication of low or fluctuating CO2 levels or not enough water circulation around the plants. In a low light tank it is often due to changing CO2 levels.
RemovalIn a high light tank you will need to increase your levels of CO2 and/or improve water circulation around the plants. Scrub and cut off as much as you can first. Increase levels slowly to 30ppm or more but watch the fish to see if they are respiring heavily. Make sure you have good water flow around the whole tank along with some good surface movement. Adding a powerhead may help.
If you have a low light tank without CO2 injection then not doing any water changes will help. This is because tap water often has lots of CO2 dissolved in it which causes CO2 levels in your tank to fluctuate. The algae respond to this a lot quicker than the plants do.
Siamese Algae Eaters are known to eat BBA so can be used to control this algae.
Overdosing Flourish Excel, EasyCarbo or TNC Carbon will clear it up.
 
The BBA indicates the plants are dying due not enough CO2 or as you dosing PPS Pro I would hazard a guess not enough ferts, probably PO4, meaning can't make use of CO2.

Your lighting is in the "high light" "high tech" area nearly 2W/US Gal, so you really need x10 turn over and get your CO2 spot on (helped by increased flow) and maybe up ferts level.

I assume you are mixing your own ferts, so can control the rations, rather than relying on ready made expensive ferts.
 
Ok so, my problem is the Co2 / not enough water ciculation around the plants.
Tomorrow, i check every hours the value of ph and Co2 not with the dropchecker but with a tetra test.

it's normal that my bottle of co2 (2kg) is almost empty in 3 months ?
 
If you look closely to where your CO2 bubbles are going, you will see that most of them go to the surface and get lost. The longer the CO2 bubbles stay in contact with the water the better they can dissolve, good current will help with this also placing your diffuser in the correct place is important.
A bottle being empty in 3 months doesn't tell you if you have or haven't got enough CO2 dissolved in your tank.
 
Lusitanos67 said:
the dropchecker but with a tetra test.
Click to expand...
Better than nothing, better still is a proper digital pH meter, that is less affected by "other ions" in the water.

My 180l tank gets through 2Kg CO2 in 100 days with green heading to yellow drop checker, so your usage is not excessive.
 
No body here seems to be mentioning nutrients. Too low nutrient levels cause algae. I wouldnt know if it causes bba specifically though.
PPS pro doesnt always work. It depends on your light levels.
Can low nutrients cause bba? Maybe it can cause it indirectly?
 
I have great circulation in my tank, but I get BBA just where the flow is faster. So, it is kinda the opposite problem (too much circulation?). How would you suggest to tackle the problem in this case?
 
fablau said:
I have great circulation in my tank, but I get BBA just where the flow is faster. So, it is kinda the opposite problem (too much circulation?). How would you suggest to tackle the problem in this case?
Click to expand...

If it's a high tech tank then increase your CO2 increasing surface movement.
 
I've used EI before and it worked fine but got also BBA and GSA, so I kept adding phosphorus which the floating plants didn't seem to like very much as they seem to like and my TDS was over 500 after a week ....
Now I'm using PPS pro for a couple of months and floaters are telling me that there are enough nutrients in the water (I have to remove about 25% of them every week), also my BBA is as good as gone (after removing effected leaves and plucking and scraping it off of wood and stones...), but I also lowered the light intensity added more shrimp and SAE. So does low nutrients in a tank cause algae? I would say that it wouldn't help plants to compete. I suggest to throw a few floaters in your tank (even just to test if you have enough nutrients), if they are doing good, you don't have to worry about having or not having enough nutrients in the water.
 
Sorry for my response late, but i have a another problem, my water is trouble. I prefer to solve it before try to eradicate algae.
 
EnderUK said:
If it's a high tech tank then increase your CO2 increasing surface movement.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the suggestion, but my Co2 is already at its limits (over 1.3 PH drop, drop checker yellow after just 2 hours lights are on with fish gasping at the surface the last hour of photoperiod) and I do have surface movement a big deal. I can't figure out what is causing this damn BBA that seems to persist!
 
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