# BBA owns my tank



## tennis4you (24 Nov 2008)

OK, so BBA officially owns my tank.  It is back now for the fourth time.  It is mostly on the tallest plants which are of course very close to the light.  

It is a 125 gallon tank with a lot of swords in the tank (See Journal).  I do have a CO2 tank running, but I will be honest, I have never ordered the recommended water to test the CO2.  I have gradually raised the CO2 over the last week a little while making sure the fish do not seem troubled.  

I think I have 2 issues.  One is dosing.  I have no strategy, I am simply dosing the same amount of PMMD and Phosphates daily.  I do a water change about once every other week.  I am uncertain how to test if I am putting enough ferts in.

The other issue is the CO2 amount.  Without the recommended water I do not know if I am set or not.  I did try one of the drop checkers with the water that was in the tank before and it was green, but since there are too many variables without the right water I just took the drop checker out.

I got some hydrogen peroxide and I will test it on a leaf to see if it kills the bba, anxious to see if it works.  But I am far more anxious to get to the root of the problem.

In regards to tests, I have the following that I can run if need be:

Iron
Ammonia
pH
Nitrates
Nitrites
gH
PO4

Any of those tell me if I am dosing enough?  I have gradually increased the dosing over the last 2 months now that I have a CO2 tank and the plants are exploding and getting bigger.

Also, one question that I think has absolutely NOTHING to do with algae in the tank, but I figured I would ask just in case.  I have 3 large plecos in the tank that I feed with algae wafers every night.  Does that have any effect on algae in the tank, bba or others?

Thanks!!!


----------



## Dan Crawford (24 Nov 2008)

Hiya, BBA much like many other forms of algae is CO2 related, insufficient and fluctuating levels are generally the problem.
Could you give us some more details please?
What CO2 system are you using?
What are the weights of each fertaliser you are dosing?
What lighting are you using and its photoperiod?

You should use your drop checker but only with 4dKH water. This is the closest we can get to an accurate reading of CO2.

I'd use eacycarbo or excel instead of hydrogen peroxide, dosing easycarbo daily will fix the algae issue but it won't get to the bottom of the underlying issues as you've stated.

Give us some more details and hopefully we'll be more of a help.

Cheers, Dan


----------



## tennis4you (24 Nov 2008)

Dan Crawford said:
			
		

> Hiya, BBA much like many other forms of algae is CO2 related, insufficient and fluctuating levels are generally the problem.
> Could you give us some more details please?
> What CO2 system are you using?
> What are the weights of each fertaliser you are dosing?
> ...



I will have to get back to you on the weights of the ferts.  The lights are just nova-extreme 45 watts t-5 (or is it t-8, whichever is more common) and I leave them on for 8 hours per day.  CO2 system was bought used, I am not sure what kind it is.  Seems like a good one though, big ol 10 pounder too.

I have excel but someone recently said hydrogen peroxide works too, so I was anxious to test it since it costs 1/20 the price.


----------



## Midnight (25 Nov 2008)

BBA owns mine too  

I dose my low light 300ltr tank daily with a version of James' 'All-in-one'. Plant growth is brilliant. So is algae growth! However I have added a powerhead and increased the CO2 until the drop checker is almost yellow. That's been the situation for the past two weeks. I would say I now have stable CO2 and plenty of flow - the leaves of the plants 'sway in the breeze', but BBA still persists. I ordered some Excel which should arrive any day now but I am eager to get to the root of the problem. The Staurogyne and Lilaeopsis get it the worst (foreground plants) and I have removed lots of infected sword plant leaves. I'll let you know if the excel works.


----------



## tennis4you (25 Nov 2008)

Midnight said:
			
		

> BBA owns mine too
> 
> I dose my low light 300ltr tank daily with a version of James' 'All-in-one'. Plant growth is brilliant. So is algae growth! However I have added a powerhead and increased the CO2 until the drop checker is almost yellow. That's been the situation for the past two weeks. I would say I now have stable CO2 and plenty of flow - the leaves of the plants 'sway in the breeze', but BBA still persists. I ordered some Excel which should arrive any day now but I am eager to get to the root of the problem. The Staurogyne and Lilaeopsis get it the worst (foreground plants) and I have removed lots of infected sword plant leaves. I'll let you know if the excel works.



Excel works, trust me, I have had to find out 3 times.  I just treat it directly on the plant leaves while under water with a serenge (sp?).  I tried Hyrogen Peroxide lats night as I heard it works well too, but no signs of death yet.  I hope it works, it is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay cheaper than excel, especially for a tank my size.


----------



## Dan Crawford (26 Nov 2008)

tennis4you said:
			
		

> it is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay cheaper than excel, especially for a tank my size.


Do you intend to dose the whole thank long term? I don't believe it has any advantage other than it "may" kill BBA when spot dosed, it's certainly no replacement for Excel. Whilst i understand that you want to get rid of the BBA, we need to concentrate on why you have it in the first place.
Can you tell me:
If you have 4dKH solution yet?
What, when and how much ferts you are dosing?
What is the bubble rate of your CO2 and does it stay constant?
What CO2 diffuser are you using and is it clean?
What filter do you use and how often do you maintain it?
With these answers we may be able to help......


----------



## tennis4you (26 Nov 2008)

Dan Crawford said:
			
		

> tennis4you said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



When I use Excel I just spot treat while it is under the water, I am doing the same to just a few leaves right now with hydrogen peroxide, but it does not seem to be working just yet.  And I whole heartily agree, I need to resolve the issue at hand so it quits coming back.  I cannot afford to keep buying Excel for a 125 gallon tank!

Answers to your questions below.

1.  I do not yet have 4dKH solution.

2.  I will get you the dosing amounts tonight, I need to look on the cup to see how much PMMD I am using now.  My mixing solution is 1/4 of PMMD with 500mL of water to make the mix.  I forget what the Phosphates are.  I will check tonight when I get home.

3.  CO2 was about 3 drops per second, I recently raised it to 5 dps.  Scary enough, I went to check it last night and it was totally off, I think my son got his hands on it.  Scary!!!  Time to put a lock on the cabinet.

4.  CO2 diffuser is a homemade one someone gave me when I bought their CO2 tank and equipment.  It looks perfectly clean, and I have only had it for about 3 months?

5.  I have a Eheim 2217 canister filter.  I was not cleaning it but once every 4 months and it was nasty.  I decided to buy another (which I did 2 weeks ago) so now I have (2) Eheim 2217 running, one on each side of the tank.  I will be cleaning one every 30 days, rotating which one I clean each time.  

I will get back to you on how much I dose tonight.

I appreciate all the help.  I am desperate to fix all of this as it is a pain!  About 2 months ago I got a power head that does 400 gph and then recently bought the additional canister filter.  After reading an article last night on bba, I think I am going to try to get me a handful of snails to help break down some of the larger mess in the tank.  I would love to have shrimp too but my fish are too big and would eat them.

Thanks!!!


----------



## tennis4you (26 Nov 2008)

OK.  I dose 25 mL of PMDD and 5 mL of MKP.  MKP is mixed at 1 liter of distilled water with 3/4 tsp.

Does that answer all of the questions above?

Thank you,


----------



## Nick16 (26 Nov 2008)

IMO, its due to fluctuating co2 and if your son has turned it off then that may be part of your cause. therefore it will be on, off, on, off etc and is not helping. there maybe some underlying issues but this is the obvious one.


----------



## tennis4you (26 Nov 2008)

Nick16 said:
			
		

> IMO, its due to fluctuating co2 and if your son has turned it off then that may be part of your cause. therefore it will be on, off, on, off etc and is not helping. there maybe some underlying issues but this is the obvious one.



I will say that I noticed the bba starting again a week ago and I instantly raised the CO2 level at that time.  I was checking it frequently but the last 2 days.   I think he turned it off within the last two days.  I need to solve this CO2 issue, or whatever the underlying issue it, it is killing my tank.  Wifey will not allow me to keep buying these huge bottles of Excel to spot treat the leaves.  I am trying hydrogen peroxide but it does not appear to be helping like people said it might, bummer.


----------



## Nick16 (27 Nov 2008)

what co2 system are you using? and what size bottle?


----------



## tennis4you (27 Nov 2008)

It is a 10 pound bottle, not sure what kind it is.  I am attaching a picture of it if it helps.  I also took a very bad picture of the DIY reactor/diffuser (whatever the right name of it is) that came with the CO2 tank.

Hopefully these pictures help some.


----------

