# BBA is putting up a very good fight but I want to win.



## Brad123 (6 Mar 2017)

Ok it a dirt tank it about 8 month old.  The plants have been in for 1 month.  
Light are aquarienEco led and 2 t8  18 watt.  Lights are on for 6.5 hours 
Dosing macro 10ml every day except Saturday when do 50% water change.  Every 2 days do 10% water change.
CO2 drop checker is a nice green when lights come on.
2 external filters eheim 2215 and fluval 206 into diy spray bar.  Also got a wave maker can't remember the flow.
Stop Dosing micro after this https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/amazon-sword-plant-melting.48981/
The plants are growing so is the BBA do need help but I don't under stand all this Mg Ca stuff.
Before I forget started putting in 5ml of excel in the morning with the macro the last 2 days. Read somewhere on here it helped.



 

 

 


Holes has started to appear 



 
The plants a growing 
Was spot Dosing H2O2 but not seeing any difference


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## Andy Thurston (6 Mar 2017)

How's big is the tank? Liquid carbon will help but if you have too much light. then it will not be able to clear your bba problems


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## Brad123 (7 Mar 2017)

Ops sorry it a 125l tank lights are 400mm above the gravel


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## ian_m (7 Mar 2017)

Those holes in the leaves look like mechanical damage due to something eating them. My loaches used to leave small "U" shape cuts in the leaves of bigger plants.


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## Brad123 (7 Mar 2017)

ian_m said:


> Those holes in the leaves look like mechanical damage due to something eating them. My loaches used to leave small "U" shape cuts in the leaves of bigger plants.


Thanks will keep an eye on the zebra loaches. Will give them more food


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## Brad123 (7 Mar 2017)

Is there a right time to dose a tank.  I dose mine at 6am (when I get up and get ready for work) and the lights only come on at 3pm.


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## sgdiscus (7 Mar 2017)

Brad123 said:


> Is there a right time to dose a tank.  I dose mine at 6am (when I get up and get ready for work) and the lights only come on at 3pm.



You may want to google around 'half-life of Flourish Excel'. Depends on which article or post you read, most of them estimates the half-life of excel to approximately between 7 to 12 hours. So based on your dosing schedule, about half of the compound that you dosed at 6am would have diminished by 3pm (about 7 hours later). BUT this does not mean you double dose at 6am as the increased concentration at 6am may also harm your plants and livestocks.

Depends on what time you are home in the evening and the length of your photoperiod... you may achieve better results when you dose it with your lights still on when you are home. However, given that you may not have much choice and also the half-life of excel 'could' be 12 hours... you might want to stick to your schedule and see what happens.

Patience is an important component against BBA. I should know!


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## sgdiscus (7 Mar 2017)

Just to add, for my personal experience, i use a syringe and blast the excel directly at the BBA. I did this on alternate days for about two weeks. Some plants near the BBA zone will suffer.


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## ian_m (7 Mar 2017)

Brad123 said:


> Thanks will keep an eye on the zebra loaches.


That will be the cause then. I was unable to keep broad leaf plants with loaches present, they just nibbled them to death.


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## Brad123 (7 Mar 2017)

Thanks sgdiscus I get home at about 5pm will dose then for a week and see how it goes. I could put up to 15ml of excel would that be a bad thing as I'm using co2 in as well. If not have got a syringe will try spot dosing with the excel all 15ml.


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## sgdiscus (7 Mar 2017)

Brad123 said:


> Thanks sgdiscus I get home at about 5pm will dose then for a week and see how it goes. I could put up to 15ml of excel would that be a bad thing as I'm using co2 in as well. If not have got a syringe will try spot dosing with the excel all 15ml.


I also used both CO2 and excel. So long as you do not overdose then you should be ok. If you are worried, You could slightly underdose excel since in your context the purpose of excel is meant to kill the BBA. 

Sent from my SM-N910G using Tapatalk


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## HiNtZ (19 Mar 2017)

Something has been eating those leaves! 

My experience with excel - double dose never done me any harm, nor my shrimp/fish.

You might as well spot dose the liquid carbon if you are adding it to the tank anyway. Will help speed up the process. YOu definitely need to sort the issue causing it though..... my guess would be (wait for it) CO2/flow.

I've tested the theory by dragging plants riddled with BBA from one tank and dumping it in a healthy high tech tank and it died (goes white/pink) within two days and the shrimp ate what was left.


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## Brad123 (19 Mar 2017)

HiNtZ said:


> Something has been eating those leaves!
> 
> My experience with excel - double dose never done me any harm, nor my shrimp/fish.
> 
> ...


I have been spot Dosing for the lasts few days.  But the right amount will up it. 
Co2 I've got a diy CO2 reactor about 4 maybe more bps(can't count it to fast). Don't think I can put more CO2 in as it not dissolving quick enough just accumulating in the reactor.


 
Flow I've turn off my circulating pump as I was thinking may be to much flow. Will play around with the placement of the pump
The algae is not getting better but is getting worse slowly.  Plants are growing but so is the algae. 
Have to get it right so I might be able to get a bigger tank(wife) will have to see about that.
Thanks all for the help so far.
Brad


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## Brad123 (19 Mar 2017)

It not the best video of my tank hope it can help you to help me with the algae problem.


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## maboleth (20 Mar 2017)

I'd introduce SAE to your fish mates.  But original ones, not the Chinese copies.


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## HiNtZ (1 Apr 2017)

I think the tank looks great! I caught a glimpse of some BBA and it looks like it's dying to me.


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## Andy Thurston (2 Apr 2017)

If you use excel to spot dose the bba at 2 x dose you should win the battle very quickly provided that light is not too much and co2 in not too little. Loaches can do a lot of damage to plants, so if you keep them in a planted tank be aware that your plants may never look 100% healthy, but BBA should not be a problem if light and co2 are correct


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## Brad123 (3 Apr 2017)

Andy Thurston said:


> If you use excel to spot dose the bba at 2 x dose you should win the battle very quickly provided that light is not too much and co2 in not too little. Loaches can do a lot of damage to plants, so if you keep them in a planted tank be aware that your plants may never look 100% healthy, but BBA should not be a problem if light and co2 are correct


Have not spot dosed for a week just to see what happens (BBA is still growing). Have done a big clean out of BBA this weekend got as much out as I can. 
Have added 3 SAE to my fish collection.  Yes the loaches are making a mess of some of the plants(Have been watching them).
The lights I'm not to sure what to make of them if they are high or low.  They are  aquarienEco led https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B019W71V90/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
2 t8 :   18w T8 Gro-Lux lamp ,Philips MASTER TL-D 18W/865
CO2 when lights come on have about a 0.8 Ph drop.
Thanks for all the reply's


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## Andy Thurston (3 Apr 2017)

your wavemaker looks to be pointing in a different direction to your spraybar this could be part of your problem too.


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## Brad123 (29 Apr 2017)

Just an update still got Algae it a lot better then it was.


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## Brad123 (20 May 2017)

Andy Thurston said:


> your wavemaker looks to be pointing in a different direction to your spraybar this could be part of your problem too.


You were right tured it off and the corner were the algae was the worst is nearly
All gone thanks


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