# Anyone have experiences of BBA?



## fisherkeepeer_z (29 Aug 2012)

I noticed today that i have a type of black fur growing on my plants.
Also known as Black Beard Algae. 

I have had this for a while but i thought it was "normal" for some odd reason ¬.¬ is there any way i can kill this algea as i can see it really affecting my plants and not letting them grow at all, i can see new growth without it but in the end it must get affected by it.

Ive researched it and im going to cut out any dosing of nutrients and only put my lights on for maybe 4 hours a day.

Is my 212w t5 bulbs to much excess for my 100 gal and causing this?
I know scrubbing manually will help but the amount of plants and bogwood i have in the tank i dont think it would be possible.

Thank you in advance.


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## darren636 (29 Aug 2012)

do not cut out nutrients, do lessen your lighting duration and if you can, increase flow aroung the plants - bba is a co2 related algae, suggesting you have too much light intensity and possiby too little flow and co2 . do you use co2 in any form or liquid carbon? what filter do you use?


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## darren636 (29 Aug 2012)

your research told you to  reduce fertilisers? which plants do you have btw?


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## foxfish (29 Aug 2012)

Horrible stuff!
Nine time out of ten it is about C02 or lack of it.
We always like to see a picture of the tank if possible.... sound like a nice big one


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## geoffbark (29 Aug 2012)

I'm with there's guys. 

It's co2 related. If you don't inject co2. It's still co2 related. 

Why? 

It is the fluctuation in co2 levels that causes it. 

If you inject co2 then up your bubble rate and increase flow distribution around plants. 

If you don't inject co2 it will be the water changes causing differences in co2 level. 

More to come......


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## geoffbark (29 Aug 2012)

fisherkeepeer_z said:
			
		

> is there any way i can kill this algea




There are several ways to kill this... Try all or one up to you 

-Increase CO2 and flow distribution around plants ( watch fish, and up co2 slowly)

-Inject liquid carbon onto affected area with syringe

-Depending on your plant types, on water change drop water level so plants are emersed, leave for 2-3 hours, BBA will go pink/red, hit it with liquid carbon.

-Prune out affected area

once you have killed it Try and keep co2 levels stabble what ever the ppm


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## fisherkeepeer_z (29 Aug 2012)

Okay nutrient dosing will stay the same.
At the moment i use Sera flore day drops, but i had this way before i dosed.
I heard cutting the lighting out would help but ive also heard doing so will mean plants will stop using up the nutrients in the water column and the BBA will have full control of it all. 

I dont inject co2 and i have two external filters and one internal. The externals are 1000 lp/h and the inetnal is 2000. 

The flow is pretty good on the surface and abit under but i can change it so the flow is more under the surface.

I dont have all the plant names aswell as the tank lights are off but i have the basics amazon swords, cambona and the plant with red leaves on one side and green on the other? vals and a few more but cannot see :/

I am switching the tank to dirt soon so i am handling all the plants and wood so i can scrub them while doing so, i really want to get rid of this as its stunned my plant growth  help! From research ive seen this is a hard battle to win.


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## darren636 (29 Aug 2012)

bba is easy to beat. i came home from holiday to find all my plants covered in the stuff. seems my lights were on but  my co2 was off...so i just cut the lighting time, did some water changes and sorted my co2. now it is almost gone.


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## fisherkeepeer_z (29 Aug 2012)

Im not injecting any co2 into my aquarium.


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## geoffbark (29 Aug 2012)

Ok fisherkeepeer as I have said above there are a few ways to kill it. Once it is dead maintain a stable carbon level. Either inject co2 or use liquid carbon daily. 

SAE's will eat it.


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## darren636 (30 Aug 2012)

the problem is too much light and not enough co2 and or poor flow. Get some floating plants to help create some filtering of the light. Or remove reflectors if you have them.  you do have co2 in your water, but not enough to prevent bba. So try lowering your light levels a bit, increase flow and see what happens.


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## dw1305 (30 Aug 2012)

Hi all,


> Im not injecting any co2 into my aquarium.


 I'm low tech, with the tanks nutrient depleted, and I usually have some BBA.  Red Ramshorn snails will eat it, but they need to start with a tank where there is little visible BBA, and then as they graze the biolfilm they will remove the young growing BBA plants. I don't think they will make much impact on visible BBA tufts, although these will detach over time and can then be syphoned up.

BBA is quite difficult to control low tech, although I find that it declines over time if you can get stable conditions in the tank. I usually increase filter maintenance a little bit if I get it, this increases flow and also means that I don't get too much dead organic matter in the tank.

In my experience water changes are an essential for low tech aquaria, unless they have miniscule bioloads. If you use tap water for water changes it would be worth allowing it to de-gas (just leave it stand), as this will mean that it doesn't add extra CO2, as fluctuating CO2 levels may be implicated in its growth.  Personally I remain unconvinced by the "water change = fluctuating CO2" hypothesis, although many others are convinced. 

I use floating plants to both control light levels and also as an indicator of nutrient levels, search for "duck-weed index" if you want more details.

The final option is just to take off the worst leaves, and brush it of hardscape etc, and then ignore it, it can be quite an attractive feature.

cheers Darrel


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## geoffbark (30 Aug 2012)

Have you got any SAE's they will graze on it.


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## Manrock (15 Sep 2012)

I always have a pair of SAE's in my tank and they will devour the stuff in a couple of hours!


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