# Potassium Nitrate and BBA



## lawrencezarb (16 Apr 2015)

Can a bad batch of Potassium Nitrate cause a BBA outbreak in a high tech setup?


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## Sacha (16 Apr 2015)

http://www.ukaps.org/forum/index.php?threads/What-exactly-causes-BBA?.36674/


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## lawrencezarb (16 Apr 2015)

My question was in reference to the sticky:

http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/potassium-nitrate-kno3-purchased-from-internet.16077/


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## Sacha (16 Apr 2015)

No-one knows what causes BBA. Anyone who says they do is lying. I don't think it's algae at all, but waste products left behind by 5-dimensional aliens as they pass through our 4-dimensional universe.


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## ajm83 (16 Apr 2015)

Sacha said:


> No-one knows what causes BBA. Anyone who says they do is lying. I don't think it's algae at all, but waste products left behind by 5-dimensional aliens as they pass through our 4-dimensional universe.


Have you been watching Interstellar?


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## Sacha (16 Apr 2015)

No aliens in Interstellar


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## Jose (16 Apr 2015)

KNO3 does not cause algae. How do I know? Because otherwise everyone using any type of fertilization would have algae. In other words there are plenty of tanks out there with KNO3 dosing that dont have BBA.

I you add KNO3 and get algae, then its due to something else correlated(/or not). Like maybe you drove uptake up, limitting some other nutrient in the process.


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## Sacha (16 Apr 2015)

The OP is talking about a "bad batch" of KNO3. Although I'm not sure what that means.


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## Jose (16 Apr 2015)

Unless its Ammonium Nitrate it shouldnt cause algae, unless he is dosing too little. Ive bought KNO3 from ebay a couple of times and its always been very good. BBA is comming from something else (CO2 ammount/CO2 stability/Flow-light?, too much organics? Are you dosing enough nutrients? etc.)


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## ian_m (16 Apr 2015)

You could always mix up and extremely small amount with distilled water and test for nitrate and if really really worried test for ammonia. Test kits will work fine and only testing for one salt/ion.


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## Jose (16 Apr 2015)

He would probably see dying fish before BBA if it had Ammonium.


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## lawrencezarb (16 Apr 2015)

Jose said:


> Unless its Ammonium Nitrate it shouldnt cause algae, unless he is dosing too little. Ive bought KNO3 from ebay a couple of times and its always been very good. BBA is comming from something else (CO2 ammount/CO2 stability/Flow-light?, too much organics? Are you dosing enough nutrients? etc.)



I have been dosing the same amount of nutrients for some time, and only recently I got a suden outbreak of BBA. The only thing I can think of that has changed was a batch of new Potassium Nitrate from Ebay. Reading through the sticky this came to mind.


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## Jose (16 Apr 2015)

lawrencezarb said:


> I have been dosing the same amount of nutrients for some time, and only recently I got a suden outbreak of BBA. The only thing I can think of that has changed was a batch of new Potassium Nitrate from Ebay. Reading through the sticky this came to mind.



Well thats most probably not the cause.
Also, BBA seems to take like 2 weeks to appear since the change happened. Try to think back some weeks before the BBA. Did you change CO2 in any way? FloW? Did change light?, Photoperiod? Dosing Rutine? etc etc.


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## lawrencezarb (16 Apr 2015)

Jose said:


> KNO3 does not cause algae. How do I know? Because otherwise everyone using any type of fertilization would have algae. In other words there are plenty of tanks out there with KNO3 dosing that dont have BBA.
> 
> I you add KNO3 and get algae, then its due to something else correlated(/or not). Like maybe you drove uptake up, limitting some other nutrient in the process.



The question is related to a BAD batch, not Potassium Nitrate as a whole.


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## Jose (16 Apr 2015)

lawrencezarb said:


> The question is related to a BAD batch, not Potassium Nitrate as a whole.



Can you explain what a bad batch is then? What does it contain?


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## lawrencezarb (16 Apr 2015)

Sacha said:


> The OP is talking about a "bad batch" of KNO3. Although I'm not sure what that means.


Hi Sasha, If you read the sticky that I provided a link to, they indicate that some Ebay items might not be "pure" Potassium Nitrate, as there is no control of sales on Ebay. If so then there may be other chemical/filler that may contribute to BBA.


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## lawrencezarb (16 Apr 2015)

Jose said:


> He would probably see dying fish before BBA if it had Ammonium.


Hi Jose, Yes I have also had some fish deaths. Although none now, but the BBA still seems to be growing although at a slower rate.


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## lawrencezarb (16 Apr 2015)

Jose said:


> Can you explain what a bad batch is then? What does it contain?


See here:

http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/potassium-nitrate-kno3-purchased-from-internet.16077/

I have no idea what it may contain. The question is, should I bin my EBAY Nitrate and buy from a reputable seller ir CO"art?


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## Jose (16 Apr 2015)

lawrencezarb said:


> I have no idea what it may contain. The question is, should I bin my EBAY Nitrate and buy from a reputable seller ir CO"art?


My opinion is NO you dont need to. But if it will give you peace of mind then go ahead. Many people have problems with BBA, so they look everywhere for the cause. Normally co2 and clean water fix it.


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## lawrencezarb (16 Apr 2015)

Hi Jose, Thanks


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## sciencefiction (16 Apr 2015)

lawrencezarb said:


> The only thing I can think of that has changed was a batch of new Potassium Nitrate from Ebay.



Well, what comes to mind is that the powder that was sold to you as potassium nitrate contains neither potassium, nor nitrate, or very little of both, and your plants are struggling for macro nutrients.


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## lawrencezarb (16 Apr 2015)

That is a po


sciencefiction said:


> Well, what comes to mind is that the powder that was sold to you as potassium nitrate contains neither potassium, nor nitrate, or very little of both, and your plants are struggling for macro nutrients.



That is a possibility.


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## Jose (16 Apr 2015)

lawrencezarb said:


> That is a possibility.



And it turns out its a substance that causes BBA specifically? Come on its very unlikely.


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## sciencefiction (16 Apr 2015)

Jose said:


> And it turns out its a substance that causes BBA specifically? Come on its very unlikely.



Not the presence of a substance but the lack of a substance, meaning struggling plants due to lack of potassium and nitrate or both makes them vulnerable to algae.


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## Jose (16 Apr 2015)

sciencefiction said:


> Not the presence of a substance but the lack of a substance, meaning struggling plants due to lack of potassium and nitrate or both makes them vulnerable to algae.


So it hasnt got got any nitrates. I guess it could be but I doubt this person would last long on ebay.


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## Jose (16 Apr 2015)

If there were no nitrates youd probably be getting BGA. The presence of BBA is telling you its probably not nitrates but CO2.


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## ceg4048 (27 Apr 2015)

BBA is strictly a CO2 related algae.The OP is wasting time associating faulty KNO3 with the rise of BBA. Fix the CO2/flow/distribution/gas timing and so forth.

Cheers,


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## Sacha (27 Apr 2015)

He lives!


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## sonicninja (27 Apr 2015)

Sacha said:


> No aliens in Interstellar


matthew mcconaughey?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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