# Black Brush Algea



## johnny70 (29 Dec 2007)

I have started to get some Black Brush Algea on my crypts in the Rio 180 tank, seems to be ever since I had the refletors put in its started to get on just the crypts.

Now if i take off the offending leaves that will deal with most of it.? now from what I have read, BBA is often found in hard water tank, mine certainly isn't. also an indication of low or fluctuating CO2 levels in a high light level tank or changing CO2 levels in a low light tank. dont think my tank would be classes as high light with just the normal Juwel lamps and reflectors. My only source of CO2 is the Seachem Excel, 5ml once a week. 

I have started experimenting with macro ferts on my apisto tank. using the following;

GH booster contains Calcium Sulphate, Magnesium Sulpahte, Potatsium Sulphate and Iron Sulphate.

Potassium Nitrate and Potassium Phosphate.

Also will be dosing with CSM+B trace when my Seachem Flourish runs out.

Will this help in the big tank to cut down with algea, it is medium/heavily planted, will be adding some more in the new year. so with better ferts for plant growth that should reduce any algea? or have I got the wrong end of the stick.

I'm only dosing with Excel for CO2 as my water is extremely soft with next to no buffering capacity. I suppose I should do a daily/bi-daily Excel dose to keep the CO2 levels from fluctuating to much, unless someone has experience with adding CO2 to a tank with a kH 1 and gH 4??

Cheers
JOHNNY


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## Ed Seeley (29 Dec 2007)

Hi Johnny,
I've got very soft water (I use RO water for all my tanks) and have different CO2 provision in different tanks.  In my main tank (2.275wpg) I've got pressurised CO2 and have run it at 30ppm turned off at night and at lower levels.  In another tank I've run DIY CO2 and grew luxuriant BBA!  I then have DIY CO2 in a nano along with adding EasyCarbo (basically the same as the Excel you're adding) and this killed off the BBA and is currently running brilliantly (shame it's coming down in a few weeks...).  Spot treating with EasyCarbo has killed all of it in my nano tank in weeks.  All I do is take the daily dose in a syringe, fill the rest of the syringe with tank water, then squirt this diluted mix at the areas with lots of BBA.  It goes pale in a few days and is then eaten/dies off in weeks.

Until this nano, I have always had BBA in all my tanks!  I've tried EI, no ferts, trace ferts only and it's still there!  The most success I've had in removing it in the main tank was by unintentionally reducing the lighting (but then the swords aren't too happy!).  As yours came after upping the lighting I think that may be the best way to control the BBA at the moment.

I'm not sure what the key is to keeping BBA at bay, apart from dosing with Excel/EasyCarbo to kill off any that appears.

Edit:  Forgot to say you can add CO2 to water of any KH as the pH changing doesn't effect the fish, it's the TDS/Hardness that seems to have the most effect and rapid changes in that will cause serious problems IME.  In my main tank (currently 0dKH, with ~22.5ppm CO2) the pH changes about 1 degree when the CO2 comes on, but the fish don't even seem to notice.


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## johnny70 (29 Dec 2007)

Thanks for the reply

This is the first tank I have had a problem with, it would seem I'm really underdosing on liquid carbon. It seems that I should be adding about 4ml daily, seems a lot. is that figure correct? My tank is a juwel rio 180ltr, sand substrate with some tetra complete underneath, bogwood and some rock, medium/heavy planting. I do a 30ltr water change every 7 days.

Is this ok then? 

Will take out the affected leaves straight away, my tanks have a quite natural look so taking some leaves won't really effect the looks

Cheers
JOHNNY


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## Ed Seeley (29 Dec 2007)

Well I just dosed 8ml of EasyCarbo in my 180l tank, so 4ml doesn't seem a lot to me!  I know many people have overdosed Excel to help remove algae, but I'm not sure how much they add.

The only other thing I would try is maybe upping the water changes for a while as this will help reduce the organics in the tank (that may cause algae) and really can't hurt in any way.  As much as 50% can be done weekly (indded they are needed if you follow EI fertilisation) just make sure the water isn't too cold!


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## johnny70 (3 Jan 2008)

so 8ml daily of liquid carbon is the minimum I need for this 180ltr tank?

Thanks
JOHNNY


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## Ray (3 Jan 2008)

3.5ml as per the label, 7ml double dose - I double dose daily - no ill effects on fish (at least not my guppies), if you have shrimps have to see how you go.


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## Ed Seeley (3 Jan 2008)

The dosing instructions on my EasyCarbo say "1ml per 50 litres per day with a maximum of 2ml per 50 litres in aquariums with lots of plants.  Higher dosage rates are highly inadvisable"

I added 8ml to mine as I have been adding 1 ml to my 5 gallon tank without harm and just added 8 times as much to my 40g (180 litre) tank.  But according to the instructions that is a maximum.  I haven't been adding this every day, but lots of the BBA is bleaching so I'm happy!  I have upped the CO2 levels as well, but have done this on it's own without the BBA dieing so I'm giving the credit to the EasyCarbo!


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## GreenNeedle (4 Jan 2008)

BBA is vitrually the only algae I have problems with.  I was dosing excel but I'll be ****** if Im paying out regularly for that so I loooked into it.

It does seem that a lot of people in the UK even some ver knowledgable people struggle with BBA and I wonder if it is something to do with the water in the UK (clutching at straws maybe)

Another problem can be that when a cannister filter starts (and I mean begins) to get a lot of dirt inside it the flow restricts a little and this affects the circulation which in turns affects the CO2 distribution.

I therefore now do a full clean of pipes every fortnight and clean out the inside of my cannister monthly which seems to be doing its thing.

The BBA is not gone from the wood/rock but is less and the crypts seem to have forgotten what BBA is.

Another thing I found was that the leaves that the crypts first grew in the tank were heavily affected with BBA but since they've grown and I have chopped them off leaving only new growth this seems to be unaffected.

Andy


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## JamesC (4 Jan 2008)

SuperColey1 said:
			
		

> It does seem that a lot of people in the UK even some ver knowledgable people struggle with BBA and I wonder if it is something to do with the water in the UK (clutching at straws maybe)



There does some to be some correlation between high KH and problem BBA. It's something I've noticed for a while with people that have hard water. I  think it could be something to do with fact that CO2 is linked to HCO3/CO3 when dissolved in water.

James


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## Ed Seeley (4 Jan 2008)

JamesC said:
			
		

> SuperColey1 said:
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 But I've got 0-1dKH in all my tanks and still get plagued by it!!!  Maybe I'm the exception that proves the rule!!!


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## johnny70 (4 Jan 2008)

Not at all, my kh is the same 0/1 when tested.

Thanks for the replies, got some easycarbo from AE today, Excel is nearly gone, see how I get on with this.

Cheers
JOHNNY


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## Matt Holbrook-Bull (4 Jan 2008)

JamesC said:
			
		

> SuperColey1 said:
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I have it persistantly, with great co2/flow/and everything else.... I have high KH as well.. be interesting if someone could run 2 tanks side by side, one soft, one hard and see what happened when BBA samples were added.


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## johnny70 (8 Jan 2008)

Has anyone had any success with a Siamese Algea Eater getting rid of BBA?? Was at my LFS yesterday they had some lovely young ones, beautiful fish, my oto's won't touch any plant algae.

JOHNNY


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## fishgeek (8 Jan 2008)

your obviously feeding your oto's too well

mine ate bba after i peroxided it and it changed colour


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## johnny70 (8 Jan 2008)

Yeah I think you could be right Andrew!

What the procedure for peroxide dosing?

JOHNNY


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## fishgeek (9 Jan 2008)

peroxide is labile, so dissaccociates into oxygen and water very quickly making it relatively safe

it is also quite a strong oxidant so will damage things that it is placed in contact with, i tend to use a sryinge and direct it neat onto the problem area's

lots of fizzing and algae usually changes colour over the next few days


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## johnny70 (10 Jan 2008)

Have been dosing 8ml of Excel now for 5days, when can I expect to see an improvement in the algae dying?

Cheers
JOHNNY


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## james3200 (10 Jan 2008)

Try spot dosing, after my co2 ran out i had some bba on my ferns, spot dosed excel for 2 days now and the bba has a slight hint of red to it


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