# Help annoying BBA



## Roger36 (9 Sep 2009)

Hello UKAPS   

I have a problem with BBA algae in my 67 day old tank, its growing mostly in the middle of the tank could this be a
flow problem? Its really annoying as its growing on the echinodorus carpet at the front and it looks unsightly.  

Here are my tank stats
Tank 625 litre 6' 2' 2'
Lighting 3 mercury vapor lamps on at 125 watt on 8 hours a day with a 3 hour break siesta.
1 dennerle coc 400 filter internal and 1 ehiem medium sized internal filter at either end of the tank.
Steady co2 using dennerle maxi flipper diffuser, co2 indicator shows lime green.
nitrate shows 12, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite.
KH is 4 buffered with bicarb, GH 12
I use dennerle dosing reigime S7 E15 V30 TR7 etc

Hope you guys can help  
Cheers
Roger


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## baron von bubba (9 Sep 2009)

BBA is usually caused by uneven co2, in your case seems to be more than likely is flow related, you do seem to be lacking somewhat there! 10x flow seems to be the target you should aim for in a high tech tank.
what is the rated output of the filters?

if the flow is bad then the co2/nutrients wont get to all the areas of the tank.

other things to note also...
have you moved the drop checker around to see what it reads in other areas of the tank?
do you turn the co2 on a couple of hours before the lights?
why are you having a light break? this in itself could cause problems in a co2 injected tank, even if the co2 distribution was upto scratch.


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## Dolly Sprint 16v (9 Sep 2009)

Roger

The plant that is suffering from BBA is it in front of the flow ie the returning water from the fliter unit. As for lighting period - leave the lights on - no midday break.

Paul.


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## Roger36 (9 Sep 2009)

Hi
Thank you very much for the quick reply's  
I'm not sure what my flow rate is in my tank as I have a dennerle COC 400 at one end and a Ehiem 2212 Aquaball however I am thinking of adding a koralea jet in the middle, any suggestions where I should put it would be appreciated though.
I will try to put the drop checker around the tank to if theirs any change in colour tonight
My CO2 is on 24 hours a day as I don't have a solenoid.  I'm not too worried about losing CO2 as I have a 5 foot pressurized bottle.
I will stop the siesta and have the lights on a constant 8 hours, maybe whats why the plants are not pearling much at the moment which worries me.
Any more comments would be greatly appreciated 
Yours 
Roger


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## Dolly Sprint 16v (9 Sep 2009)

Roger 

Are both your filters at one end or either ends of the tank. If they are at one end - move one to the other end which should distribute the flow better - ie multi directional rather than a one way flow. 

Paul.


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## Roger36 (9 Sep 2009)

Hi Paul
My filters are at either end of the tank like your recommending 
I will post a pic of my tank when I get home and the offending area of algae.
About a month ago I had a problem with staghorn algae so I dropped the lighting duration to 8 hours and cranked up the CO2 which seems to have worked as its starting to go white
I only feed my fish once a day because I am worried about the algae should I feed them twice a day?
Cheers  
Roger


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## Dolly Sprint 16v (9 Sep 2009)

Roger36 said:
			
		

> Hi Paul
> My filters are at either end of the tank like your recommending
> I will post a pic of my tank when I get home and the offending area of algae.
> About a month ago I had a problem with staghorn algae so I dropped the lighting duration to 8 hours and cranked up the CO2 which seems to have worked as its starting to go white
> ...



Roger

Feed fish once a day to much food or surplus food within the water will alter water perameters. Just add enough for two - three minutes - I feed mine every other day.

Paul


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## baron von bubba (9 Sep 2009)

the dennerle Pump capacity is 400 Litres/hour. (from what little info i can find)
the ehiem is Pump output approx. 650 l/h 

this is no where near enough on a 600+ litre tank


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## Roger36 (9 Sep 2009)

Hello Baron
Thankyou for the info on the filters, what do you suggest I do with the flow rate in my tank?


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## Dolly Sprint 16v (9 Sep 2009)

Roger36 said:
			
		

> Hello Baron
> Thankyou for the info on the filters, what do you suggest I do with the flow rate in my tank?



Roger 

The recommended flow rate of this forum is 10 x the volume of water, so you need 6000 ltr turn over of water.
Options.

Exisiting filters + 1 x Koralia 4 (5200 lph) 

or 

Exsiting filters + 2 x Koralia 2 (2600 lph each - 5200 lph) at least with this set up would get even flow distrubtion around the tank.

See short cut pumps.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-HYDOR-KORALIA ... 286.c0.m14

Regards
Paul.


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## JamesM (9 Sep 2009)

Just to add, the reason most recommend 10x turnover is most filters are rated without filter media and hoses connected. When adding these, filters can lose up to 50% flow. This doesn't matter to most people with basic tanks, but in a planted tank, flow is important to efficiently get nutrients around the tank. And that's not the end of the story, you could have a filter with enough flow to run 10 tanks at a decent turnover, but if the flow within the tank isn't right (ie dead spots, or in some cases to quick a flow), then you can still have problems.

In most case though, BBA is a result of unstable co2, so this should be addressed first. For a tank of your size, the only efficient way of adding co2, imo, is via a decent reactor, or possibly two decent reactors.


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## Roger36 (10 Sep 2009)

Hi Guys
Thank you for your suggestions I will try to find the cash for a couple of korealia pumps to get the flow up.
Regarding the co2, the drop checker is nearly yellow and its at the opposite end to the diffuser 6 foot away
so I think its working fine.
Thanks for the info keep it coming
Roger


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## JamesM (10 Sep 2009)

Just because you DC is yellow at the other end of the tank, doesn't mean it will be yellow elsewhere in the tank 

That's what we call inconsistent and unstable co2.


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## Dolly Sprint 16v (11 Sep 2009)

Roger

If it were me with a tank of your size I would buy some more DC and place them around the tank.

Buy some JBL ph reagent
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/JBL-Reagent-Refil ... 286.c0.m14

Glass DC's
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CO2-Aquarium-Glas ... 286.c0.m14

4dkh
http://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/index.p ... ts_id=2425

Half fill the glass dc & add 2 - 3 drops of reagent.

When checking colouration of dc's remove them from the tank and hold them up the natural light or a piece of white paper, as this will given a better idea of the colouration - what looks like lime green whilest in the water will probably be yellow against the paper.


Regards
paul.


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