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Potassium Nitrate and BBA

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.
 
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.
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Have you been watching Interstellar? :lol:
 
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 OP is talking about a "bad batch" of KNO3. Although I'm not sure what that means.
 
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.)
 
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.
 
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.)
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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.
 
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.
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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.
 
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.
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The question is related to a BAD batch, not Potassium Nitrate as a whole.
 
Sacha said:
The OP is talking about a "bad batch" of KNO3. Although I'm not sure what that means.
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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.
 
Jose said:
He would probably see dying fish before BBA if it had Ammonium.
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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.
 
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?
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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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