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BBA I've tried everything

Thank you to everyone that replied.

This whole business has been a huge disappointment (so far). I started out thinking that by injecting CO2 I would have no algae problems - how wrong I was. I had visions of a jungle of a tank - that never happened. Spent a bob or two also, I might add.

I'm whipping out that second tube. As I said, the tank doesn't really look that different without it. One tube is very bright on such a small tank.

I have tried removing the DC, and it does turn blue - so no problems there.

Anyway - once again - thank you all.
 
Hi Alan, fingers crossed for you. It's very deflating when you can't seem to find the 'cure' and everything you see online is pictures of incredibly lush green tanks! This is like watching the Champions League, getting up for a kick around and realising that you aren't Messi!

I've had the same issue, with 78W of T5 on a 180-190 ltr and had to remove a bulb. I was surprised by how bright the tank still appeared, and things are definitely improving. Another bonus is that the fauna are far happier in more subdued lighting. hope it all works out for you.
 
Hi Alan, fingers crossed for you. It's very deflating when you can't seem to find the 'cure' and everything you see online is pictures of incredibly lush green tanks! This is like watching the Champions League, getting up for a kick around and realising that you aren't Messi!

I've had the same issue, with 78W of T5 on a 180-190 ltr and had to remove a bulb. I was surprised by how bright the tank still appeared, and things are definitely improving. Another bonus is that the fauna are far happier in more subdued lighting. hope it all works out for you.
 
Lighting is high, no doubt. You could change 1 bulb to a marine blue which will keep it bright but lower the amount of photosynthetic light available to the plants (and algae). Also, as regards the drop checker...sometimes mine seems to 'fix' to a certain colour and won't change. I have no idea why this happens (it shouldn't be possible chemically I believe) but I just change the solution in the DC and problem is solved.

I had a BBA problem a few years ago, tried everything but finally added a pair of SAE to my tank. All the BBA was gone in 2 days. I love these fish.

Alternatively, have you considered some shrimps or otto's for algae cleaning duties? Shrimps feast on the stuff and otto's keep flatter surfaces (big leaves, glass) clear.
 
Manrock said:
You could change 1 bulb to a marine blue which will keep it bright but lower the amount of photosynthetic light available to the plants (and algae).
Click to expand...
This is not true at all. If anything, blue light will increase the energy levels. Also, blue lights don't necessarily make things look brighter. If you want to lower PAR but maintain the illusion of brightness then a lower wattage light which emits in the green/yellow will achieve that objective.

Cheers,
 
Not sure where the BBA exist. On plants, or on the bottom part of the tank on decors/plants etc?

If this is more on the bottom, then you should check your substrate if that's covered on a recommended height which is usually 4-5 cm.
Check the filter flow if this is too powerful and the flow disturb the bottom part you probably will get this algae.
In the tank lifecycle you will have more dirt in your tank and depend on the setup you may will not be able to clean it - lot of mosses etc. So better maintenance needed.
Do a maintenance also on your filter. Especially on the white pad, but better to clean the bucket too if it was cleaned a while ago.

Maybe your CO2 solution is not good, maybe it is and just the CO2 distribution lack.
The BBA exist closer to the Diffuser? Possible sometimes when more CO2 injected.

How is your pH level? Isn't that too low?
How is the water temp? These are important things for your filtration. - i know some may disagree.

Soft or hard water?
Light is also a key point, but there are zillions of tanks wich do not have any bba and runs with much more light.
So it is more about the current setup/balance/water parameters i guess.
 
I removed one tube and have been doing water changes every two or three days. Things have improved but still have BBA on the vallis.

Is vallis particularly prone to BBA?
 
You have to remove the BBA that is there. All plants are particularly prone to BBA because BBA is caused by poor CO2. You can use a small paint brush dipped in Excel and carefully paint the BBA without touching the leaves. Assuming you have fixed the CO2 the tufts should not recur.

Cheers,
 
Hello everyone - I'm back 🙂

I'm very pleased to say that the BBA has been gone now for quite a few months.

The thing is with this tricky subject of algae is that we do various things at the same time, to solve the problem, so that when the problem is solved - what exactly was it that we did that solved the problem?

In my case, I'm sure that taking out one of the T5 tubes was the main factor, along with increased water changes .... I also used Easycarbo for a few weeks. Whatever worked, I am just happy that it did.

Ok.

Now we move onto the green algae that I still have on the gravel. Everything is as it was before - lighting, water changes etc.

The green algae isn't a huge problem, but not an insignificant problem either ... It is stilting the plant growth I am sure.

Tonight, for the first time in months, I have noticed that most plants are pearling. I take that to be a good sign. I'm now wondering what has caused this change (assuming that what I have done is good).

What I have done in the last week is :-

Clean the external filter
Increase my ferts dose (this morning) from 15mls to 20mls


So, is the pearling due to the increased ferts, or cleaning the external filter? Or both?

Or have I asked an unanswerable question?
 
Hi Alan,

I'm really interested in this thread as I've been having similar problems to you. I have an established tank with good flow, good lighting, EI dosing and pressurised CO2, but I have a lot of trouble with BBA on established plant leaves and hardscape and I don't know what I'm doing wrong!

Are you now running your tank on just one 18W T5 tube and still getting good plant growth? This sounds really low compared to the oft-quoted 2 watts/gallon rule, so I was interested to read ceg4048 saying it was much too high. I've got the standard Rio 125 set-up of 2x28W T5 tubes in a 125-litre tank, which I've always assumed to be adequate at best (and have considered upgrading). If I could solve my algae problems simply by removing one of these bulbs, I'm not sure whether I would laugh or cry!

Simon.

Tank specifications - 81x36x50cm Rio 125 litres
Lighting - 2x28W T5, 6 hours/day
CO2 - Pressurised, drop-checker is always green (yellowy-green towards end of photoperiod)
Filtration - Rio internal filter with home-made spraybar and inline CO2 diffuser; 2x Koralia 1600 pumps on/off alternately every minute
Fertilisation routine - EI daily; 5ml EasyCarbo daily.
Water change - ~50% weekly.
 
what do you have to lose by removing a bulb for a month or so? It could even bring a smile to your face 🙂 (lower algae levels and lower leccy bills!)

I have just one 30w T8 bulb over a low tech, rio 180 discus tank and the easy stem plants still grow a bit too rapidly for my liking!

little or no BBA algae on my anubias or crypt parva and the tank doesn't look dimly lit either.
 
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I'll crank up the CO2 as high as I can (without distressing the fish) for a few weeks first. If that doesn't work then I'll try taking a tube out.
 
Hi dunkirkpie, your drop checker needs to be towards the lime green colour at the start of the photoperiod for optimum plant growth, also bba needs to be manually removed from the tank no amount of co2 will make it disappear IME trim all affected plants scrape and scrub hardscape and follow up with large water changes to remove all the bba you can, spot dosing the algae with a syringe with your filters/ power heads off for 10 mins can also kill it but it still needs manual removal.
 
Am I the only one who struggles to tell the difference between lime green, blue-green and just green?! I might start keeping a lime by the tank for reference 😉

Yeah I give the tank a clean every month, scrubbing the internal background and trimming off all the affected leaves before doing the weekly 50% w/c. I did this last weekend so there's not much BBA now, hopefully cranking up the CO2 will prevent it coming back. My aponogeton crispus has had a lot of holes in its leaves lately too which I think might be due to a lack of CO2?
 
DunkirkPie said:
I'll crank up the CO2 as high as I can (without distressing the fish) for a few weeks first. If that doesn't work then I'll try taking a tube out.
Click to expand...
Increasing/cranking up the amount of c02 your adding might not be the answer. My c02 diffuser is giving off pretty big bubbles when I crank it up however If I lower the amount of c02 to almost a trickle of bubbles from the diffuser, I get pearling from some plants. So im thinking the way it actually gets dissolved in a tank is an important factor, just adding more c02 actually gives me less results. Thats whats occuring in my tank
 
Thanks for your input. People seem to have very different experiences CO2. Anyway I've cranked it up and the drop checker is greeny-yellow all the time now (fish seem fine). I'm using an inline diffuser attached to a home-made spraybar and there are now lots of tiny bubbles in the water which there weren't before. A bit early to draw any conclusions regarding algae or plant growth.

As a side note I've also finally realised the best way to spot dose Excel as an algicide - halfway through my weekly water change! Can't believe it never occured to me before. As a test I sprayed 5ml on my internal rock-effect background while it was above the water level the weekend before last, then left it ten minutes before refilling. Ten days later and I've got an area the size of a fag packet which is completely clear of algae. Can't wait to do the rest of it over the next few weeks!
 
ceg4048 said:
You have to remove the BBA that is there. All plants are particularly prone to BBA because BBA is caused by poor CO2. You can use a small paint brush dipped in Excel and carefully paint the BBA without touching the leaves. Assuming you have fixed the CO2 the tufts should not recur.

Cheers,
Click to expand...

I am also facing BBA but I am blasting lots of CO2. What can the reason be? I am not suspecting my water flow as my external filter is an Eheim 2217 on a 2 feet tank (or I might be wrong).

AlanTh said:
Hello everyone - I'm back 🙂

I'm very pleased to say that the BBA has been gone now for quite a few months.

The thing is with this tricky subject of algae is that we do various things at the same time, to solve the problem, so that when the problem is solved - what exactly was it that we did that solved the problem?

In my case, I'm sure that taking out one of the T5 tubes was the main factor, along with increased water changes .... I also used Easycarbo for a few weeks. Whatever worked, I am just happy that it did.

Ok.

Now we move onto the green algae that I still have on the gravel. Everything is as it was before - lighting, water changes etc.

The green algae isn't a huge problem, but not an insignificant problem either ... It is stilting the plant growth I am sure.

Tonight, for the first time in months, I have noticed that most plants are pearling. I take that to be a good sign. I'm now wondering what has caused this change (assuming that what I have done is good).

What I have done in the last week is :-

Clean the external filter
Increase my ferts dose (this morning) from 15mls to 20mls


So, is the pearling due to the increased ferts, or cleaning the external filter? Or both?

Or have I asked an unanswerable question?
Click to expand...

Alan, so the solution was to reduce the lighting which was too strong right? Would reducing the amount of time for lights on period helpful?
 
FerdinandPorsche said:
I am also facing BBA but I am blasting lots of CO2. What can the reason be? I am not suspecting my water flow as my external filter is an Eheim 2217 on a 2 feet tank (or I might be wrong).
Click to expand...
There are a couple of reasons. The normal reason is poor distribution of the flow, which depends a lot on how the filter output is arranged. Another classic reason is that the timing of the gas in relation to the timing of the lights. Finally, the dissolution dissolution method might be weak. The placement of the diffuser is always an issue. Try porting the gas into the filter inlet and measuring the pH drop over the period of time from gas on to lights off at 30 minute or 1 hour intervals and this will tell you a lot about how the gas is behaving.

FerdinandPorsche said:
Would reducing the amount of time for lights on period helpful?
Click to expand...
It would be more useful to sharply reduce the intensity of the light. Intensity is much more important than photoperiod length.

Cheers,
 
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