Well, here's the thing Matt: 150mg/L is only about 9 KH using the conversion [1 degree KH = 18 ppm CO3/HCO3]. My tap runs at about 8 KH and from between 12 degrees to 17 GH, so if we are on the same scale then that's 144mg/L CO3/HCO3 and between 216mg/L and 306mg/L CaCO3/MgCO3. This data is from a standard cheapo KH and GH test kits. The water quality report lists 250ppm Ca and 50ppm Mg but it's unclear how they arrived at these figures. In any case the water is damned hard, so much so that I have a water softener to combat it. the report does not list the KH.
It wouldn't surprise me at all if BBA loves hard water or high alkalinity but that's not what we are talking about. We are talking about
inducing BBA. This happens all over the world, not just in UK water. Just check the various forums. A statistical analysis will likely show that there are just as many hobbyist inducing BBA in San Francisco's soft, low KH water as in any other location that has hard and high KH water.
The glosso? Consider this line of reasoning: If you have BBA then you have poor CO2. Maybe the glosso's bad behavior is in response to the poor CO2. Again, I throw my powders in without a care in the world. Glosso could care less. Glosso does not however appreciate poor CO2.
If you want to solve BBA for the rest of your life then you have to break the sound barrier in you mind. Here is a radical procedure: Step #1 is to get rid of all your fish. Everyone of them, even the algae eaters. Get best value at LFS or re-house in other tanks. Do a blackout or whatever you need to do to get rid of the BBA that is there now.
Step #2 is to crank your needle valve all the way until your diffuser sputters and belches out bubbles. Don't worry about fine misting or efficiency or anything like that, just crank the heck out of it. It doesn't have to run 24/7. In fact you can program the timer so that it closes after 6 hours as long as it goes on at least an hour before lights on. Forget the dropchecker because it will be useless in this experiment. Just aim for a tank water pH drop of at least 1.5 units during that 6 hours.
What this will do is it will drive your tank as close as possible to the mythical "Unlimited CO2" saturation levels. Massive water changes are a must and massive dosing is also a must otherwise you'll see other types of algae as each macro bottoms out due to increased uptake demand. I can absolutely guarantee that you will never see BBA again. Now, you'll need to start backing off the CO2 until you find the lowest injection rate that doesn't annihilate your fish but yet won't bring back the BBA. Start with some cheap tetras. When you bring them home, float the bag and keep the fish in the bag overnight until just before CO2 "ON" time. What this does is it allows CO2 to build up in their bag and they get used to it so that when you release them they have already adjusted to higher levels of CO2 in their blood stream.
All of this takes massive cojones but it will make a believer of you. Thereafter you will never question what causes BBA or staghorn or hair algae - ever. You will never worry about hard water, soft water or middling water...forever.
Fish in the tank limit what you can do with CO2 and they stop you from probing the deepest secrets of your tank and of your plants.
Have you seen posts that start out something like: "My NH4=0, NO2=0" - Well, we know that's bogus, right?. These values are never zero. They just read zero on the dumb test kit. Well how about the posts that start off: "My CO2=30ppm, and I have great flow but I have hair algae" I immediately think to myself : "Yeah, right, 99% probability this poster has a CO2 and/or flow problem"
Few people understand the power of CO2 because they never stretch the envelope. I see a lot where folks setting up a tank can't wait to rush out and get fish or shrimp. I always think "My God man you have the rest of your life to add fish. First find the max performance of your tank so that you understand what it takes to optimize". I'm not afraid to get algae because there is no doubt in my mind what causes the various types. Without fail, taking the corrective action fixes the problem, but I get the feeling that most everyone else has doubts. There is just that niggling doubt that their case is just a little bit more special and that there is some other factor, maybe too many nutrients. The reason for the doubt is that they have never taken the tank to ultimate levels and back so that they can never truly believe. They want to get to the destination without taking the journey.
I know now that I am only one of a handful of people on Planet Earth who actually thinks his CO2 is never high enough. And I've certainly gassed more fish than anyone I know.
🙄 But guess what? I don't have algae (until my CO2 bottle get below some threshold pressure level. That tells me to change my bottle.) and I don't even have any algae eaters. I don't really need them. That is the power of CO2. If I had an army of believers I could conquer the world.
Orphan to Neo: Don't try to bend the spoon. That's impossible...Instead...only try to realize the truth...That there
is no spoon. Then you will see that it is not the
spoon that bends but only
yourself.
Cheers,