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Help with BBA treatment - about to tank reset

humdingerx

humdingerx

Member
Joined
8 Feb 2015
Messages
81
Hi everyone,

Really hoping someone can help with this. I have a 200 litre 4ft tank and have (once again!) got BBA growing all over the place.

The tank is tropical, has sand substrate, crypts, java ferns, bogwood, some nano anubias, a couple barteri broad leaf, amazon swords and some hygrophila polysperma as well as various mosses.

It's a relatively low light tank with a T8 30w daylight bulb. It used to have 2 x 8w LED lights which I swapped out for the lower light one as I had awful troubles with algae from my old higher light tank. So I figured the lower light would help this time.

The filter is a Fluval 306 and I also have a circulation pump in it to help flow around the tank.

I am doing weekly water changes around 50% with Prime.
The light is on 4 hours in the morning and 4 hours early evening.
I started dosing EasyCarbo around 5ml per day before the morning lights.
I've used Tetra Plantamin during the water change and do daily dose of 4 drops of JBL Ferropol
I put root tabs under the Swords and dotted around under the crypts.

Everything has BBA :( The java fern is slowly withering away along with the swords (I've never successfully grown swords, those are supposed to be easy!)

The ferns do have baby ferns just starting to grow off the tips. The barteri are sending up new leaves. One has even flowered amazingly enough! The mosses grow.

But all the plants apart from the moss have BBA or some kind of brown dot algae :(

The ferns look like they have holes in them before they melt and some of the sword leaves go transparent then melt away.

I've tried trimming the badly affected leaves off but am afraid I won't have much left at this rate!

I don't know if I have too much light period, not enough carbon, too much/not enough flow, too much/not enough nutrients.

But now I am in a position to "reset" my tank as the fish are going to a new owner.

I'm really thinking whole tank Hydrogen Peroxide treatment and maybe 3 days blackout as well?

What would work to kill all the algae and start over?? And what can I do to stop it coming back?

I gave up fishkeeping some time back but picked it back up again with the hopes to grow out plants for the fish but am once again losing hope of keeping living plants. The barteri are giving me some hope because I can see their new leaves coming up and one has flowered, but even those are getting algae on them...
 
Hi
Unfortunately the Bba is the most difficult algae to deal with as is really tough little thing.
Having said that Bba is usually not light related it grow successfully in low light as it does in high light setups. Its usually related to poor water quality (accumulation of waste ,dirty or insufficient filters,CO2 fluctuations ,low oxygen levels and general tank imbalance )Black out is not going to do much for it either.
The ways to battle that algae is increased tank maintenance and watetchanges with removing as much of it as U can.Hydrogen peroxide and liqiud carbon products are effective regards killing it but U need to address the cause or it ussualy comes back.
Is there any reason for the split light photoperiod.It can cause CO2 fluctuations and aldough is being advocated as way of increasing CO2 levels in low tech tanks I personally had more algae issues when run my lights like that compared to one 6-8 hour photoperiod.
The use of liquid carbon supplements will increase the demand for other nutrients too.Do U curently use any fertiliser?
Regards Konsa
 
Hi,

Here are pictures which show the damage :(

The split photo period is simply because I wake up at 07:00 go to work at 08:00 and am back home at 17:30. I don't know if I should replace it with one 6 hour period from 07:30 but that means no light in the tank when I'm home, so it's more for my benefit than the plants?

Ferts: https://www.tetra.net/en/en/products/tetra-plantamin (as per instructions on water change)
https://www.jbl.de/en/products/detail/2343/jbl-ferropol-24 (daily before I go to work, 4 drops)

I want to try to get it low maintenance low light, ideally without carbon supplment if I can help it. I only started the Easycarbo few days ago in the hopes it might help against the algae...

As the fish are going to go I have the opportunity to "start over" so would like help on how to reset and try to keep to a regime that will help prevent algae.

I'm really happy the broadleaf barteri are growing and one bloomed, even if their leaves are also showing algae growth, so it's not a 100% disaster (yet!) :)
 

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humdingerx said:
Hi,

Here are pictures which show the damage :(

The split photo period is simply because I wake up at 07:00 go to work at 08:00 and am back home at 17:30. I don't know if I should replace it with one 6 hour period from 07:30 but that means no light in the tank when I'm home, so it's more for my benefit than the plants?

Ferts: https://www.tetra.net/en/en/products/tetra-plantamin (as per instructions on water change)
https://www.jbl.de/en/products/detail/2343/jbl-ferropol-24 (daily before I go to work, 4 drops)

I want to try to get it low maintenance low light, ideally without carbon supplment if I can help it. I only started the Easycarbo few days ago in the hopes it might help against the algae...

As the fish are going to go I have the opportunity to "start over" so would like help on how to reset and try to keep to a regime that will help prevent algae.

I'm really happy the broadleaf barteri are growing and one bloomed, even if their leaves are also showing algae growth, so it's not a 100% disaster (yet!) :)
Click to expand...

I second what Konsa says...

Your plants are severely lacking nutrients. Get some NPK and micros in there. Cut back all dying and dead leaves as otherwise your BBA will just get worse... I've experienced every algae under the sun/LED strip.

Best wishes
Matt


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Hi
The tetra plantamin is micro only fertiliser.You need to consider adding macro as well.
If you have opportunity to reset the tank is even better.Cut all damaged leaves and treat the plants with dip in overdosed Easycarbo solution in bowl of water .
Having only sand as substrate is a bit tricky to grow plants in.You will have very little margin for mistakes.Have U thought about adding some base layer as Tropica plant grouth substrate or even some soil and then cap it with sand.If your bugdet allows U maybe aquasoil in back and sand foreground.Having those will definitely make your life easier as will store nutrients ,help the plants and give you more room for mistakes.
Plant as densely as U can from the start add floating plants.
Regards Konsa
 
Hi
About wich fertiliser to use.
I will suggest to get the EI starter kit from Aquarium plant food. Its dead easy to work with ,cheap and lasts ages.
If U use their recipe U will need 1/3 of the recommended dose
U can carry on with Easycarbo but the dose is 1ml to 25l of water.U will have to be dosing 8ml daily before lights on.And if U using that the recommended ferts dose goes to 1/2 maybe more of the ferts I suggested before.
Dont know what fish U plan on keeping too.U need to not over stock the tank and think about algae eaters (amanos ,snails,otos) as they help.
Have a read through the tutorial section there is loads of info on there.

Regards Konsa
 
Last edited:
Konsa has got it spot on.....sand is not the best plant growing media!
If you are going low techish purchase some decent planting substrate, you won't regret it!
Dose Liquid Carbon at the initial set - up as supplement.....you can reduce or stop dosing as the plants get established and are in better health!
Dose NPK & Micro fertilizer's!.....Lush Max is adequate for your needs.
Get some fast growing stems to help mature the substrate....there are some that can be used as floaters....Water Sprite etc.
Floating plants....there a good indicator of nutrients within the water column!
hoggie
 
Hi guys,

Thanks for the advice! I have stripped my tank over for a reset, since I don't have fish at the moment. I've swapped the sand out for gravel but have decided to remove the root feeders (for now) and concentrate on the Java Fern which is attached to bogwood and the Anubias Nano and Broadleaf, which are also on bits of bogwood.

I scrubbed off all the algae I could find from the tank.

Couple of questions:
  1. For the EasyCarbo "dip" for the remaining plants what kind of mixture water/carbo should I have in a bowl? How long to dip for?
  2. What lighting period to start with? Given this is a very low light tank and I am not home from 08:00am to 5:30pm I'd like a split period ideally, morning so I can dose anything needed and fish food before I go and evening so I can enjoy the tank up to 9:30pm or so.
  3. I feel the liquid pre mixed ferts would suit me better even if they are much more expensive (maybe mix own later) so would Lush Complete still be fine for smaller plant selection? For 200 litres how often should I dose and how much?

Thanks!
 
Hi
With only Anubias and Java fern both being slow growers you shold concider a floating plant at least in the initial stages while the tank matures.It will make your life easier.
If the tank is still empty rub some Easycarbo on it with a sponge or sth. to make sure there are nothing left.I personaly bleach the tank and hardscape when rescaping .Better safe than sorry
About dipping plants I used 10:1 water to Easycarbo solution for about 5 min.I tried not to dip the roots as well as I could.Not sure if it will damage them.
About your light I will start with 6 hour photoperiod.Why not have lights in the evening from 4pm till 10pm for example.Dose ferts in morning before work and feed the fish when U get home(they dont really care what time they eat )and U will still be able to enjoy the tank.This is what I do.
About the ferts from the lush series I cant contribute as not familiar with the product.But daily doses are better in my opinion.
Regards Konsa
 
Thanks! I put my light timer from 4pm to 10pm so 6 hours in the evening.

I guess it is ok to dose the EasyCarbo at 07:30?

I ordered the Lush Complete ferts but they haven't arrived yet. I am hoping by tomorrow then can work out dosage.

I also have some hornwort on the way to help soak up excess nutrients.
 
Hi
Yes its ok to dose Easycarbo in morning.It is given 24 hour period till it wears off thats why adding it daily is the correct routine.
I dose my tanks with ferts 5:00 am and lights come on arround 2:00pm never noticed any problems.
Regards Konsa
 
I'm having the same issue. Just read this thread and it's has saved my life lol!! I. Going to start with the tips from the thread tomorrow!!

Sent from my G8141 using Tapatalk
 
Hi all,

The Lush Max ferts arrived but quite late and I got some measuring syringes (6ml) and the hornwort was totally destroyed in the post so I'm dealing with what's left originally!

The dosing instructions for the ferts are:

Recommended dosage for Hi-Tec tanks: 2.5ml daily per 100 litres.
Recommended dosage for Lo-Tec tanks: 2.5ml weekly per 100 litres.

If I dose 8ml Easycarbo in the morning (200litres/25 = 8ml) what can I dose daily for the ferts? 1ml a day?
 
Last edited:
Hi
Yes U can dose that way.
Having a carbon supplement will increase the demand and utilisation for the rest of the nutrients.Depending on how strong the lights are U may need to increase the 1 ml per 100l a day dose as the plants grow and multiply. This will take time tho.
The plants will show you
Regards Konsa
 
Help! One of the barteri broad leaf has developed a couple holes - it's the new leaves you can plainly see something looks wrong :(

Should I stop the easycarbo? Add more ferts?

I added 5 strands of pennywort and have some eledea densa which should arrive tomorrow...
 

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Hi
U have just reset the tank.Its normal to get some melt.
I will not change anything atm.Give it a bit of time for the plants to adjust.
If U have dipped the plant in easycarbo bath to clear BBA it may have damaged the young leavesas they a bit more fragile .It happens sometimes.Trim the bad leaves and look at the new grouth.Unfortunately with anubias it takes time to regrow.
Regards Konsa
 
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