Hi all,
I have trawled through a fair bit of literature this hobby. Previously, when I am plague by BBA and when it overtakes my tank.. I will do a ground zero and reset the whole tank.
This time... I have decided not to do that. Mostly because resetting ny current tank will be painful.
So I decided to keep a journal and see how this fight goes.
There are a few more other tuffs underneath that branch.
I have always maintained a weekly 50% water change and was on an EI regime until two weeks ago when I felt that the nitrate and phosphate at more than 80ppm and 5ppm respectively (based on Colombia test kit).
So I stopped dosing nitrate, potassium and phosphate for two weeks and up my lighting hours from 5 hours to 6 hours but reduced my LED intensity from 85% to 80%. Based on the KH/PH chart my CO2 should be around 20ppm (no change to that).
The result... BBA.
The battle plan:
1. Central idea. To get rid of BBA by going back to EI regime.
2. Execution Phase. On water change day, 50% WC and nuke the BBA with direct dosing of Seachem Flourish Excel. Maintain EI regime. No reduction in light. Maintain for 2 weeks and observe for new growth of BBA.
3. Contigency Plan.
a. Reduce lighting hours from 6 hours to 5 hours.
b. Lengthen the time of CO2 coming online from 30min to 1hour.
c. Reduce length of night light from current 10pm to 7am (1% LED) to 10pm to midnight.
4. Reorg. Record down conditions and observe.
Wish me luck!
I have trawled through a fair bit of literature this hobby. Previously, when I am plague by BBA and when it overtakes my tank.. I will do a ground zero and reset the whole tank.
This time... I have decided not to do that. Mostly because resetting ny current tank will be painful.
So I decided to keep a journal and see how this fight goes.
There are a few more other tuffs underneath that branch.
I have always maintained a weekly 50% water change and was on an EI regime until two weeks ago when I felt that the nitrate and phosphate at more than 80ppm and 5ppm respectively (based on Colombia test kit).
So I stopped dosing nitrate, potassium and phosphate for two weeks and up my lighting hours from 5 hours to 6 hours but reduced my LED intensity from 85% to 80%. Based on the KH/PH chart my CO2 should be around 20ppm (no change to that).
The result... BBA.
The battle plan:
1. Central idea. To get rid of BBA by going back to EI regime.
2. Execution Phase. On water change day, 50% WC and nuke the BBA with direct dosing of Seachem Flourish Excel. Maintain EI regime. No reduction in light. Maintain for 2 weeks and observe for new growth of BBA.
3. Contigency Plan.
a. Reduce lighting hours from 6 hours to 5 hours.
b. Lengthen the time of CO2 coming online from 30min to 1hour.
c. Reduce length of night light from current 10pm to 7am (1% LED) to 10pm to midnight.
4. Reorg. Record down conditions and observe.
Wish me luck!