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What exactly causes BBA?
- Thread starter Zak Rafik
- Start date
Andy Thurston
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- 16 Apr 2013
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i got green water after using h2o2
flygja
Member
If anyone's getting lazy (like me) and wanna get rid of BBA by just pouring chemicals into a tank (not even spot-dosing), you can try Ocean Free 0 Algae: http://www.rakuten.com.my/shop/acestoryaquatic/product/MD229/. I've been dosing it for about 2 weeks and BBA and some minor staghorn is almost completely gone. Doesn't seem to have any effect on red algae (a different form of BBA), which was my initial intention of using this.
I tried EasyLife's AlgaExit for more than 4 months but it did not make an iota of difference on BBA. I even tried over dosing since I didn't have any shrimps in my tank but NOPE! Nothing happened!
But it was very effective for thread algae.
Now whenever I see those huge patches of BBA in my tank I get reminded of this->>
Lindy
Member
I've just found BBA in a tank that gets no direct light.
The divided section on the right has a pair of betta channoides, no plants and just wood sand and some leaves. There is a mahooosive tufft of bba (I'm assuming ) on the wood. In the left section there are channoides fry and plants inc floaters. This section is lit by a allpondsolutions 32 led light. The tanks share water by water being taken up by sponge filter in the fry section and the outlet goes through to the left section. Water passes from left to right via sponge in the divider.
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The divided section on the right has a pair of betta channoides, no plants and just wood sand and some leaves. There is a mahooosive tufft of bba (I'm assuming ) on the wood. In the left section there are channoides fry and plants inc floaters. This section is lit by a allpondsolutions 32 led light. The tanks share water by water being taken up by sponge filter in the fry section and the outlet goes through to the left section. Water passes from left to right via sponge in the divider.
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Andy Thurston
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Have you read the rest of this thread? people don't think its that simple. the only place I get bba is on my hardscape and equipment and that's not dying and causing unwanted algae problems
In all my tank and i run 10 planted tanks , the bba apear when the co2 is lower when i adjust it , it disapear.
This working for me.
Andy Thurston
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In my tank co2 is very stable 1.2 ph drop with good flow. unstable co2/high light are contributing factor but not the whole story. You tried adding extra ferts to get did of your gda
sciencefiction
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- 26 Feb 2013
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Well maybe it's time to resurrect the thread 🙂
I've got this highly overstocked, low tech, very well planted tank. It's been overstocked for quite a few weeks/couple of months because of unfortunate circumstances. I am waiting for BBA to appear as I thought overstocking/high organics are the culprit, but maybe not....at least not so far. This tanks has not got a shred of algae in years prior to me overstocking it and still so let's see what happens long term(besides that I am worried about my fish)
I've been dosing just micro ferts in it because it should have plenty of nitrogen. Right now it gest a large water change once a week. There's no algae still of any kind.
I've got this highly overstocked, low tech, very well planted tank. It's been overstocked for quite a few weeks/couple of months because of unfortunate circumstances. I am waiting for BBA to appear as I thought overstocking/high organics are the culprit, but maybe not....at least not so far. This tanks has not got a shred of algae in years prior to me overstocking it and still so let's see what happens long term(besides that I am worried about my fish)
I've been dosing just micro ferts in it because it should have plenty of nitrogen. Right now it gest a large water change once a week. There's no algae still of any kind.
sciencefiction
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- Joined
- 26 Feb 2013
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He, he, yes,. Why not wait for it and be prepared 
zozo
Member
I know somebody with a heavily over stocked low tech tank.. Never seen beard algae in it. Only lazyness green on the glass and melting plants. 🙂
Not yet found an other tank, SF?
Not yet found an other tank, SF?
I've got some on my rocks where they hit the substrate in the centre of the tank, 33 inch from the light.
In the lowest flow area of the tank, directly in front of the weir, there is no sign of it on the rocks. This gets the same amount of light as the right hand side too, where there is BBA, and also high flow like the middle of the tank.
My conclusion, high flow.
I reduced the flow last weekend and I'll give it a blast with some liquid carbon today, see if it comes back. If it does then it's back to the drawing board 😀
In the lowest flow area of the tank, directly in front of the weir, there is no sign of it on the rocks. This gets the same amount of light as the right hand side too, where there is BBA, and also high flow like the middle of the tank.
My conclusion, high flow.
I reduced the flow last weekend and I'll give it a blast with some liquid carbon today, see if it comes back. If it does then it's back to the drawing board 😀
I've just found BBA in a tank that gets no direct light.
The divided section on the right has a pair of betta channoides, no plants and just wood sand and some leaves. There is a mahooosive tufft of bba (I'm assuming ) on the wood. In the left section there are channoides fry and plants inc floaters. This section is lit by a allpondsolutions 32 led light. The tanks share water by water being taken up by sponge filter in the fry section and the outlet goes through to the left section. Water passes from left to right via sponge in the divider.
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It doesnt look like BBA to me. I had this also and I beleive its due to substances being leached from the driftwood. It might be some sort of fungus.
Lindy
Member
This wood doesn't leach anything anymore as it is quite old. Maybe you are right that it is fungus.
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Just out of curiosity, can a drift that is of not so good quality release organic waste when slowly rotting away and in turn be feeding BBA to bloom?
I think it can hence the reason why we sometimes see BBA exagerated on the driftwood. If its not that then the driftwood makes for a great attachment surface.
Lindy
Member
I think you are right. I scrubbed a lot of my wood in the big tank and took the soft stuff from the outside and so far none has come back.
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Can the spores of BBA get into the tiny cracks in the wood and be impossible to get rid off? Then the spore are just waiting for the right conditions to bloom again?
In my tank, BBA made its appearance on the wood first and when the bloom was in advance stage, then only did it appear on the stones.
BTW what type of wood is less likely to rot easily in a tank?
I had a very nice and big tree like centerpiece wood in my tank but the branches started to snap off very easily within 5 months. It also started to develop cracks. Since the wood was a big sized one, I had always suspected it off releasing organic waste into the tank.
Cheers to all.
