Ready to throw in the towel over BBA

If this was my tank, I would start by doing 30% water changes 2x a weekf for about 2 weeks. I would not add any ferts during this time. I believe this will cause the plants to work harder in order to get more nutrients thus starving the out algae. Right now, you might have too much nutrients in the water and feeding the algae with all the left overs from the plants. Balance is the key. You'll want to sort of "starve" the plants, well at least make them work hard getting nutrients, and this will limit algae growth due to not having anything left for them to use.

After the algae growth slows down, monitor the plants and see if they start looking a little ragged. Start you fert regime slowly till they start looking healthy again and keep it at this level. You might want to go back and forth between starving and feeding to find your balance point. Go slow because things will go slow but all your patience will pay off in the end. Good luck...
 
Rockysdad, thats bad advice. If you starve your plants, then the algae will takeover. Your right about a balance, the only time I get algae is if a nutrient is off. Algae can adapt alot better to deficiencies than plants can.
 
Riiz said:
Rockysdad, thats bad advice. If you starve your plants, then the algae will takeover. Your right about a balance, the only time I get algae is if a nutrient is off. Algae can adapt alot better to deficiencies than plants can.
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I disagree. If the plants are starving for nutrients what's left for the algae?

The original poster has been adding all these ferts and is still getting algae. Why? IMO there is too much nutrients therefore feeding the algae with all the excess. Water changes will get rid of these thus starving the algae. The plants will survive this nutrient shortage for awhile but the alage will have a hard time. Start with NO3 at first then slowly add the rest.

But in the end, do what you think is best. For me I rather remove things from my tank rather then add (ie. hydrogen peroxide) for my fishes sake. Its better to fix the cause then just get rid of the symptoms...
 
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Yes, I too think lowering the nutrient levels is a bad idea. IME it has only ever led my high light co2 injected tank to grow more algae than plants.
how much light does the setup have? what is your fert/ water change regimine?
 
So tell me this? How much plants does he have that will use up all these nutrients? High light, CO2, lots of nutrients (adding 2x per week) and low plant count will result in algae. He also just replanted many of the plants. It will take them awhile to re-established themselves.

Less is more and its been working for me. To each his own i guess...
 
sorry , just actually read the rest of this thread an found answers to my qs. at 2 watts per gallon co2 may not be necesary but when you were having to trim plants all the time did you have as bad a bba problem?

Also any of the suggestions given are purely anecdotal because we don't know any nutrient levels in the water. do you have too much of some things not enough of others who knows? Testing is key to initially balancing out your fert / water change regimine.
 
I don't recommend the use of fish to combat algae of any kind. They might do the job but they might not. If they don't you end up with a fish you may not want. I had a Siamese algae eater in my 55 that had a touch of bba and the SAE didn't touch it. I did gather up a handful of ramshorn snails and dropped them right on top of it and they did the job for me. I soon after rescaped that sand bottom tank and havent had any bba since.

Q

I have 2 SAEs in my 75 now. The older one is a pain to the other fish raming them near the vent to get them to go. It then eats the waste. The older SAE also chases the smaller one all around the tank at times. I like the look of the fish but I am not a fan of them anymore.
 
My SAE is pretty active eating algae. I see him around the plants with BBA, but not sure if he's actually eating it. I really enjoy him regardless of what he is eating. Big fan of the American Flag Fish - but I don't see my new male around the plants as much as the female I moved to another tank.

There is 2 watts/gal light. I did not have as much bba when using CO2, but still had some. I have been trying to find more of a natural balance where I don't need CO2 and constant ferts (a la Diana Walstead).

I guess I'm not 100% sure of my dosing - pretty much following the dosing schedule on the Flourish products (N, P, K, trace, excel). I would prefer to figure out how to do dry ferts, but I have been extremely busy with work and I haven't been able to devote time to that. I only test for ammonia (always 0), nitrite (always 0) and nitrate (always between 10-20).

I have quit a bit of H. polysperma (aka nitrate sponges), 2 large java ferns, ludwigia repens, and red crypts. If I could find someplace that has H. corymbosa again near me I would also put that back in because they are also huge nutrient sponges.

I will make sure to get back to 1x week water changes.
 
Cory Keeper said:
Too much iron will also cause BBA as well.
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How much is too much?
Any idea?

2ppm of Fe from Tropica, Seachem or Kent seem like enough?
Why don't I have BBA then?

It must be something other than too much iron, "whatever" that level might be.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
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