BBA Driving me nuts

No, do not remove the CO2.
Learn to use the CO2 correctly, poor CO2->that's why you have BBA.

Deal with the root cause, not some quicky treatment.
You can trim off BBA and scrub etc.

Excel will help some due to the addition of carbon to the plants that are limited and some mild toxic effects to BBA(and some plants). Still, it's selective enough to target the algae.

The real long term solution is learning how to add enough CO2 but not too much that hurts your fish.

See the EI light article for a simple method.
You do not have enough nutrients, Traces, KNO3, KH2PO4 etc.

So it's not just CO2.
If you use DIY CO2, try the simple 2-3$ DIY internal CO2 diffuser I have on my site. Change the brew weekly also, and make sure it's fairly warm(I suggest placing the bottle on the light so it warms and cools when you need the CO2-> when the lights are on).
Plug the powerhead into the light timer from the DIY diffuser.

There is a step by step photo on how to make one, they are simple and veiwtainers are 1.99$ each so do not worry if you add an extra hole etc.

That side of the site is public and gives free information to anyone.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
No, do not remove the CO2.
Learn to use the CO2 correctly, poor CO2->that's why you have BBA.

Deal with the root cause, not some quicky treatment.
You can trim off BBA and scrub etc.

Excel will help some due to the addition of carbon to the plants that are limited and some mild toxic effects to BBA(and some plants). Still, it's selective enough to target the algae.

The real long term solution is learning how to add enough CO2 but not too much that hurts your fish.

See the EI light article for a simple method.
You do not have enough nutrients, Traces, KNO3, KH2PO4 etc.
http://www.barrreport.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2062

So it's not just CO2.
If you use DIY CO2, try the simple 2-3$ DIY internal CO2 diffuser I have on my site. Change the brew weekly also, and make sure it's fairly warm(I suggest placing the bottle on the light so it warms and cools when you need the CO2-> when the lights are on).
Plug the powerhead into the light timer from the DIY diffuser.

There is a step by step photo on how to make one, they are simple and veiwtainers are 1.99$ each so do not worry if you add an extra hole etc.
http://www.barrreport.com/gallery/browseimages.php?c=7
http://www.barrreport.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11

That side of the site is public and gives free information to anyone.
The other side is a web monthly magazine.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
dorkfish said:
remove the co2. its probably adding to much plant nutrients with that light level unless you have alot of bubblers liberating co2. little to no surface aggitation is just as good co2 injection in your case. this will also allow your tank to have a balance between fish and plants as would be found in nature.
Click to expand...
????
CO2 does not add nutrients (N, K, P, micronutrients). No surface agitation is not equivalent to adding CO2--it is used in connection with CO2 to keep it from gassing out.
 
I was forced to do a big waterchange 80% since I did not realise how much NH3 the anacharis was consuming. My water looked like milk this morning and it tested at 6 ppm NH3. Now its at 0.75 ppm and will be falling since I added an ion exchange medium in to remove the complexed ammonia. I put the anacharis back in and discontinued the Flourish. The medium will come out tommorow since by then the anacharis will be back to work.

Thanks Tom for the information. I am also going to add a second CO2 unit to increase CO2 production and try to aim at 25-30 ppm and start dosing those supplements. My Nitrates are usually at 20 ppm (is Potassium Nitrate Dosing neccessary?) I'll increase the dosing of trace nutrients like you said and change one more bulb today since that bulb is about 8 months old.

One more question regarding defficiencies. My banana plant's newer leaves have yellow/brown edges and are rather skimpy and small. The rest of the new leaf is bright green. The older leaves are large but they're starting to yellow furthest away from the veins. My ludwigia has brown spots in the leaves which turn into holes (Potassium defficiency)? Should I be dosing some other supplements along with the CO2 and the list you gave above?
 
Do this:

Add 2x a week(assumes you more than just a sparse amount of plants in the tank):

1/4 teaspoon KNO3
1/16th KH2PO4(subdivide a 1/4 teaspoon again into 4 equal parts)

Flourish 3x a week, 5mls.
GH booster(Gregwatson.com) or SeaChem Equilibrium, 1/2 teaspoon after water change.

Weekly 50% water change.

Add good levels (and maintain them) of CO2.

That's about it.

If you do this, you will have few issues provided there's enough light, clean filters, prune etc

The goal here is to grow plants, so do that, then there's no algae, we grow plants in this hobby, killing algae is not a hobby(well........perhaps for some, those that cannot grow plants.......).

The above routine adds enough nutrients to prevent anything from running out, while the water changes keeps the levels from building.

No test kit needed.

And test kits , NO3 and PO4 are especially prone to in accuracies.
In general, do not base your dosing on test kits unless you have calibrated the test kits, few folks do this.

This will give you a simple routine that is easy to do and grows plants well.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
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