Help getting rid of BBA

nerites as far as i see are better for bba on surfaces... sae's are better for the tufts.
even if you are an expert on sae's you may not get one that eats bba. if you do and feed him decently they will not eat it anyway. they can out compete other fish for food in a small tank also.
 
I actually have two nerites. One hangs out above the water level, the other comes down once in awhile and cruises the glass
 
I think knowing what your CO2 and phosphate levels would be a good place to start in trying to fix your problem.
It sounds like all your issues started when you upgraded your lighting.I am at a loss to why though.
You had problems before adding the CO2 right? Do you think the CO2 has helped at all? I have pressurized that shuts off with the lights,and then comes on about an hour before the lights come on so there is the proper amount of CO2 in the tank before the photo period starts,and shuts off when it stops.You might try shutting off your CO2 with the lights,but if you had problems before the CO2,this probably won't help. That pic you posted looks like your cloudy water is not from algae.If your ammonia and nitrite levels are at 0ppm then I'm not sure from what.Have you changed your filter pads lately? You could always try a UV filter as well,but they are expensive. Try dosing with Excel when you can get some.Take a syringe and fill it with Excel then squirt it right at the BBA,as well as dosing the entire tank.This spot shotting with it is supposed to help get rid of it.
It sucks you are having so many problems with your tank.Don't give up though,planted tanks are very rewarding when you get it right!
Good Luck!!
 
You may try to upgrade the bulb in your old fixture to something like a T8 PowerGlo bulb like one of these,http://www.bizrate.com/fishsupplies/products__keyword--hagen+power-glo+fluorescent+bulbs+36.html
Or go with yet another new fixture like this one,http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/209809/product.web
I am starting to wonder if you just got too much light when you upgraded,and that you don't have enough CO2.
You might also try going here,http://www.barrreport.com/
or sending Tom Barr,aka Plantbrain here, a PM and see what he suggests.

Old thread but worth reading,http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49832&highlight=plantbrain
 
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Ya I just bought this setup for more then 70 bucks 2 months ago. If I get rid of it, It will be with the whole setup when I throw it on the front lawn. This is what everyone recommended when I started.

I did send plantbrain an email last week but I havent heard back.

Sorry Im not mad with you.. Like I said in my first post everyone contradicts what the other says. I cant afford any more 100 dollar mistakes.
 
Yeah,and to fix the strong light,you may need stronger CO2.But then again,I'm not sure.
I have had good luck with lowlight and medium/highlight tanks,but I really can't tell you why.It was also after a lot of trial and error,and a lot of money on replacing plants,light bulbs,and light fixtures,that I finally had success.So I guess luck really had nothing to do with it,;). Once I found some good lowlight plants that I could keep alive,the higher light tanks that came later seemed easy.Just like cycling and keeping the fish,patience is the key to planted tanks.But once you find the balance,the reward of a beautifully planted tank is worth it.And as you have found,you will get contradicting advice from everyone you ask.
 
Ramphonic said:
Ya I just bought this setup for more then 70 bucks 2 months ago. If I get rid of it, It will be with the whole setup when I throw it on the front lawn. This is what everyone recommended when I started.

I did send plantbrain an email last week but I havent heard back.

Sorry Im not mad with you.. Like I said in my first post everyone contradicts what the other says. I cant afford any more 100 dollar mistakes.
Click to expand...

Only 100$? :silly:

I have done this a few times, some more.
As 67 Chev mentions, more light => more CO2 which => more nutrients.

Less light = less CO2 demand= > less nutrient. So you get differences due to these relationships. Folks will often focus on one thing(say all nutrients, or just PO4 etc) often also, not all 3 things(light/CO2/nutrients).

With less if any consideration for the other things like light/CO2 etc.
Measuring CO2 is also very hard in most respects, best done by eye and experience, closely and carefully. 90-95% of algae issues are related to CO2.

I also got conflicting advice myself many years ago, but I know much of it could not be correct in terms of why they claimed for success. So I started looking into things based on that.

Not an easy path however.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
Ramphonic said:
I also heard that high phosphates could be the cause but I have been unable to locate a test kit and I contacted the town for a water report but they dont disclose that info.

Thank You
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Well, here's a 5ppm of PO4:

resizedrfront63008.jpg


See any BBA or any algae?
Answers your question about whether it's honestly a factor in BBA.
CO2? Definitely, many algae issues.

Regards,

Tom Barr
 
Ramphonic said:
As of yesterday I started dosing some Potassium Nitrate because my Nitrates were hovering between 5 to 0
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That's a good start. Keep dosing the KNO3 and see where that takes you. Also, in my experience BBA seems to become more problematic in lower pH situations. I'm not saying you should start toying with your pH but I am curious as to what it is right now.
 
Under recommendations I got today. I pulled the reflector from my hood and gonna try to run the 55w bulb by itself.
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