Ready to throw in the towel over BBA

[maxthedog123]

My 55 has been set up for over a year. I am ready to dump it out, fill it with bleach and start over. No matter what, I can't get rid of this dang BBA.

I went from pressurized CO2 about 4 months ago - got tired of trimming plants 2x per week. I've been just using the P-N-K flourish products along with excel, trace, and the occasional regular flourish.

I change the water 2x per month. Ammonia and nitrite are 0 and nitrates usually run about 20.

The only other variable I can think of is new bulbs in my lights a month ago. It is 1x54w 6700K and 1x54w 10000K. The lights are on a timer for 11 1/2 hours per day.

I just replanted a good portion of thank. Took out all the leaves I could that had BBA on them. That was 5 days ago and I ALREADY have black spots coming back on the leaves.

What gives??

 

[Bk718]

Water changes gives.
For a planted tank thats dosed ferts regularly one has to do 30-50% water changes every week.

Also how strict are you on the excel dosing? If a carbon source is out of wack at that lighting and fert schedule, then one may see algae

Another factor is lighting. If you see algae dont keep the lights on for close to 12hrs. Reduce to 8-10. If you still see at 10hrs then work your way down.

Now ways to fight it.
Spot treatment with excel works great.
If your stock can handle some SAE's then get 1-2
And finally water changes/control of light/ferts/co2 will be the best way you can prevent future bba from occuring

 

[Draal5]

fastest way to get rid of it is to spot treat with excel and double dose the recommended dose for 14 days.
BBA is a sign of bad water conditions I would start changing water 20% 2 times per week and you should see the BBA gone in a few days

 

[Cory Keeper]

Too much iron will also cause BBA as well.

 

[Riiz]

How much Excel are you dosing daily? Most tanks with good growth dose 2x the daily recommended.

I've had BBA creep up on me, when my Nitrates drop to near zero. But your case might the buildup of nutrients, even the Seachem dosing calculator changes 1x a week. Do you test for Phosphates aswell?

I dont think you have room for SAE, but I do agree with BK about the photoperiod being an hour or two too long.

 

[Dangerdoll]

fastest way to get rid of it is to spot treat with excel and double dose the recommended dose for 14 days.
BBA is a sign of bad water conditions I would start changing water 20% 2 times per week and you should see the BBA gone in a few days

BBA can also come into the tank on a plant that is purchased and placed in there. Once it is introduced, it thrives.

 

[Fishy_Fun]

believe me when i say i got bba pretty bad right now too.I have already figured it was because i hadn't had co2 for 3 weeks for 4WPG.now that i have co2 it doesn't really grow or spread but is still there.i do believe if you try some of the solutions above it will help kill your BBA as it is mine.GOOD LUCK

 

[Riiz]

Fishyfun you can spot treat with Hydrogen Peroxide, will kill BBA and not poison anything else.

 

[maxthedog123]

What exactly does it mean to "spot treat" for BBA?

Light is an easy solution - I can try cutting that back a bit.

I follow the dosing pretty closely for the seachem stuff - including the excel. Perhaps it is the water change schedule. Draal - do you really thing changing 2x per week will improve the bba situation? I actually cut back to every other week to try to cut down on the amount of CO2 fluctuation.

Here's the other funny thing - I thought I changed my signature, but I actually took out my falseSAE because a friend gave me a true SAE right around when I went to no CO2. I'm not sure how much BBA he has been eating.

 

[Riiz]

To spot treat you basically use a dosing syringe and directly squirt the agent onto the algae. Easily done while you change water, and are lucky enough that the effected spot is exposed, but works both ways. Or if it is on a plant, you can uproot the plant and dip the plant.