UV filter to combat bba..

[Lillyan]

Is BBA in the water column before it gets onto the plants and terrorizes them? If so, would a UV filter help get rid of it before it can get onto plants and take over?

I know changing things will help get rid of it, but it's not working. diy co2 bubbles for a week or two, then I have to restart it, even though it should last longer. I've messed with lighting amount, length on, adding ferts or none at all. Added a power head to keep things moving, too. Tried direct, whole tank and dipping with h2o2, it helped lessen what I have, as well as melt some crypts, opps. But it's still growing.

It seems all I can do now is constantly stay on top of doing direct h2o2.

So, bba is in the water and uv may help or no?
I've found the filters oddly cheap in store, while online they are insanely priced, for tanks or ponds.

 

[jpappy789]

UV may kill whatever spores happen to get pulled it but it would do absolutely nothing to the established algae.

Sounds to me like the fluctuating CO2 is the key issue here...that's what triggered BBA in my tanks.

How are you mixing the batches? How large are they? What size tank is this?

 

[Lillyan]

So if I was able to remove all the established BBA, the UV would stop or at least slow the re-establishment of BBA in the future?


I have the Nutrafin CO2 natural plant system, two of them. One each on my 40 breeders. I'm not using the ladder in one of them, bubbles somehow get stuck, the other it's working fine. I used just sugar, warm water and yeast for the one with the ladder[right tank]. Used the 3 little powder kits with the other, just because I had just bought the new kit. The one w/o the ladder[left tank], the tube is going into the intake to a hob filter.
Sugar to the top of the ridges, water to where the next ridge is and then about a teaspoon of yeast. I know they are for 20g, but some CO2 is better than none. It has helped my stem plants.

BBA doesn't seem to bother plants in the 40Left tank, it loves to grow on the wood and filter spillway. Tons of Platy in this tank, I feel like I over feed just a bit, lots of MTS too. 4ft 80watts light.
In the 40 right, I have a lot of crypts and it loves to grow on the wood again, but also nearly anything else. All are bottom dwellers in this tank, not much food, very few MTS. 4ft 73watts light, added a 2ft 18watt light.
Both have lights on from about 8am to 6pm. Changing the lights never did anything, so I went back with sticking close to how much sun there is. So summer long hours on, winter the lights are on shorter, + the house won't glow in the dark then.

 

[stephcps]

I tried UV on my BBA invasion. Did absolutely not a thing.

 

[jpappy789]

"Some" CO2 can actually be worse to an extent, and you're seeing the effects first hand with the BBA. It flourishes with inconsistent CO2. Those "systems" are essentially glorified DIY setups, which is very much borderline effective on a 40B and you would certainly need a larger batch than those kits can provide.

 

[Lillyan]

left.

right.

 

[Lillyan]

I had bad BBA before I added the diy co2. Again, mainly on wood in the left tank. In the right tank, it kinda was all over, all before co2.
I just added it, plants are growing better, stems are finally doing something, lol.

 

[fshfanatic]

Excel and a syringe will kill it.

 

[stephcps]

Excel and a syringe will kill it.

Believe me, it will kill whatever you squirt with it....but will just come back unless you cut it down at the knees. Which I personally am still trying to do (says with gritted teeth!)

 

[teij_tseng]

As jpappy stated, definitely look into your CO2. A lot of time, algae (pretty much any kind of algae) growth is due to a lack of CO2. Less CO2 means that your plant is able to utilize less of the nutrients in your tank and therefore it allows nutrients for algae to start growing. Also, be very careful with Excel. Although some people glorify it as an algae killer, it is also harmful for some plants.