Losing the BBA battle

[procyg]

My 75 gallon is losing the battle against BBA.  I have a low-tech tank with 1 48" finnex 24/7 hcl light that is only on from 3 pm - 9pm on the max setting.  I have another 6000k LED that i turn on for 1 hour in the morning to feed the tank. 

My tank is becoming overrun with BBA and its driving me crazy.   My well water contains ~10 PPM of nitrates so i am always chasing that dragon with water changes and tried adding lots of fast-growing plants to no avail.  I know that adding CO2 would be the #1 option, but my KH is virtually nonexistent and i am terrified that i will crash my tank if i add it.  My KH test turns after just 2 drops (the initial drop then immediately changes color after the second drop on the api test kit).  I do have some crushed coral in my fluval 407 and some brightwell Nitrat-R resin in my seachem tidal 110.  I have started dosing daily Easy Carbon in the hope that it will curb its development, but I am curious what the hive mind thinks about what i can do.

Current stocking is 10 Serpae Tetras, 7 Cardinal Tetras, 2 female guppies, 5 black neon tetras, 3 nerite snails, 1 bolivan ram and 1 electric blue acarra.   I plan on adding 2 or 3 SAE and 1 bristle nose pleco 

PH 6.8-7

GH 8 degrees

Thanks all

[Patrick_G]

It sounds like you’re on the right track. I’d cut back on the light by one hour and continue the easy carbon for a few weeks. 
 

[Ken Burke]

Had the same problem a while back.  Your nitrates are kinda low for a planted tank, and that causes algae growth.  
 

Try cutting back on water changes, and dose with easy green.  Target a nitrate level between 20 and 40 PPM.  if you have plants like Anubias you can dip them in a cup of easy carbon to curb the bba.  If the plant is in the substrate I would trim the effected leaves.   

[Patrick_G]

On 1/23/2022 at 7:26 PM, Ken Burke said:

if you have plants like Anubias you can dip them in a cup of easy carbon to curb the bba.

Good idea, but use a very dilute solution. I painted some undiluted Excel on an Anubis and just about killed it. 

[Mmiller2001]

On 1/23/2022 at 7:58 PM, procyg said:

I know that adding CO2 would be the #1 option, but my KH is virtually nonexistent and i am terrified that i will crash my tank if i add it.

I run 0KH in all my tanks, 2 with CO2 and I have never experienced this so called "crash".

That said SAE's will help. I bet they get fat!

 

[procyg]

On 1/23/2022 at 10:26 PM, Ken Burke said:

Had the same problem a while back.  Your nitrates are kinda low for a planted tank, and that causes algae growth.  
 

Try cutting back on water changes, and dose with easy green.  Target a nitrate level between 20 and 40 PPM.  if you have plants like Anubias you can dip them in a cup of easy carbon to curb the bba.  If the plant is in the substrate I would trim the effected leaves.   

My nitrates in the tank are much higher around 80-100 ppm after a week.  Since my well has nitrates in it doesn't drop all that much during water changes.  I do have a new test kit coming because i am wondering if my API master kit is way off.  Professional well water test has my well at just over 5.5 mg/l of nitrate and the api comes in closer to 20-30 ppm.  

 

[Patrick_G]

I’ve found that the more plant mass I add the less algae and of course less Nitrate. You might try adding some more fast growing plants and floating plants. A thick jungle style might be the way to go. 

[KaitieG]

The other thing I'd mention just from my personal recent experience is to pay attention to where you're feeding in the tank.  I started to get my very first BBA when I switched feeding spots and the extra food (I usually feed Xtreme Krill flakes) was landing on my val and in my pogostemmon stelatus octopus.  I moved back to the clearer area in the front center of the tank, and the problem is starting to fix itself.

[procyg]

So after testing with the Coop test strips my results are different than API....PH with API is dead on 7.0 but closer to 6.4 with strips and nitrates go from 80 ppm to closer to 25 on the strips.  GH is close  8-9 degrees with api and between 75-150 on the strips.  (i have some color blindness issues so figuring out the exact reading on this one is difficult)

going to have to try and find another test source to see which one is off...my master kit is older but not expired (later this year) so maybe it is time to buy a new one.  

 

 

 

[Biotope Biologist]

Try using the liquid readings or take to an LFS to compare sometimes it is just our eyes.

 

Also BBA is not like other algaes and shouldn’t be treated as such. It’s a red algae that is best suited to shaded areas in rivers and streams. It has evolved ways of growing in practically any conditions as rivers and streams hydrology is changing constantly due to snow melt and runoff. They usually grow fastest when excess nutrients are available in the water column. If anything increasing your photoperiod and intensity should limit the growth of this algae. But once established it is tenacious and hard to get rid of. 
 

I personally enjoy the look of it and didn’t mind occasionally pruning anubias leaves that got overrun. But scraping the glass with a razor was tedious. Plus the algae eaters enjoyed mowing it

[peaceteacher]

I have a stocking question, did you find the electric blue acara too aggressive? I have heard people say they are super laid back and others say they are mass murderers. 

[procyg]

On 5/2/2022 at 11:06 AM, peaceteacher said:

I have a stocking question, did you find the electric blue acara too aggressive? I have heard people say they are super laid back and others say they are mass murderers. 

mine is super chill.  The Bolivian ram is far more territorial but they both leave the other fish alone for the most part.    

[procyg]

On a side note, i finally managed to get on top of the BBA and the tank is looking much more stabilized and algae free besides some green spot here and there. 

I started off manually removing all the plants on numerous occasions and scrubbing off the BBA then when i had a pretty clean tank i i made some adjustments to my lighting.  I switched to just using the white LEDs instead of having any red and blue mixed in.  Not my favorite color but combined with adjusting the timer to be on for about 8 hours a day the BBA has died away.  Plants are starting to look more healthy and even getting new growth out of the Pogostemon Stellatus Octopus and other stem plants.  

[peaceteacher]

On 5/2/2022 at 11:56 AM, procyg said:

mine is super chill.  The Bolivian ram is far more territorial but they both leave the other fish alone for the most part.    

Interesting, I heard/read the opposite. Are yours male or female?

[Guppy Guy]

I am having the same issue with BBA. I have been on the line about buying easy green for the last couple of months, but I think I will do it. Would you say the easy green or easy carbon balances a tank better? That is the main reason I have issues.(and from fluval flourish. Not getting that again)

[TMartins]

I have some BBA on my gravel that’s been there for a while from using a light fixture that was too high density for my tank.  The BBA is more or less controlled and wanted to use the Easy Carbon to spot treat it but I have Valisneria and have read that it would effect it.  Does anyone have experience spot treating Easy Carbon with Val??  Would the BBA eventually go away??  I have a Hillstream Loach and some Platies who all seam to be nibbling on the BBA but it’s not going away.

[procyg]

On 5/2/2022 at 2:51 PM, peaceteacher said:

Interesting, I heard/read the opposite. Are yours male or female?

not entirely sure on the acara but i think it is a female.  the bolivan has to be male, but his behavior has been the same to even to other bolivan rams i have had in the past so it his just his personality.  Now that the acara has gotten larger the ram has calmed down.  

[procyg]

On 5/2/2022 at 3:42 PM, Guppy Guy said:

I am having the same issue with BBA. I have been on the line about buying easy green for the last couple of months, but I think I will do it. Would you say the easy green or easy carbon balances a tank better? That is the main reason I have issues.(and from fluval flourish. Not getting that again)

i use easy carbon every other day dosed to the aquarium capacity but i dont think it does a lot now.  Now that I have attained better balance of nutrients I think it is best used as a spot treatment in case i see any new growth.  If you get enough plants that are consuming the excess nutrients you shouldn't need the Carbon at all.    

I use Nilocg Thrive C as my general fert (it is a lower nitrate fertilizer) that i do lean dosing (2 pumps per day instead of 14 once a week) as long as my nitrates are in the acceptable range. I like easy green but since i already have nitrates in my well water and was struggling with my levels I decided on the Nilocg.    

 

 

 

[Guppy Guy]

On 5/3/2022 at 10:20 AM, procyg said:

i use easy carbon every other day dosed to the aquarium capacity but i dont think it does a lot now.  Now that I have attained better balance of nutrients I think it is best used as a spot treatment in case i see any new growth.  If you get enough plants that are consuming the excess nutrients you shouldn't need the Carbon at all.    

I use Nilocg Thrive C as my general fert (it is a lower nitrate fertilizer) that i do lean dosing (2 pumps per day instead of 14 once a week) as long as my nitrates are in the acceptable range. I like easy green but since i already have nitrates in my well water and was struggling with my levels I decided on the Nilocg.    

 

 

 

Thanks! I will be giving that a try soon.