Newly developing BBA issues

[KaitieG]

I am having issues with BBA, mainly on my val and a little on my crypts in my 95 gallon tank.  I know val is sensitive to carbon, so I've been hesitant to get too aggresive with that.  I haven't changed lighting or feeding or stocking, so I'm not sure why this is all of a sudden an issue.  I've been considering my options for fish that might help me out.  Right now the tank is Swordtails, guppies, dwarf chain loaches, corys, and a pair of adult angels.  Would siamese algae eaters (which seem like a marginal "might eat BBA" fish) or Flag fish (might pick on the guppies?) be an option with that setup?  Other suggestions?

[lefty o]

how long is your light on for, and how high is the intensity?

[Jennifer V]

@KaitieG was just going to ask the same about lighting. I had the beginnings of BBA and got rid of it by adjusting my lighting without any other changes. 

[KaitieG]

The light intensity varies throughout the day--it's on a sunrise/sunset program.  It's probably on a total of almost 12 hours.  It is on close to 100% for about 5 hours and is much dimmer on either side of that period.  The tank has been set up for almost exactly a year with the same lighting, but I can mess around with it.  It has the standard program and that isn't something I can change, but I could go to just an on/off timer.

[Jennifer V]

I don't have anything even remotely fancy as far as lighting, just the kit led lights, but I can tell you what I did and hope it helps in some way. I reduced my lighting to six hours with a midday siesta and that got rid of the BBA and staghorn. All I have left is the green hair algae but I think that looks pretty so I just keep it trimmed down. I am seeing some lighting issues with my swords, but again, I have pretty low quality lights, so that may not be an issue with better lighting sources. 

[KaitieG]

On 2/8/2022 at 10:51 PM, Jennifer V said:

I don't have anything even remotely fancy as far as lighting, just the kit led lights, but I can tell you what I did and hope it helps in some way. I reduced my lighting to six hours with a midday siesta and that got rid of the BBA and staghorn. All I have left is the green hair algae but I think that looks pretty so I just keep it trimmed down. I am seeing some lighting issues with my swords, but again, I have pretty low quality lights, so that may not be an issue with better lighting sources. 

I'll give it a try!