# BBA does NOT have to be the end of your tank!



## ktownhero (Mar 21, 2011)

I know a lot of folks, particularly beginners, end up struggling with BBA at some point. Usually because we are experimenting with all kinds of different plants and methods of growing them; no co2, diy co2, pressurized co2, ferts or no ferts? dirt? -- ooh how about vodka? etc. Often times, we may simply end up with it because somebody gave us plants that had it and we didn't know enough to not put it in our tank! (guilty of that here!).

Anyway, I wanted to make a thread letting people that are struggling with BBA know that you _can_ overcome it and you _can_ live with it!

First, I'd like to start with a great premise that may help frame your attitude toward the BBA in your tank: _*your fish do not care about the BBA*_, in fact it could probably be argued plausibly that _some_ BBA makes them feel at home. So, start there and recognize that the BBA that is bothering you every time you look at your tank is only bothering you and your own pride, and your fish are likely as happy as clams! 

Second: no matter how bad you let your BBA get, you can work with it to manage it or possibly even overcome it! You do not have to consider drastic measures of throwing everything away and bleaching your tank or starting a new one. It will take work, but you can most definitely manage it at least to a point where you can live with it, if not eradicate it entirely! 

So, with those things said, let's talk about what you can do _right now_, with no visit to the store or money required!



*Chill out on your light.* Chances are, if your BBA grows wild, it is a light/co2 ratio related problem. Let up on the light a bit and stop fueling that BBA growth until you can get it under control! This can be done in any number of ways: lift the lights higher, turn off bulbs, shorten your timers, use floating plants or a lid, etc.
Take a long, hard look at the BBA in your tank and get angry -- get real angry. Get so angry that you say to yourself, *"you are not welcome in my tank BBA!"*, grab a pair of scissors, and start cutting off every single leaf, stem, root, whatever, that is totally overrun with BBA. You do not have to cut everything out that has BBA on it, but get the bulk out while stilling leaving plant to grow! Scrape all sides of your aquarium with a credit card and get any that is growing on the glass, and pull any hoses/devices out of the tank and clean them if they have BBA on them. Be militant!
*Do a HUGE water change and start sucking out substrate that has BBA on it. * You have plenty of substrate in there, so don't be stingy about pulling some out. Remember: BBA is not welcome! Get it out!
Continue doing regular water changes and maintenance as described above weekly.
 *Stop fertilizing!* If you are dosing fertilizers, stop for the time being. Let your tap water, water changes and fish detritus feed your plants for a while. Fertilizing is just another complicated variable that can help or make things worse, depending. You want to get back to square one right now. 
Those steps will already help dramatically, but here are some additional ones that will help to stabilize the growth even further:




*Either get weaker lights (T8s) and go low tech, or grab some pressurized co2 (NOT DIY) to properly support your high lights. * If you are using T5s or T5HOs and have BBA, _you probably need pressurized co2_, otherwise downgrade to standard old florescent tubes.
Get a bottle of Excel and use the syringe from your favorite test kit... Read the Excel guidelines on how much you should use after a big water change or first dosage, and fill the syringe up. Turn off all water flow: filters, powerheads, etc., and *choose a spot that's bothering you and nuke it with the Excel in the syringe directly.* Note: you cannot treat ALL of the BBA in your tank in one session without using WAY too much Excel, so pick one battle at a time and start there. Do this daily, and do a large (20-50%) water change weekly. You will see it start to slowly die away, and if you kill a few leaves in the process don't sweat it!
*If you are not heavily planted, get heavily planted!* Go pick up some new, fast-growing plants and fill your tank up with them! The more the merrier. This will help out compete the algae, with the added bonus of most likely making your fish REALLY happy (and personally I think and over planted tank always looks cooler than an under planted one)


These are the steps I have taken recently to finally say "F you!" to the BBA in my 29g tank. I had almost given up at one point, and started to just accept that the tank would never look as nice as I wanted it to (though the fish were happy). Then, a month ago or so I started getting diligent about the above steps and I am proud to say that my tank today looks better than it has _ever_. The BBA is not _gone_, but it's not in the way either. The little that is left, at the moment, actually doesn't even look bad though I hope to eradicate it entirely if possible! 


I'm sure a million threads have been written like this, but add mine to the list. BBA can be so soul crushing after all of the time, energy and money spent on learning a planted tank. I hope my advice might help you get the right attitude and motivation towards treating it, controlling it and maybe even eliminating it. *And remember: your fish don't care, so just relax and take it one day at a time!*


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

Ferts have nothing to do with BBA FYI.
CO2, CO2 and CO2.

Folks have been telling new folks this for at least since 1993.
Whether new folks listen is quite another matter.

If BBA was caused by ferts, why is this /my tank possible?
Independent of any other factors?

I'd like to hear the explanation.









This rules out that variable in otherwords.


the rest of the post is good however:icon_idearoud:


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## ktownhero (Mar 21, 2011)

plantbrain said:


> Ferts have nothing to do with BBA FYI.
> CO2, CO2 and CO2.
> 
> Folks have been telling new folks this for at least since 1993.
> ...


You are certainly the expert, so I would defer to your advice on the subject (in fact, when I edited that portion in, I specifically thought of you and that you might say this  ). It may very well be anecdotal, but it seems like every time I start up with my liquid ferts (RootMedic), both the plants and the BBA start to grow more. Am I imaging that, or is there any possible science to it? I'm genuinely asking, as I'd like to learn more on the subject. Ferts just haven't been friendly to me.


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## NWA-Planted (Aug 27, 2011)

Bba is the result of a light and co2 imbalance and boy can it be a hard thing to balance, even with my drop checker a constant yellow green I ended up raising my lighting about 12 inches and cutting back the number of bulbs.... The good news, plants are growing and BBA is starting to die off!

:beer:

Plantbrain, off the subject, but gorgeous tank!!

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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## aznartist34 (Nov 19, 2010)

I started getting bba in my low light led nano tank that had no co2. Remembered that water from the tap contains an elavated amount of co2 and I was roughly doing a 50% wc weekly. I then tried only changing 25% weekly and haven't had bba since, so I would say that controlling and stabilizing the amount of co2 is key to controlling and getting rid of bba.


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## shinycard255 (Sep 15, 2011)

Inconsistent CO2 values in your tank when lights are on is the main cause of it.

My remedy to start with would be to dial in your CO2 to start a few hours before your lights kick on so the CO2 saturation in the water can reach optimal levels for when the lights turn on for the day.

Example (my tank schedule):
CO2 schedule: 9:30am ON - 1:30pm OFF, then again 3:30pm ON - 7:30pm OFF
Light schedule: 12:00pm ON - 4:00pm OFF, then again 6:00pm ON - 10:00pm OFF


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## HD Blazingwolf (May 12, 2011)

the reason u notice bba with ferts is because
u add ferts and now the plants need more c02 to keep up with th growth ur now able to supply them with.
so it comes back to c02
limiting ferts causes far less problems than limiting c02


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## ktownhero (Mar 21, 2011)

HD Blazingwolf said:


> the reason u notice bba with ferts is because
> u add ferts and now the plants need more c02 to keep up with th growth ur now able to supply them with.
> so it comes back to c02
> limiting ferts causes far less problems than limiting c02


That makes sense, thanks for explaining it. With that said, I stand by my advice to limit the use of ferts during the process of removing and controlling the existing BBA in your tank. 

Also, if that's the case, then I don't think it is possible for me to dose fertilizers at the recommended levels while maintaining fish-friendly levels of CO2... I will experiment with using much lower doses.


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## HD Blazingwolf (May 12, 2011)

fish friendly levels of c02 are relative to ur oxygen levels.. im well above what most people would consider friendly. but i have good agitation and a wet/dry sump which definitely helps with oxygenation
my dkh drop checker is yellow. and my 5 dk drop checker is yellowish green. so im beyond what most people would consider safe... but my fish still swim and my rainbows display to each other daily in hopes of mating.


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## Canuck (Apr 30, 2009)

I have a moderately lit 10 gallon (DIY CO2) which when ignored will develop BBA. (There was a thread on it someplace on this site). When I want to clean it up, I'll follow a procedure somewhat similar to yours and be able to eliminate the algae in 3 or 4 weeks, depending on how hard I work at it. The 3 deviations in my regimen compared to yours are:

1. Implement full EI.
2. I don't play with the lights, (its CFL bulbs in a stock hood so can't easily be adjusted).
3. I just follow the regular directions for excel without spot treatment. While this doesn't show any direct damage to the BBA, it does seem to slow growth down enough that it allows you to easily get ahead of the BBA while pruning and cleaning.

I can't say my strategy works universally, or is better than yours just wanted to share my experience.

PS. Two more things

While I can't absolutely agree with all of your regimen, there is a lot of useful advise in it. And I won't say any of it is wrong.

I've been keeping plants since about 1996, and remember when everyone's advice was to starve algae. There is a reason that every single system going today provides large amounts of nutrients (through one avenue or another).


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## HolyAngel (Oct 18, 2010)

I've had BBA in my 29 gal for the last 6 months since I stopped using pressurized co2 and lowered my lighting. I started dosing EI and all the BBA turned white within 7 days and died off. My tank is now algea free and my plants are growing again. Without co2.


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