# BBA on new tank



## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

equipt:

pressurized co2 @ 4bps keeping drop checker a green/yellow
Eheim 2217 with bio media from old tank
powerhead circulator
lighting 3x54 t5h0 (1 10k 2 6500k) for 9 hours
It houses at least 20 blyxa, octopus grass, a few other plants. 
substrate: topsoil (not MTS) with greensand, kelp meal, bone meal topped with sand. Plants grow just fine
My tank has been running for over a month. 
bio: 7 otto, 5 rummys, 10 cory, 2 true SAE, 2 yoyo loaches. 

I noticed that on my driftwood thats closer to the light Im starting to get BBA. I have 7 ottos and 2 SAE but they nibble on it but dont clean it up. I thought it was in relation to flow, but I have my power head and my spraybar pointed right at them and it doesnt change the areas of bba.

I recently picked up some h202 but wondering if I can use it safely without doing a water change.

Also I have dry ferts that I DONT dose (it was used for my other tank). I have phosphate, nitrites, and some csm+b. Should I be dosing that? I dont have many other problems with algae just the bba thats on the wood.

any help....


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 4, 2008)

You have a lot of light for a 55 gallon tank (I assume that is the volume of your tank) to not be dosing fertilizers.

BBA could be due to low nitrates (not nitrites). I would strongly recommend you start a dosing regime.


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

Its weird, I thought I had to much light as well. But I never got any algae issues till now. Thats why I kept all 3 lights on. 

oh the dimmensions are 48x12x23

I can turn off one of the lights, should I just do that?

I dont mind dosing. I actually regretted 50% water changes until I got a python. But when I did start dosing in my other tank algae came around more often (bba gsa)because I couldnt find a balance. 

according to my api test kit, nitrites are at 0. But I never calibrated it.


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## hbosman (Oct 5, 2006)

Try 2 bulbs at 8 hours and start dosing and do 50 % water changes. I had fought BBA for years it seemed but, the problem finally dissipated when I increased my water changes from 30 % to 50 %.


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## captain_bu (Oct 20, 2007)

accordztech said:


> Its weird, I thought I had to much light as well. But I never got any algae issues till now. Thats why I kept all 3 lights on.
> 
> according to my api test kit, nitrites are at 0. But I never calibrated it.


A month old tank is still a work in progress, cause and effect is very rarely instant in a tank, problems you have today could have their origin in something that happened/was changed with the tank 2 weeks ago.

Definitely try dropping your light level and photoperiod until you get the algae under control. For a 55 gallon tank you really don't need more than the two bulbs, it is still a lot of light to control. Work on tweaking CO2 and making sure circulation around the tank is good.

Are you testing for nitrites or nitrates? Big difference. 

At any rate with the amount of light you have over the tank you need to dose macro (including nitrates) and micro nutrients. Suggest you read up on EI style dosing, generally the easiest way to get started.

Nutrients don't cause algae. The balance you were missing with the tank you were dosing that had an algae increase was most likely CO2. It is the toughest thing to get right. Once you added proper nutrients the demand for CO2 went up and you probably didn't adjust CO2 accordingly.


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

thats for the advice. Ill just run 2 bulbs right now and shorten my photo period. Ill probably nuke the bba with my h2o2 and do a clean up 

i started doing around a 40% water change recently, because I wanted to play with my python hehehe. 

Ill probably start a dosing schedule as well.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

What's octopus grass?


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

lauraleellbp said:


> What's octopus grass?


a crappy looking giant hair grass lol. Actually it is, the stems are about 1mm thick and grows slow as a snail.

its hard to see but its my background plant


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## anastasisariel (Oct 4, 2009)

Can you raise your lighting? I would try that if you could because it would make your lighting a little less intense and also give you a more balanced distribution. I agree that you should have some kind of dosing regiment too though, but at present your tank isn't really heavily planted.

BTW, If that is Riccia growing up top remove it before you do a H2O2 Nukejob. Just take it out and keep it in another tank or even a window that gets some direct lighting for a week till you do a major water change after nuke.


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

oh thats an old picture an the ricca is now a carpet plant.

I can raise the light fixture 3 inches with the feet that it came with.


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

so I spoke to soon. LOL 1 day after not using the 3rd light I have got Rhizoclonium on my ricca, and one that looks like Cladophora. Both are only on very small parts but its there.

I started dosing today. Probably going to clean it out tomorrow because sundays is when I clean my tank.

Ill probably take the driftwood out and scrub really good (its not that bad) and then hit it with h202 out of the water for a few minutes, then rinse it off and put it back into the tank. 

Im not going to let this tank go like my last one, where I just cleaned the algae every week, im going to make sure I stay on top of things and make sure my tank is in balance.

*edit*

I realized what happend. My flow to my co2 reactor was slow because the eheim piping kinked and didnt let enough flow through. Thats why algae came around so quick.

still going to dose though


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

I used h2o2 and man that stuff is cool. I stuck to about 1ml/gallon. It even got some of the other algae. after a day the bba is noticacbly gone, its shrinking and I think the other fish in the tank are actually eating the rest of it. 

I have yet to raise my light on my tank. Ill try to get to it today though. I also orderd a spray piece for my eheim, instead of the spray bar.


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## anastasisariel (Oct 4, 2009)

Can you update me on how your Riccia handles the peroxide?


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

well I shot the ricca directly because there was some algae on it, and it didnt phase it. Though I did do a 50% water change after.

If you want ill do it again tomorrow and see if it affects the ricca. Im wondering also because I put a mat in my other tank for my baby fry to play with, but it has alot of snails. I shot snails with h2o2 and it killed them right away. When I bring that mat back into my tank I want to make sure I dont get snails comming along the way =)


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

anastasisariel said:


> Can you update me on how your Riccia handles the peroxide?


just for you i took a 1x3 inch portion of ricca that I had on a mat and soaked it in a cup with 1:4 solution of h202 and water. At the same time I hit it directly with h202. I soaked it for 25 minutes and put it back into my tank.

So ill let you know what happends to it. It killed off the snails instantly lol


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## anastasisariel (Oct 4, 2009)

lol


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