# Is this BBA?



## Brilliant (Apr 11, 2006)

Staghorn isnt it?

I thought BBA was in bunches....almost like a thick moss.


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## bigstick120 (May 23, 2005)

Here is a good link to help folks identify their algaeAlgae

Yours looks like staghorn to me


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## Chris333 (Jul 29, 2006)

From this page:
Types of Algae
it sounds like you are correct.

But that link says it likes to grow in slow moving areas. It is all over the tank, but it is heaviest around the inlet/outlet of my filter where you can see the current is heavy.

Also I have a SAE and I've never seen it touch the stuff (I have about 10 oto's too)

So do I just let this stuff grow off and die?

Thanks


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## Brilliant (Apr 11, 2006)

I would suggest more frequent water changes with gravel vacs and to pluck the more infected leaves right now. Try to get it out manually. I am new and hardly know just giving my assessment after reading the causes of staghorn.

Is the tank new? Recent cycle?


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## bigstick120 (May 23, 2005)

Take the inlet/outlet out and scrub it well, clean as much as you can out of the tank, cut leaves/stems that have it. Do a large water change, dose the tank back up. What are the params of your tank? With that we can help so you dont get ot again


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## bigstick120 (May 23, 2005)

AWWWW, ya ninja posted me!


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## Chris333 (Jul 29, 2006)

2 days ago I took out as much as I could by hand and also scrubbed the filter inlet. Here is the inlet now:









PH 7.0-7.2
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5

The number have been the same since I got the test kit except for Nitrates, they were once at 10

The tank is 2 months old and should be considered "cycled" now (I think)

I do put some Flourish and FloraPride in the tank every few days.


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## bigstick120 (May 23, 2005)

What size tank? Lights? Are you running CO2?


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## Brilliant (Apr 11, 2006)

Yank that crap.


PS Bigstick, those downoi are growing!!!


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## bigstick120 (May 23, 2005)

Brilliant said:


> Yank that crap.
> 
> 
> PS Bigstick, those downoi are growing!!!


Great!!! They come from great stock:icon_wink


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## Lucky_13 (Apr 18, 2006)

i'm new as well, but i can see plainly that you need more nitrate. low nitrate is a big cause of algae. i am also fighting staghorn algae, as well as black beard, blue green, and green spot on the glass. i'm doing a 3 day blackout right now.


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## bigstick120 (May 23, 2005)

Its not so much low NO3, it none at all that will cause you problems. What type of test kit did you use that gave you a reading of 5 ppm? If you give the info above that I ask we can help you better then


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## Chris333 (Jul 29, 2006)

I listed it up top, but:

55 gallon

4-40W bulbs, 2 regular, 1 sunlight bulb, and 1 plant bulb in a homemade hood.

DIY Co2 with two 2 liters. Also a homemade reactor in the tank built with a pumphead, vacuum tube, and bio balls.

Filter is a Magnum 350 with 2 bio wheels over the back, place on the opposite side of the tank from the Co2 reactor.

Test kit is just a Freshwater master kit:
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000255NCI.01-A9P1KZBSDQIPK.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
and yes I did shake up the bottles before hand.

The whole tank:


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

The first order of business in stopping algae is to get the fertilizing schedule corrected. You need to be adding phosphate, such as KH2PO4, nitrate, such as KNO3, in addition to the traces you are using. Then you need to get the CO2 concentration up, possibly by not using the biowheel filters. With healthy growing plants biowheels are not accomplishing anything that the plants don't do better. If you use two DIY setups, renewing them a week or so apart, you can get more and more constant CO2. Then, you need to clean out the existing algae and hope the now healthy plants will keep it from starting up again.


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## bigstick120 (May 23, 2005)

You have a fair amount of like over that tank, dosing flourish and florapride isnt going to cut it. Check out gregwatson.com and get a pound of KNO3, KH2PO4, KHSO4, and if you want CSM+B, this is like flourish, or you could spend more money and get Seachem Nitrogen, Phosphate, potassium. Clean as much algae as you can and start dosing, your problem will go away. 

Diy CO2 is tough on a larger tank like a 55, it can be done but is very consitent and that also leads to algae. If you can go pressurized.


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## Lucky_13 (Apr 18, 2006)

in my tank, when i had 10+ppm nitrate, my BGA started to die back. then i added DIY CO2, and the plants used most of the nitrate, was down to 5ppm or so, and the BGA started coming back. then i started dosing more nitrate up to about 20ppm, and its going away again.


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## Chris333 (Jul 29, 2006)

Thanks guys.

I had just posted a question asking where to get testing kits to figure out what ferts I needed to dose. Is there a set mix of gregwatson's ferts I can dose or do I need to figure what I'm lacking first? 

Removing the bio-wheels is no big deal, in fact I could replace it with a inline reactor I've wanted to build.

I can also add another 2 bottles of DIY Co2. If I could get a whole pressurized system for around $50 I would, but it looks like way more than that. (Sorry I'm cheap)

I imagine this is all newbie stuff so Thanks for the help. This is my first time with real plants although I had always wanted them.


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## Lucky_13 (Apr 18, 2006)

for ferts, you would need 3 macros, and micros. the 3 macros are Potassium Nitrate, Mono Potassium phosphate, and Potassium Sulphate. the micro mix is CSM plantex +B


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## bigstick120 (May 23, 2005)

I posted above what you need to by, there is a stickie in the water prams section. EI would be easy for you, check it out


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## Chris333 (Jul 29, 2006)

I'm back.

My Greg Watson came today.

Until I start to understand things better and until I can find testing kits, I did this:
2 tablespoons of KNO3
1 tablespoon of KH2PO4
1 tablespoon of K2SO4

I mixed this in water and poured that into the tank.

Without test kits to know what my levels are at, what would be a good timeframe to dose this amount?
Once a week? day? month?

Thanks


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## bigstick120 (May 23, 2005)

You are joking I hope! Where did you get those #s, that is an insane amount of PO4! Did yo then dump all of it in the tank?!?! You just added about 110ppm KNO3
55 ppm PO4!!! Do a large water change several time today and then some more tomorrow. See the stickie in the water prams section as I suggested before to get and idea of what you should dose.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

The right amounts are about 1/2 teaspoon of KNO3 and 1/8 teaspoon of KH2PO4 three times a week. So you dosed more than ten times what would be a good amount!! Be sure to tell us what happened next. Did the tank suddenly fill up with algae? Did the fish all drop dead? Or, did nothing happen? (Which would be my guess.) It is mistakes like that which can provide a lot of good information. (You may omit any changes in your personal appetites, etc.!!)


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## Chris333 (Jul 29, 2006)

Yikes, yes I did dump it all in at once. When I read this forum I tested the water:
Nitrates at 5.0
Nitrites were 0

Then I did a large water change and pulled out as much algae as I could, including parts of some plants.

Hoppy, 
Thanks for the measurements. When I try to read up on fertilizers I get confused real quick. Most of it is written out with abbreviations for larger words and sayings. For me that is just like leaving the words out because searching for the meaning of everything in the middle of trying to understand is just frustrating.

It could be a year or so before I get this planted tank thing down. :icon_roll


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## esarkipato (Jul 19, 2005)

Good thread.....a great case for the "read before you dose" mantra!!! Good luck to you Chris333 and keep us posted on this tank!

And may I just make the case for pressurized co2. Based on cost analysis alone, it will pay for itself over a couple of years. Not to mention the time you take mixing sugar/yeast, testing for pH/KH/co2 levels, etc.

Also, I believe (as Hoppy mentioned) that steady co2 levels are key to eliminated staghorn. I had it BAD in a 20g a while back, while I was DIY co2, and I was better off (2 wpg) just leaving the co2 out of the gameplan. *It is better to have a steady (and low) CO2 level than lots of ups & downs.*

LAstly, I saw my cherry barbs eat this stuff, and definitely my flag fish. GOOD LUCK :hihi:


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