# High CO2 and still have BBA



## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

Drop checks stink.

Algae, plants etc are better test kits than any drop checker.

Drop checkers are not particularly easy to read, nor are they targeting the correct ranges, the tank might need 20 ppm, or it might need 30 ppm or it might need 50 ppm. Each tank will be and is different.

Kill what is there, then re evaluate the CO2.

Bad assumptions with CO2 and poor management cause about 95% of the algae issues I've seen for the last 20 years, and not just BBA, pretty much most algae.

Drop checkers cause more problems than they solve.


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## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

If the tank is several years old, it could just be a build up of organics surpassing what the biofilter can handle. Are the plants growing well? What is heavily planted? Do you have a pic?


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## ThatGuyWithTheFish (Apr 29, 2012)

Why do you have ammonia? I find that disconcerting.


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## Chronados (Jan 28, 2013)

With 0 kH, CO2 injection, and your pH bottomed out, it's possible that the nitrifying bacteria in your tank have stalled out due to unfavorable conditions. You could try stabilizing the pH a bit by adding some baking soda to bring the pH back to readable levels. On the bright side, at that low of a pH, the ammonia would almost all be in the ammonium form, so fish would not show signs of ammonia poisoning, especially at only 0.25ppm.

Though I suppose your plants should be uptaking the ammonium anyways, so it's possibly just a bad test kit as well.


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## ptychoptera (Sep 12, 2013)

plantbrain said:


> Drop checks stink.
> 
> Algae, plants etc are better test kits than any drop checker.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the info, Tom. I've been hesitant to crank the CO2 higher, since the dropchecker was always quite yellow. But at the same time I noticed none of the plants were pearling.

I think I'll proceed with a little calcium carbonate to buffer things better and then crank the CO2. Right now I have 2-3 bubbles per second... which seems like a lot. Have you had tanks that required that high a rate of CO2?


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## ua hua (Oct 30, 2009)

ptychoptera said:


> Thanks for the info, Tom. I've been hesitant to crank the CO2 higher, since the dropchecker was always quite yellow. But at the same time I noticed none of the plants were pearling.
> 
> I think I'll proceed with a little calcium carbonate to buffer things better and then crank the CO2. Right now I have 2-3 bubbles per second... which seems like a lot. Have you had tanks that required that high a rate of CO2?


To be perfectly honest with you I don't use a bubble counter but I know my bubble count is so high that you can't count them. You can use an inverted flask or any type of glass that has mL markings and run your co2 into it and see how many mL per second are filled into the flask. When I did this it was around 1-2mL per second.


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## OVT (Nov 29, 2011)

+1
I use bubble counters as a visual aid to see that I actually have co2 going. If you can count bubbles, you are not pushing enough. Just watch the livestock.

CO2 does not kill BBA.

v3


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## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

OVT said:


> ..
> 
> CO2 does not kill BBA.
> 
> v3


+1

Raising co2 might help, but as OVT pointed out in itself it does not kill algae. You do realize why raising co2 many times can help BBA and other algae, right?


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## crice8 (Aug 2, 2012)

I cut back on my ferts a tad and left my co2 where it was and BBA stopped growing. What I had remained but it stopped growing. I did a trim and now two weeks later have almost no BBA!!! I'm going to increase my co2 some as time goes, but my cause seemed to be too much ferts.


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## Chronados (Jan 28, 2013)

crice8 said:


> I cut back on my ferts a tad and left my co2 where it was and BBA stopped growing. What I had remained but it stopped growing. I did a trim and now two weeks later have almost no BBA!!! I'm going to increase my co2 some as time goes, but my cause seemed to be too much ferts.


Remember that ferts, CO2, and lighting are all related. So another way of looking at it is that you had insufficient CO2 for the level of ferts you were adding, for which there are two solutions. Generally people raise the CO2 instead of lowering the level of ferts, but I'm glad it worked out well for you!


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## crice8 (Aug 2, 2012)

Chronados said:


> Remember that ferts, CO2, and lighting are all related. So another way of looking at it is that you had insufficient CO2 for the level of ferts you were adding, for which there are two solutions. Generally people raise the CO2 instead of lowering the level of ferts, but I'm glad it worked out well for you!


Yes I kept this in mind! But rather than fighting algae as I increase the co2, I cut the fuel to the algae and can raise my ferts as I increase the co2 :biggrin:


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## BriDroid (Oct 7, 2012)

OVT said:


> I use bubble counters as a visual aid to see that I actually have co2 going. If you can count bubbles, you are not pushing enough. Just watch the livestock.


I agree with this! When you try to stay with bubbles you can count, you NEVER have enough CO2. I just like to see the bubbles flowing so I can make sure I have CO2 going into the aquarium.


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## jonathan (Nov 29, 2012)

BriDroid said:


> I agree with this! When you try to stay with bubbles you can count, you NEVER have enough CO2.


I have a standard 29 gallon. Would you say this still applies ?


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