# How to fight BBA besides Excel?



## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

BBA is a pain once you get it, hard to rid, but this is how you do it.
Get in the tank and clean everything, wood, rock's, trim all infected plant's, clean filter,media, hose's, turn the substrate if it is growing on it.
For a 20g tank then dose 1/4Tsp KN03, 1/16Tsp KH2P04, now the tricky part, your C02, just because you have an 2" pvc pipe with C02 shooting in it, does not mean you have good C02.
with 65watts on a 20g, that is a ton of light, your BBA is prolly from to much light+poor C02..reduce the lighting, maximize C02..


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## trckrunrmike (Jul 20, 2005)

I;m already doing the 1/4Tsp KN03, 1/16Tsp KH2P04 routine for ferts. And I'm pumping 1 bubble per second, isnt that enough?


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## cprroy73 (Nov 10, 2004)

bps does not really mean anything. You could have 30bps second and not have good co2. There are several things that influence co2 injection. Like surface turbulence, co2 diffusor or reactor, size of plant mass, type of plants(some plants use more than others), the amount of light and ferts effect the rate at which the co2 is absorbed, and maybe a simple leak in the system. 

Make sure your ferts are inline. Up the co2. Some people test kh and ph to find out how much co2 is in the tank. 

I test just to check every now and then(ph, kh). but really just by looking at the fish I can tell if I have enough co2 in the tank.(fish gasping or not). 
I just don't trust test kits.


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## Georgiadawgger (Apr 23, 2004)

Good advice so far...please don't ignore it. You will have to manually remove as much as you can for best results...algae eaters will work to an extent, but they will get lazy and can't keep up with the growth. 

Clean out the tank, keep up your fert routine, and bump that co2 up and you should see good results.


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## BSS (Sep 24, 2004)

Many will say that cranking up CO2 levels to 30+ *should* help attack BBA. Just for the record, I had my CO2 at 50-60 ppm (though you could always argue that my test kits suck  ), and it never had a noticeable effect on my BBA. The only good solution I've had to date is the Excel spot treatment, and the tank OD'ing didn't work either.

I'd certainly recommend going with all the other suggestions first, as I think it is a safer, more tested route. But, I could never seem to get the other approaches to work for me. Though, it could just be me :icon_sad: !


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

My tank is hardly balanced, but I got rid of BBA by upping the CO2 and removing most of the BBA I could find. I found the KH/PH method of measuring CO2 was not accurate - it over estimated the amount of CO2. So, I raised the amount I was adding until I noticed some of the fish were uncomfortable, then I dropped it a bit and the BBA went away. The "measured" CO2 level I had was about 270 ppm before I saw fish distress! I also measured the KH/PH of a sample of water from the tank that had sat overnight and compared it to the KH/PH that was in the tank during the day. I had about a .8 rise in PH for the overnight rested water - probably indicating about 30 ppm CO2 (in spite of the KH/PH table saying I had about 180 ppm, as I recall). So, jack up the CO2 level until the fish say "uncle" then back off a bit - that is the right level of CO2 for your tank.


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## trckrunrmike (Jul 20, 2005)

...the BBA is on the dwarf hairgrass...this is going to be a PITA to get all the BBA away.


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## mr hyde (Sep 7, 2002)

I had a bad case of bba for a year and raised my co2 way up to 60ppm and it really only slowed it down, never actually killed any. I did the excel overdose treatment and it pretty much killed it all off. Now I keep my co2 levels high and don't use excel anymore, it hasn't come back in over 3 months. Overdosing the excel killed off all my vals though but they were taking over the tank so it really wasn't such a bad thing.


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

trckrunrmike said:


> ...the BBA is on the dwarf hairgrass...this is going to be a PITA to get all the BBA away.


No, mow the grass dude.
It'll grow back just like....well...........grass.
But without BBA.

If you want nice Hair grass, crank the CO2, they are not picky except for the CO2 issue.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## trckrunrmike (Jul 20, 2005)

I tried that before, problem is that there is BBA on the lower parts where I can't trim.


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## Tim_in_NYC (Feb 9, 2006)

I am fighting the good fight against BBA in my planted Tropheus tank for a couple weeks now.

For the last week I have been using the STANDARD/RECOMMENDED dosage of Excel plus recommended dosage of Aquarium Pharmaceuticals AlgaeFix/Algae Destroyer Advanced.

Progress has been slow.

Last night I noticed the BBA on my Emperor's outlets is turning gray, so I think I'm getting some traction.

-Tim


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