# Can't get rid of BBA.



## Darkblade48 (Jan 4, 2008)

Are you dosing any nitrates at all? Nutrients may be the main issue here.


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## niptek (Nov 9, 2008)

whats your water temp? i notice bba appear only during the summer when water temp raises. Maybe you need a chiller keep your water temp at 72


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## nemosreef (Oct 19, 2007)

Darkblade48 said:


> Are you dosing any nitrates at all? Nutrients may be the main issue here.


I am not currently adding any nitrates. I was for a while but the algae got worse.


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## nemosreef (Oct 19, 2007)

niptek said:


> whats your water temp? i notice bba appear only during the summer when water temp raises. Maybe you need a chiller keep your water temp at 72


 My water temp is 78degrees F. I have never heard of keeping the temp so low. Is that not bad for the fish?


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

I just live with it now. I battled it for a long time, but I managed to get it to where it only grows in my Java Moss at the very top of the tank. What about water flow? Are there dead spots where you are getting it? I think BBA algae (or is it staghorn) is a bacteria, so nuking the tank with a bacteria med might help eliminate it as well. (don't quote me on that, some others responding to back this up should be needed  )


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## nemosreef (Oct 19, 2007)

I am running 650gal. an hour through the tank. I do not really have any dead spots. It also grows on my java fern. BBA forsure not staghorn.


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## Sharkfood (May 2, 2010)

Turning my CO2 up got rid of mine. Spot dosing with excel would kill it, but it would come right back. With higher CO2, it just kind of faded away. I never had it growing real thick though. I don't dose excel anymore as algae doesn't really grow in the tank anymore. 

I wouldn't stop dosing nitrates. It will weaken and make your plants more susceptible to algae growing on the leaves.


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## littlefish (Aug 6, 2010)

BBA apears when CO2 level in unstable. Dose 1ml per 50 liters of Easy Carbo (equivalent to Flourish Excel) and maintain CO2 at 30ppm, nitrates at 15ppm and phosphates at 0.5ppm.


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## nemosreef (Oct 19, 2007)

I do not use pressurized CO2 so uping the amount is not an option for me. Is there anything else I can do to keep rid of it?


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## DarkCobra (Jun 22, 2004)

nemosreef said:


> I do not use pressurized CO2 so uping the amount is not an option for me. Is there anything else I can do to keep rid of it?


With that much lighting your tank requires real CO2, not Excel.

If you don't have at least DIY CO2, that's a big problem; and you'll be fighting a continuous battle against BBA.


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## Canuck (Apr 30, 2009)

CO2 is never a bad thing to add and generally is the number one remedy for BBA. But I think I'd try dosing all macros (including phosphate), and see where that gets you. DarkCobra could very well be correct that it's too much light without CO2, but complete dosing of macros might be worth a shot.


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## nemosreef (Oct 19, 2007)

I will start dosing nitrate again. My phosphate stays at .75ppm without dosing it. I did not think I really needed co2 with this amount of lighting because I cover the glass hood with a piece of black fiberglass screen which really cuts down on the amount of light getting into the tank. I was under the inpression that I really only had mediuym light without the screen and with the screen that would lower it even more. Am I right on this or am I missing something what do you guys think? Co2 is fairly expensive and I do not know if I can afford it.


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

BBA is always a CO2 issue, not a nutrients issue. It comes with fluctuating co2 or low co2. Get pressurized or at least DIY. You can try to spot dose it with excel but that's just putting a bandaid on it, it'll come back.


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## Canuck (Apr 30, 2009)

I, generally, don't trust test kits. I suggest you dose phosphate as well.


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