# Help me get rid off BBA.



## Anti-Pjerrot (Jan 20, 2006)

(Pleace confirm that it IS BBA)
The tank is no more than a month old. 

Its mostly on all my cryptocoryne wendii brown and green, on my Microsorum pteropus 'Windeløv' and my red moor roots. Some on my Ludwigia repens, anubias and on the gravel.

I dose following the IE with TMG as trace.
I use RO water and DIY CO2 with a mister, 1 bubble (mist) per. second. 

I havent measured anything, since plant growts is great. All plants are pearling, growing and healthy, exept for the spots of BBA, mostly on the edges of the crypts. They are losing leafs and holes appear where theres BBA. The crypts are not doing great, eventhough their roots are real good.

Filtrations is thrugh a little powerhead 100gal/h with a filtersponge. (Is it ok?)

I don't vacuum because i just planted HC. (Should i do it anyway, where i can?) gravel size is 2-3mm - plain gravel.

I just covered some of the BBA with Javamoss on the roots.

Pics:














































Any suggestions on what to do - should i wait - will it go away. I cant dose excel since its not available...

I am so anoyed. Damn BBA!


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## BSS (Sep 24, 2004)

Looks similar to the BBA I've been fighting. I think I might now have mine under control. My suggestion would be to add another bottle (or two) of DIY CO2. Even though the ph/KH charts implied that I was well over 30 ppm of CO2, I had to dial down my pH controlled another 0.2+ to get my BBA to stop thriving.

So, give her more CO2, Scotty! (and for those that didn't catch on, that's a Star Trek pun!),
Brian


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

It sure looks like BBA, and that almost always means not enough CO2, but that could mean not enough circulation of the water to get CO2 enriched water to all areas of the tank. Your tank looks like it is about the same size as mine - 29 gallons, and I use a Maxijet 600 powerhead, with a sponge filter for filtration, circulation and CO2 mist generation. I still have problems with areas not getting much water circulation and BBA struggling to continue to grow there. So, your powerhead may be too small.


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## Anti-Pjerrot (Jan 20, 2006)

Its a 14 gallon.
I was thinking of adding a 75gal/h powerhead for circulation. The thing im confused about, is the places with BBA right in front of the powerhead. They get the CO2 mist right on them - how can the CO2 not effect the algee?

I also got a trace of blue-green algee in the front between the glass and gravel - just a little spot.

Ill try an ad another powerhead only for circulation.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

Once the BBA is growing CO2 helps it to grow even better. It is discouraged from restarting by CO2 after you remove it. I'm pretty sure that's how it works. So, you need to remove or kill what you have, then get good CO2 and water circulation to discourage its regrowth. I was pretty successful that way before, but now my tank is so overgrown with plants the circulation isn't as good (I'm letting it get overgrown so I will have enough plants when I move lock, stock and barrel to a 45 gallon tank.)


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## Anti-Pjerrot (Jan 20, 2006)

I hooked up another CO2 tank with a powerhead so the tank is like one little ocean of tiny bubbles.

Ill get the roots and plants up and give them a bleach, but i dont think i can remove the gravel with the HC, without destroing the HC.

Any advice on the BBA on the gravel?


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## BSS (Sep 24, 2004)

I got it to die away by doing the Excel OD'ing along with the increased CO2. It took about a week to die off, but my 46g is now much more BBA free that it was. I still have a small amount on my driftwood, but the stuff I left on my gravel has disappeared.

Good luck!


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## Anti-Pjerrot (Jan 20, 2006)

well - to bad i cant get excel here in dk... maybe ill have to order from uk


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

You can also look at the moss, it only uses CO2, never bicarbonate.
It's doing poorly, with good CO2, it grows bvery lush.

So the BBA and the Moss growth says CO2.

See the DIY CO2 internal reactor I designed for everyone to use and make.
Cheap(2$+ a small Rio 180 powerhead) and easy(www.Viewtainer.com use a 4" x 2" dia tube). Search the design.
Cannot post pics here yet.


Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## Anti-Pjerrot (Jan 20, 2006)

Should I take roots with moss/ferns out and bleach it - so the BBA disappear? Cut all leafs with BBA, remove gravel?


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## BSS (Sep 24, 2004)

plantbrain said:


> You can also look at the moss, it only uses CO2, never bicarbonate.


Hmmm, maybe that explains why I have yet to have any success with mosses in my 46g. Looks like it might be time to try it again.

AP - personally, I wouldn't go the bleach route. I'd opt for the heavy handed pruning and gravel removal. If you do this for a couple of weeks while maintaining a higher CO2 level, I would suspect that things would look very much improved.


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## Anti-Pjerrot (Jan 20, 2006)

The moss was only doing bad, because i had it burried under some rocks. 

I took the roots out and gave them a bath in a 20% chlorine solutin. The BBA has turned red. I took out all the infected leafs and gravel (PITA job doing that), and filled some new gravel where i took it out. 

Im pretty sure its gonna come back, but ill keep the CO2 up and remove all the BBA ill find.


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## Anti-Pjerrot (Jan 20, 2006)

I just got some buffer 7.00, calibrated my pH-meter and testet my water... The pH is 5.5 (like acid-rain) - seams like the plants and fish is like it though...

I added some tabwater - not to alter anything, just to fill the tank to the edge... Then I wondered... would a little tab water help, so i get a little kH, since I do WC with 100% RO water... My tabwater is gH 20, kH 18


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## Martin (Jan 15, 2005)

only using RO water and not buffering it can cause a pH crash, which could be what you're experiencing.
I've said it before and will say it again.. hehe.. RO water is not necessary in 99% of all tanks unless you plan on breeding certain fish, or if your tapwater is truly off the charts.
At least go 50/50 just to add some KH to the tank.


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## Anti-Pjerrot (Jan 20, 2006)

The only thing with tabwater is that it makes the my water blurry, due to the minerals. With RO water its crystal clear.


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

Add a little Sodium Bicarbonate then, up to 1 KH
Add some GH booster, CaSO4/MgSO4.

The Ca/Mg/SO4 are plant nutrients.
The KH is going to help you measure CO2 much better.

Very soft water often gets BBA.........for the same reasons hard water does.........poor CO2........


That is what the issue is.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## Anti-Pjerrot (Jan 20, 2006)

I added som NaHCO3 and some MgSO4. I dont have any CaSO4 - yet...


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## Anti-Pjerrot (Jan 20, 2006)

Oh - BBA on HC - should I leave it or rip out all my pressious HC? Its all infected - not badly though, but enough to make it look bad...


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## cbennett (Oct 20, 2005)

cut off as much BBA infected leaves as possible, the leaves usually die anyway even if you use excel.


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

You do not need to rip it out the HC, just mow it, trim it.
Add more CO2, you really must not have much to have HC get BBA!

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## Anti-Pjerrot (Jan 20, 2006)

I just measured 30ppm 

pH = 6.3
kH = 2°dH

Im running with 2 bottles DIY with Mister diffusion, right onto the HC

The top of the tank is like a pearling ocean, all plants are growing nicely, but so does the algee and HC...

Every day im cutting of leaves with algee. All of the HC got BBA... Maybe its cursed...


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

Anti-Pjerrot said:


> I just measured 30ppm
> 
> pH = 6.3
> kH = 2°dH
> ...


Where do you measure the pH? I have noticed that some people put a pH probe in their CO2 reactor - the worst possible place for it. And, unless you have good water circulation in the tank, the amount of CO2 in the water varies depending on how close to the CO2 enriched water inlet you measure and how close to fast growing plants you measure.


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## Anti-Pjerrot (Jan 20, 2006)

Im proffesionally trained to take pH-readings. I measure 50 mm below water surface in the middle of the tank, circulation is good all around the tank (no dead spots) The pH-meter is calibrated in a pH 7 buffer, and tested in a ph 4 , 6 , 8 , 10. (I got a lot of buffers)

I dont trust the kH test at all - but its the best i got for now, until i buy some more lab stuff (HCl analysis samples, burette, pipette, indicator ect...) (witch im also trained to use)

But my good sence tell me that the kH is not that much off, since I use RO water and some NaHCO3 to raise kH.


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