# BBA success and driftwood



## cavemanNY (Aug 11, 2014)

A few months ago, I had a small BBA problem that suddenly exploded. To address the issue, I slowly stopped dosing everything so I could try to isolate the issue. After a couple of weeks, I was still getting BBA growth on Wisteria, Anubias, equipment, rocks and driftwood. Next step, I removed the driftwood, the Wisteria and Anubias completely. I then soaked the rocks and some equipment in a Glutaraldehyde solution before returning them to the tank. I had removed most of the BBA.

The good news is, over the next month and a half, the BBA did not return. I was still doing no dosing at all. Not even Glut/Excel. The Hornwort and Java Ferns that remain in the tank have no BBA and it did not return on the rocks or gear. The tiny amount of GSA I had also did not return. I considered this a success for sure.

Now to what happened next and my question for the forum. My pH went from a steady 6.8 to about 7.2 when I removed the driftwood as mentioned above (tap is pH 7.0). I liked keeping it slightly under 7.0 for various reasons (ammonium vs. ammonia for one), so ten days ago, I put a small piece of driftwood in the filter. The good news is this worked like a charm and the pH dropped down to 6.8, about where I like to keep it. 

The bad news? The BBA has started showing up again now on the equipment and a tiny amount on the ferns. I am still not dosing anything, so the driftwood addition must be the cause, directly or indirectly. That is my question to this forum: *could the driftwood, an organic material, be causing BBA to flourish, or is it more likely to be the lower pH level?*

If you have direct experience with this type of issue, I look forward to your thoughts and opinions. Thank you.

TANK INFO

Levels Today:
Using the API Freshwater Master Test Kit
pH 6.8
GH 4
kH 1.5
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10 ppm
PO4 0.5 ppm

Animals:
8 Glowlight Tetras
4 Albino Corys
2 Otos
5 Amano Shrimp

Plants:
4 small Java Ferns
about 10 feet of Hornwort in a few 7-8" bunches

Setup:
Standard 10 Gallon Tank 
Aqueon Deluxe Full Hood, 20" (GE 10134, 6500K, T8 Fluorescent Tube Bulb)
Top Fin Aquarium Power Filter 20 (using 10 Cobalt Aquatics Ceramic Rings and quilt batting)
Aqueon Submersible 50 Watt Heater
Top Fin Air-1000 Air Pump (with small air stone)
No CO2


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## cavemanNY (Aug 11, 2014)

One further note, I misspoke. I do add Barr's GH booster and a little baking soda to new water to raise GH, kH. Tap is 2 GH, 1 kH. I raise it to about 4.5 GH, 1.5 kH. This has been constant throughout this process and does not seem related to the BBA.


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## imcmaster (Jan 30, 2015)

I believe it to be the change in ph.
When you review causes of BBA, you will usually see fluctuations in CO2 (in both low light and high light aquariums).
Your aquarium has several equilibrium's that are balanced, the net result of which is a stable pH. The chemical balances are related and include bicarbonates (and carbonates) and CO2 (and carbonic acid). If you lower the pH by adding driftwood (increase the hydrogen ion concentration), this has a rippling effect on each individual balance in the tank, and means that both the CO2 and bicarbonate concentrations will change.
It is an entirely different question to ask why this change would allow BBA, but if you accept that CO2 (or bicarbonate?) fluctuations can cause BBA, and if you accept that a lower pH will cause a shift in the concentration of both CO2 and bicarbonates, then it follows that the shift in pH could cause BBA.


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

i have no driftwood or hardscape in my collection tank and still got bba. co2 is the issue.


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## Bishop61 (Oct 18, 2014)

ikuzo said:


> i have no driftwood or hardscape in my collection tank and still got bba. co2 is the issue.


Agreed... when I had a bba issue on my last tank, I removed the driftwood which had no impact the bba  After I increased the co2 to proper amounts (higher than I thought I needed), the bba went away. I've since returned the cleaned driftwood (and a few more bigger pieces) and the bba never returned. 

This might not explain the relationship between the driftwood (decaying matter) and bba... but it's still the answer :wink:


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## dzega (Apr 22, 2013)

my observations are yes, decaying matter do make BBA to flourish. along with uneven plant growth usually caused by uneven co2(i do believe co2 fluctuations itself is not an issue).


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## exv152 (Jun 8, 2009)

It's more than likely not the lower pH but lower co2 levels that's at play. I know you’ve made this correlation in your mind that it’s the driftwood, and it seems reasonable because it coincides with the break out, but BBA in most cases is related to low co2. Even if you got rid of every trace of BBA, the fact that the co2 is low will just bring it back. The cure, as per jame’s algae guide, is to increase co2 and circulation, and remove as much BBA as possible. I wouldn’t stop the fertilizers as this may invite other forms of algae like GSA, GDA and hair algae. From personal experience, I've had breakouts of BBA in iwagumi setups with no driftwood, just stone, and in high pH above 7.5 and low pH like 5.8.


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