shift Posted March 9, 2016 Report Share Posted March 9, 2016 What causes Bba? How can I rid my shrimp tank of this aside from spot treating? Can someone help point me in the direction of the root cause of it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pokeshrimp Posted March 9, 2016 Report Share Posted March 9, 2016 IIRC low CO2 levels and high light cause BBA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift Posted March 9, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2016 So upping my co2 should rid it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift Posted March 9, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2016 I did some spot treating with h2o2 tonight. I'll try giving it a good trim tomorrow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift Posted March 9, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2016 So I believe the root of my problem is too much light. I have the finnex 247 (which is essentially always on to some degree) and outputs a lot of light during the afternoon. Having a shallow thank doesn't help and unfortunately there is no ability to set the Max brightness in the automated mode. I may have to build a controller to do this... Or try and up my co2 and hopefully find a level to balance out the light and not affect shrimp breeding Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pokeshrimp Posted March 9, 2016 Report Share Posted March 9, 2016 You can add floaters to help block some light. Jen 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarah Posted March 9, 2016 Report Share Posted March 9, 2016 Is there a way to raise the height of the light a few inches? Are you dosing with ferts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pokeshrimp Posted March 9, 2016 Report Share Posted March 9, 2016 Is there a way to raise the height of the light a few inches? Are you dosing with ferts? I've seen people on TPT sell custom made risers for the finnexes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift Posted March 9, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2016 There was a few floaters of Salvinia Natans with the bag of shrimp i got last night.. i may throw them in hopefully they dont just clog my overflow! I also could add the glass top back on to block a bit more light? ..not as pretty but may help.I havent been dosing the past few weeks but i may start again and up co2 a bit.. was doing PPS pro method for a while. also have root tabs under my soil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlantDude Posted March 10, 2016 Report Share Posted March 10, 2016 You need fire to fully remove bba from a tank or else it's a constant battle on a thin line. Here are some things that didn't work for me: 1. Upped co2 to 3-4bps 2. More fertz 3. Black out method 4. Spot treating with h202 or excel 5. Kept raising light(my light was already 3-4" above the water before raising it more) Here are somethings that did help mitigate the issue: 1. Removed plants that were severely affected 2. Cut leaves that had bba 3. Cleaned substrate very well 4. Fully inspect plants I bought(I got bba after receiving some plants that already had it/rushing to put them in the tank before inspecting) I hope this helps you get rid of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift Posted March 11, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2016 Thanks for the detailed list. I'll Continue pruning it where possible and spot treat what I can cut off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pescador Posted March 11, 2016 Report Share Posted March 11, 2016 My experience is not just low C02 levels but the fluctuation from high to low. On my planted tank I was running my C02 Solenoid on a Timmer, on an hour before lights and off an hour before. I am using a cerge reactor so my drop checker was always green bordering on yellow while the lights were on. The BBA started taking off and I tried cutting back on light, ferts, etc. I read that spot treating with Excel helped so I tried it and yes treated areas would turn pink and die back for awhile. Somewhere I read about the C02 level fluctuating being the issue so I hooked up a PH Contoller and dialed it in so my C02 level and PH now remain constant. I purchased a few SAE's, real ones that actually eat BBA and slowly but surely the BBA has gone away. The hardest part of planted tanks is finding the balance of C02, Lighting and Ferts. People can point you in the right direction but ultimately you need to find what works best for you. In your case with a planted shrimp tank it is much harder as increasing C02 to kill the BBA as it could also adversely affect the shrimp. If you cut back on lighting then you need to cut back on ferts and before you know it your back to a low tech tank. I hope you can find the magical balance that works for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift Posted March 11, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2016 Well cutting back on lighting is the hard part. I can try adding more frets and toning down the co2 Maybe fluctuations in co2 is the cause? My drop checker never changes from dark green. I think the fluid in it is no good. Although I also have a lot of turbulent water/ waterfall action so I'm sure it's gassed off pretty quick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svetilda Posted March 11, 2016 Report Share Posted March 11, 2016 I don't think the problem is high light or it's not only/main problem. My goldfish tank is regular 20g kit with a led hood it came with. I think it's medium planted but with low light plants. Sometimes I'm getting BBA in this tank on leaves of anubias, crypts and echos. I'm trying to keep it down and sometimes the algae goes away on itsown. I really have no idea why and why it's coming back. But I know for sure that CO2 level is very low there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pokeshrimp Posted March 11, 2016 Report Share Posted March 11, 2016 Another thing you can try is tossing in some water sprite or another fast growing plant. In my experience healthy fast growing plants will out compete algae for nutrients. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift Posted March 12, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2016 True. My tank is all slow ish growers on purpose to make it low maintenance. (anibus, glosso and bjaxia (how ever you spell it ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift Posted March 19, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2016 On an unrelated question what will happen if I remove my co2? Will my tank go to hell or stay similar to it is with slower growth? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buceplant Posted March 29, 2016 Report Share Posted March 29, 2016 On 3/19/2016 at 0:48 AM, shift said: On an unrelated question what will happen if I remove my co2? Will my tank go to hell or stay similar to it is with slower growth? If you remove Co2, you should either lower your light intensity or raise the light higher up to increase the distance between the plants and the fixture. For one of my 12g long tanks, I was unable to raise the light or change intensity with my t5 fixture so I used a sheet of window mesh screen and attached it to the fixture to block out some intensity. This tank used to be plagued with hair algae but after covering the intensity with the window screen, I wouldnt be able to grow algae if I wanted to. The tank only has mini xmas moss, buce and dwarf hairgrass e. belem in it, everything has been growing very nicely for the past 6 months. I used to have Co2 in this tank but I stopped since adding CRS, still no algae after 3 months. The plants grow a little slower but everything is green and healthy with no signs of algae. I perform a 20% water change every month with RODI water remineralized with SS GH+. As for the BBA.. Spot treatment with Excel has worked for me. I use glutaraldehyde instead of Excel though since its more than double the concentration at a fraction of the price. During water changes, I take the affected plants/decorations out of the tank and drip glutaraldehyde onto the BBA with a syringe. The algae will turn light grey to almost white and die off. I then try to manually remove as much as possible which is easier when the algae dies. Be careful though because this can kill your plants; it turned my hair algae infested moss white. The moss bounces back pretty quickly though so I don't mind, as long as the algae dies. Once the algae is gone, I concentrate on preventing new growth and wait for the affected plants to make a come back. Goodluck, its an ongoing battle. You want to balance your lighting, Co2, and fertilizing to really prevent outbreaks. If you don't have ferts or Co2, you should be using minimal amount of light to grow the plants. More is not always better! svetilda 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crackhead Johny Posted March 31, 2016 Report Share Posted March 31, 2016 Ugh, this has popped up in my main tank again (came in on Petco Amazon sword) I pruned the small swords but it is now on the beast sword which is growing at an insane rate. even worse is it is now on the Madagascar lace. I moved the ammano shrimp out in prep for neos. Otos will not touch it. Will peroxide or salt water dips fix it? Digging out those big plants will make a real mess. In my Spec 3 I got rid of it by leaving the light off. This is a puffer tank and so is filthy. Still have other algae all over as puffer will kill or eat any algae control that tried to live in teh tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svetilda Posted March 31, 2016 Report Share Posted March 31, 2016 Maybe Excel? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buceplant Posted March 31, 2016 Report Share Posted March 31, 2016 Here is a picture of some BBA that turned white 3 days after I spot treated with Excel. It was very thick, black and bushy before but now its turned completely white and starting to disintegrate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crackhead Johny Posted April 1, 2016 Report Share Posted April 1, 2016 Well 12 hours later and the beard and hair algae is now turned gray. I'll see if it dies completely. If this does work, you may be able to kill it by soaking it in RO water. Basically I just filled up a new tank and plopped my big sword with the black beard in the middle and some moss and drift wood with hair at either end. Hopefully the palnt and moss do not die and the algae does. For SCIENCE! Soothing Shrimp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift Posted April 9, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2016 Would removing co2 have any big impact on my blyxa japonica? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crackhead Johny Posted April 9, 2016 Report Share Posted April 9, 2016 Well in the next few days everything began to lose color. BBA was dead and possibly the other plants to (Might have live root structure but leaves are fried). Be a shame to lose my 3' tall sword. I forgot that I got tired of waiting for the RO and went tap. Then the sand was unwashed. So toxic tanks kills everything including BBA, not a recommended method. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svetilda Posted April 9, 2016 Report Share Posted April 9, 2016 Tap water will not kill your plants (neither algae)! I don't know about sand but it's probably because the plants got stressed from moving to different conditions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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