A word about BBA

[they call me bruce]

Hi everyone just thought Id share an experience i had with the dreaded BBA
fighting it is not a problem with me I just overdose with excell and its done in a few days.
But a word on how i got it This tank is a 45 corner tank with 96 watts of t5 Ho on for 11 hours a day--its been running clean for 18 months before the BBA showed up-{I also pump co2 and pherts as well}
When folks here tell u to change your bulbs every year -DO IT thats way that stuff shows up I never cut light to fight it or time length just put new bulbs in and you wont believe the difference--but dont do it all at once ethier that can make things unstable as well if you have four bulbs just change 2 for a month -then the other two. keep pump in the co2 and pherts.
Oh fast growing plants will help for a while too like wisteria for sucking up excess nutrients. Hope this helps Bruce

[dmagerl]

When you say "overdose excel", what dosage is that?

[fplata]

I am wondering the same on the excel

[Higher Thinking]

Originally Posted by dmagerl

When you say "overdose excel", what dosage is that?

Originally Posted by fplata

I am wondering the same on the excel

Use hydrogen peroxide instead. It has the same effect and it is SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper. Start with about 2ml per gallon of tank water. Altho I have to assume there is a point when this formula is not beneficial like using 100 ml for one spot in a fifty gal. You should be using a ml or 2 on each affected area.

[fplata]

So you do not dose it to the water column, but rather directly to the affected area? Also when you are talking about hydrogen peroxide, you are referring to a 3% solution correct?

[they call me bruce]

if you want to ude a syringe take off the needle and throw it away then use straight h2o2 on the effected areas with the filter off and any power heads so there is no water movement keep squiting it on under water and leave the tank alone for 1 half an hour then start it up again your bba will turn red in a few days then disolve.
If you want to treat the water collum use 3 times the normal dosage of excel for three days and it will be dead-NOTE: some plants dont take kindley to it like ricca and vals--but the vals will grow back in short order.

[Monster Fish]

Originally Posted by fplata

So you do not dose it to the water column, but rather directly to the affected area? Also when you are talking about hydrogen peroxide, you are referring to a 3% solution correct?

You could dose the water column if most of your plants are covered in bba. But in most cases, spot dosing with your filtration/flow off for a few minutes will work.

Yes, it's the 3% solution commonly found in pharmacies and such.

[they call me bruce]

yes full strength h202 is 3%

[fplata]

Thank you for the great posts

[Canuck]

I'm happy Bruce had success with his lights. IME, I've never replaced a light before it failed (blew), usually in the 1.5 year to 2.5 year range. No BBA problems, no algae problems at all. This experience is consistent with a 20 gallon High (55 watt pc, ahsupply), 50 gallon (72 watt pc, ahsupply) and (10 gallon 26 watt, 2 13 cfls). I haven't used linear t5HO but pc lights are really nothing but linears folded in half.

[Jegli09]

Good to hear that you got rid of it!

[Complexity]

I just recently replaced my lights, some of which were 5 years old. No BBA problems due to old lights. But I've heard people make the claim before.

[they call me bruce]

when i replaced the 2 of the 4 the difference in brightness was amazing the 2 old ones look like they where on a dimmer --and the plants are responding with more vigorous groe within one week!!