So I have been running 2x54w T5HO for about a 16 Months. And Recently, or since I started leaving my co2 running 24/7, I've had a bad BBA issue, that i cant get over.
I've went 12 hours of light, to 8 eight, to 6 hours, now last night I treated all the BBA again, and lowered to 5 hours.
Can anyone tell me if I can still get BBA at 5 hours of light? Or could it be possible its my 10k bulbs? Or do I need turn it down more. I cant afford a new solenoid as this time. Im sure its a co2 issue. But the drop checker is always green, but it gets lighter and lighter until i do my weekly water-change. So I'm sure its not consistent co2. Until i can get a new solenoid, which will be a few weeks. I need to control this algae. I dont really have any plants that require High light, most are moderate light, but they are not growing that good, because of the algae issue. Any more suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I think I have tried just about everything. Black-out, H202, excel, that is just temporally fixing the issue.
You're most likely correct that it's a CO2 issue. You didn't mention what size tank you have so it's possible you could also have too much light for the plants if they're all moderate to low light plants. If that's the case, I think you'd benefit more from increasing the distance between your tank and the lights or screening the lights to cut down on the intensity instead of just lowering the photoperiod. Ten hours with good CO2 would be fine.
Remove as much of the BBA as you can and daily if you have to. But mostly you need to work on a consistent adequate level of CO2. Try tweaking it gradually over the course of a few days. If the fish begin to act stressed then back off some. Keep a good surface ripple and good circulation in the tank. The dropchecker is good for a ballpark idea but the fish, plants and algae are your best indicators. Since your plants aren't doing well and the BBA is then it indicates your CO2 isn't where it should be.
Thank you! I received an PM from someone telling me to raise the lights too, but thats not an option because of my canopy. Personally I would trash the canopy, but the other half likes it....
The problem with the co2 is that if I crank it up, it starts to gas the fish out in a couple of days. But its still green. Being that I cant turn it up anymore, or raise the light. Do you think a small Photo period is sufficient till i can get a new solenoid.
Again my Question is what solenoid has to do with inconsistency of your co2?
I don't use solenoid with co2 in some of my tank..still runs fine....once you get the optimum level of co2 which is rather measured by drop checker and pearling few hours after lights kick in.....
Why not go 3 days black out and see the result....instead of giving 15 hours of light in total....
Ya, I think it was one of your posts that I read the urged me not to purchase a new solenoid. Then I started having these issues. Here is the link to my thread.
Mate! Firstly I ain't there in that link you send...2nd I don't tell no one what to buy or not!
Again I don't understand why you are focusing more in solenoid instead of root cause?
Solenoid has nothing to do anything with planted tank exceptt it works as a timer for co2 tank....which you hook up with timer and set how many hours you want to run co2 in your tank.....co2 24/7 is not needed according to some Planted tank Gurus, however flowing co2 won't hurt any plant/s. but you will end up 6 months supply in 3 months.....
I have no secret! I just do what others do..but strictly follow weekly fert, Wc,trimming and so on... tho' beside what I do is say I have 20 gal tank....so I dose H2o2 20 ml in 6 days....w/c is 1ml per gal...just not to take chance....I don't turn off the light neither light...just pour says 2ml- 1st day, 5ml-2nd day and so on till 20 ml in 6 days time directly where outflow is....
I am assuming that you are doing EI method.....
So start today! all over and see what happens....but for the mean time I will dose 2 ml/gal since the plants are suffering.....
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