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got BBA from adding plants/ferts, now adding co2

1159 Views 3 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  Laryl
I decided to add real plants then started seachem liquid fertilizers. Then I got new/more lights.. while planning on getting co2. It didn't take long for the BBA and even some hair algae to really get going strong... my fault for being so out of balance. I know why, too much light, too much fertilizer that wasn't being used and not enough co2.

What do you suggest since I'm starting co2 tomorrow? I believe I should try to remove algae covered leaves, wash it off the driftwood, right? I've read about using excel, or getting a SAE to help.
Reduce the hours of light, even the amount maybe (I have options)

I got and setup a co2 system today. I will get ferts and start EI but that's not happening immediately I don't think. I do have seachem liquid stuff.

How many hours a day should I run lights? Should I run my T5 plant bulb/s or just the lower light daylight led? I know limiting light should help but with the new co2, well don't I want lights on?

Details
...125 gal community tank, lightly planted (I know I should get more plants but money is an issue right now after buying the co2 setup)
...I had/have led daylight lights still sitting on top of the tank. I have a diy T5 pair of fixtures that are 3' long each, end to end. They have 2 blubs each in them.
...2 eheim 2075 canisters, one with a reactor for the co2
...I do weekly water changes, without fail.

I don't want the co2 levels bouncing around, so start running the co2 what 8 hours a day? How about the lights? Fertilizer? Should I use up the bottle or two of Excel that I have in the dose they say helps get rid of algae, while running co2? Yeah I'm a little confused and unsure. :help:
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At the moment your ferts are out of balance. Thos liquid ferts mostly just have the Micros unless you added a Potassium one in liquid which still leaves you short some.
Injected CO2 should be on about 3/4 hr before the light comes on till just before it goesoff to use it up as the plants don't after dark and it takes a little time to get it into the water up front. I use 7.5 hrs of light in both my tanks with different levels of light
in each. The one that has light right at the line beween low/med light has GSA on rocks
but not the glass(every two weeks before you need to clean the glass) and has just
under the amount of ferts recommended in the section "and I am dosing for" on the
calculator and select EI low light/weekly. But this tank has no Exel/CO2.
The other has a much healthier level of algae(yes I cultivate it) but also has high
lights. So I would stay at or just under 7 hrs/w your lights and use what you have in ferts till you get dry ones for EI and not go over 1BPS on CO2 till you have the EI ferts
in use for a week. A waste of time using more than recommended on the ferts you have as it's the missing ones that are stopping the growth. You may need to cut hrs
to 6 to keep out the algae but small amounts of it should be ignored till the EI is in place for a while. Minor amounts of it will disappear after the plants get growing well.
I use Excel @ 2x the recommended doses in the high light tank. It helps more with the GSA than the Hair algae.
Won't hurt to use it up. Bouncing the CO2 you don't want but using it in a reduced amount at first and then adding as the plants get growing well will just save your CO2.
BBA is a very tough issue. If you can without hurting the leaves yes I'd try to wipe it off of there and I'd boil the wood or pour
peroxide over it and then rinse completely before putting it back in the tank. The problem is the spores are still there.
Since I have never had it in my tanks I have only heard others talk about it so they may give you suggestions I don't know about.
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It didn't take long for the BBA and even some hair algae to really get going strong... my fault for being so out of balance. I know why, too much light, too much fertilizer that wasn't being used and not enough co2.
A fish will not solve the BBA problem for you, neither will adding CO2, or reducing lights and ferts. The stuff is found in every kind of setup, even in the petstore which uses very low light. The factors that promote BBA growth are still being debated and tested, the cause is not 100% known.

What do you suggest since I'm starting co2 tomorrow? I believe I should try to remove algae covered leaves, wash it off the driftwood, right? I've read about using excel, or getting a SAE to help.
Reduce the hours of light, even the amount maybe (I have options)
The best and most reliable approach to get rid of BBA is to use excel or gluteraldehyde (the same thing as excel) to spot treat it. Use a syringe and apply excel very slowly underwater to patches of BBA. Do not exceed the initial dose then you can do 3x the daily dose until it is all gone. Do not dose it into the water column and expect it to kill BBA quickly, it needs to be applied directly to the algae with a syringe underwater (taking objects out of the water also works but is inconvenient). The algae turns bright red the following day, this indicates it has died. It will take another week or two to decay away.

How many hours a day should I run lights? Should I run my T5 plant bulb/s or just the lower light daylight led? I know limiting light should help but with the new co2, well don't I want lights on?
I'd say 7-10 hours is the usual amount. If you have extremely bright lighting then closer to 7, if you have normal lights 8 or 9 hours, and if you have slightly dimmer lights then 10, very low lights up to 12. Can you give us more info on your lighting?

Hard to answer your other questions about which lights to use without knowing the wattage and T5HO or T5, type of LED etc.

I don't want the co2 levels bouncing around, so start running the co2 what 8 hours a day? How about the lights? Fertilizer? Should I use up the bottle or two of Excel that I have in the dose they say helps get rid of algae, while running co2?
I'd just keep the CO2 canister running 24/7, it doesn't hurt anything and it is less to worry about. If you have a solenoid and you just have to use it then set it to start 2 hours before lights on (to saturate the water), and turn off when lights go off, plants use CO2 in the daytime.

The brighter your lights and the more CO2 you add the more fertilizers you'll need to add. You must add all the necessary nutrients, macros & micros or your plants will develop deficiencies long term.

My advice is: don't worry too much about it right now. Just start dosing according to EI guidelines, add CO2, keep the lighting medium-high intensity and deal with problems as they come. Most plants recover from deficiencies within a week or two under these conditions so any mistakes you make are easy to fix.
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Some the same, some different opinions, keep them coming please :)
I KNOW fish or co2 or lights or ferts won't "solve" the algae problem, what I'm getting at is since I want to get *everything* in balance so the algae just can't compete, well do I just have to do everything right at once?
I just thought since I have so much bba, the SAE would enjoy it and keep it from taking over plants while I get things balanced.

I was adding Potassium for macro. As for growth my plants are all growing, especially that tiny sword that was a tiny petsmart thing and now is the size of a soccer ball and putting up a huge new leaf every day. The start of wisteria I got from a friend is spreading pretty thick, the anubias has new leaves that are shooting up. Some plant with red and green leaves, well it's taking off too. :)

The lights I can limit, experiment with etc. Aqueon daylight leds, 4' fixtures with 3 tubes each = merged now is 1 6' fixture with 6 tubes that I can run the left 3 or the right 3. It's what I had before the T5's. T5's are two ZooMed T5HO that were on clearance (flora sun) and two aqueon 6700k bulbs. I don't think I have enough plants to run all four bulbs so that brings a question, maybe run them all for just a few hours while the co2 is good in the morning and then just switch to the milder leds ... or just take out 2 bulbs until I have more plants and really need all that light.

Ok on the excel with a syringe, that's easy enough. But is there a preferred time of day to shoot the excel on the algae?
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