[hockey9999]

It is mainly on the C. Parva in the foreground..

The tank is a Fluval Ebi with co2 and 2 Fluval 13w fixtures on an 8 hour photoperiod.

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[taniner]

It's probably BBA.


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=21.375036,-157.911528

 

[hockey9999]

Any suggestions for getting rid of it or what is causing it in the first place?

 

[hbosman]

Carefully and slowly increase CO2, reduce lighting and provide sufficient ferts. Do a search on this forum as well as others, for BBA and you will find more detailed explanation on a safe way to increase CO2 without killing your fish.

 

[shane3fan]

In my tank, BBA was purely due to too much light. I reduced the intensity of my lighting and changed nothing else--BBA gone.

 

[hockey9999]

Should I cut the light intensity, i.e go from 2 light fixtures to 1, cut the photoperiod, or both?

I should have given more info on the tank as well..

The co2 goes on/off with the lights. I haven't been keeping up with the ferts lately either. When I was dosing the full line of Seachem ferts, I had a problem with both gda on the glass and what I am currently seeing now. After giving up on ferts, gda is gone but this brown stuff on the c.parva wont go away and comes back after removing as much of it as I can find.

Perhaps when I was dosing ferts, I was giving too much or not enough?

Thanks for the help!

 

[hbosman]

Should I cut the light intensity, i.e go from 2 light fixtures to 1, cut the photoperiod, or both?

I should have given more info on the tank as well..

The co2 goes on/off with the lights. I haven't been keeping up with the ferts lately either. When I was dosing the full line of Seachem ferts, I had a problem with both gda on the glass and what I am currently seeing now. After giving up on ferts, gda is gone but this brown stuff on the c.parva wont go away and comes back after removing as much of it as I can find.

Perhaps when I was dosing ferts, I was giving too much or not enough?

Thanks for the help!

Decreasing ferts really doesn't help algae issues. Any algae can survive on the most minimal ferts so all you would be doing is weakening your plants. Try putting your CO2 on a separate timer and start it an hour earlier than the lights. I think a 8 hour photo period is fine. I would try increasing CO2 slowly. Your lighting isn't that high so, I would leave that alone for now and work on ferts and CO2. Crypt Parva is a slow grower so, it will be tough to keep algae from growing on it. You could find a way to shade the Crypt Parva slightly, maybe with slightly taller faster growing plants.

 

[Ghostofct]

Siamese algae eaters worked for me when I had this type of algae.

 

[taniner]

Get some nerites.... They do an awesome job. Plus they don't breed in freshwater too.

 

[bsmith]

Don't get a SAE, they may eat the BBA for a day or two but once they taste fish food they get spoiled. Plus they are just an ignorant fish.

In my experience with BBA it has ALWAYS been caused by low/fluctuating co2 levels. You should have your co2 turn on 1-2 hours before the lights go on so you have adequate levels when the lights go on.

How are you measuring co2 levels? A drop checker is a good indicator but it is still a crude method because even the best/fastest reacting DC is still 1-2 hours behind actual tank co2 levels. I don't know if you have any fauna in the tank but the best way to find your co2 level threshold is to slowly increase the bubble count and watch your animals. Keep increasing the amount until you see stress from them and then back it down a notch. It really is the only way IMO.

Again, IME simply cranking up the gas has not resulted in the BBA going away. It stopped growing but didn't die. What I always did was spot treatments with excel every day for 2-3 days. I took an Insulin syringe and dosed 2x's whatever the directions called for and sprayed it directly on the affected areas. You must turn off your filter/any circulation device before treating and leave them off for 1-2 hours afterward. After a day or two the BBA will start turning colors (pink/blue/purple/red) but it isn't dead til it is white, bleached looking. You can then manually remove it and this is the only time I have seen ANY shrimp/snail/fish even tough it.