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Hi guys,
Thought I would share my experiences with BBA over the past few months. I got a bad outbreak of BBA when my pressurised co2 failed for a week. Put trimmed the infected plants, dosed h202 directly over hardscape and put co2 back to 30ppm... still noticed new growth of BBA albeit slower than before. So turned towards increasing my circulation. This made a real difference..algae growth stopped completely..However, my tetras and endlers didn't like the added circulation or so i feel
So as an experiment, I turned off the powerhead and now BBA's back. So me thinkin, how do i keep that high water movement and at the same time, keep the fishes happy
What are your experiences with BBA?
For info: I've got 6 times the turnover for my aquarium from the filters at the moment. I can get it to 10times/hr with the extra powerhead.

hi aditya

aquascapist wrote: What are your experiences with BBA?

as far as i know low CO2 and excess micro fetrz cause bba. i had an outbreak a year back. my CO2 was fine, so i reduced my microfertz...eventually i reduced micro to zero.
plants are doing still fine and bba are almost gone. i suppose, that delhi water carries enough micro fertz already, so no need to add them.
at least in my tanks it works.

aquascapist wrote:I can get it to 10times/hr with the extra powerhead.

do you want to create an niagara falls-biotope?

@wojtek lol it does feel like a mini tsunami goin on in there. hmm i never took micro fertz into picture. im dosing with flourish and i do dose a lot...Ill try a week without it and see how it goes...gonna stick to macros only.

Would you call yourself a patient man ? If no, you can try everything under the sun, the algae in all probability will not go.

However, if you have 3 months to spare, here is what you need to do :

1. Select the correct mix of plants - slow growers, rapid growers, nutrient suckers etc etc.
2. Continue circulation in the tank. Plants cannot reach out for nutrients, we will have to give them their food.
3. There is absolutely no need for ferts in the initial stages - the water has enough nutrients to begin with.
4. If you have an RO system at home, try and put 8-10 ltrs of RO water every time you change water in the tank.
5. Dont do massive water changes, planted tanks do not require them.
6. Clean and scrape off as much BBA you can.
7. Use Seachem Excel or Glut (careful with this one !!) once or twice a week.
8. Focus you attention on plant growth, not on the algae.

After 3 months, your plants would have settled in and overcome the algae.

Hi guys, how about algicide?

@sai I would never advise using algicides...they'll do more harm to plants and possibly fishes.
edit: But these are only my assumptions.. Someone might have been successful with them in planted tanks.

@apuda that is well put concise information on algae control. and something we at times forget "to focus on growing plants and not on controlling algae"

apuda2010 wrote: After 3 months, your plants would have settled in and overcome the algae.

Oh my plants have already settled in..They are growing great and algae free..BBA tends to grow on my driftwood and on older leaves of anubias

If BBA is hitting the anubias, the plants have not settled in. Get some Otos. They will wipe the driftwood clean.

aquascapist wrote:..BBA tends to grow on my driftwood and on older leaves of anubias

When low light plants such as Anubias keeps under high light, they get infested by algae. So change their position, and keep under shade of other plants.