# bba problem



## fishdude1984 (Feb 17, 2005)

what couses BBA and what is the best way to get rid of it?


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## Simpte 27 (Jul 16, 2004)

Poor co2 levels causes bba and they best way to get rid of it is to prune infected leaves, bleach equipment, and crank up the CO2.


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## jsenske (Mar 15, 2004)

Nerite snails will eat it up pretty good too. Especially if it is not really out of control yet.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

SAE's will also eat the stuff. But as Simpte said, crank up that CO2.


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## fishdude1984 (Feb 17, 2005)

crank up the co2 huh, ok, i did keep SAEs in the tank but they where attacking my cardnal tetras, Nerite snails? where do i get them, i keep hearing good stuff about them but cant find them in my LFS, any online places you folks know of?


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

fishdude1984 said:


> crank up the co2 huh, ok, i did keep SAEs in the tank but they where attacking my cardnal tetras, Nerite snails? where do i get them, i keep hearing good stuff about them but cant find them in my LFS, any online places you folks know of?


Try here... http://www.azgardens.com/pond_snails.php


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## fishdude1984 (Feb 17, 2005)

sweet, i should have looked there, they are a great place to do bussnes with


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

i bought 48 olive nerite snails that were reputed to eat bba like lawnmowers. they did not touch the stuff at all to the best of my knowledge. actually quite disappointing for 80$ shipped >.<

i had a particularly nasty time with bba due to new water conditions in college. but even though i raised my co2 levels to 300ppm (yes this is for sure) i did not see bba dying off as people have said. rather i found that keeping your nutrient levels EXACTLY the same for all values has been the key to killing it off. do not let your nitrates drop from 15 to 5 and then dose again, or po4 from 2 to 1ppm. keep them the same and add adequate traces and you should see a marked decrease in new sprouts. 

the key to stopping the spread of this algae is keeping your values the same, usually it is hardest to keep co2 the same especially with DIY.

you probably will not be able to salvage the infested leaves of the plants, so just leave them on until the infestation has stopped spreading or take them off if you think it is best.

seriously all the best friend, this algae has been a terrible plague to me for some time and i am just glad it is over now.


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## sllo (Sep 29, 2004)

Zapins said:


> i raised my co2 levels to 300ppm (yes this is for sure)


Do you have any fish in the tank? If you really have 300ppm no fish would be alive.
My Ph is 5.7 and Kh 4 this results to 230ppm of CO2, however the fish are not stressed at all. When my PH was around 6.6 Kh 4 I had BBA and hair algae. I dropped the Ph to 6.0. BBA and tread algae stopped growing. I manually removed it and it has never come back. However GSA appeared. I increased PO4 to 4ppm, it would go away. I increased CO2 dosage dropped the Ph at 5.6 and the fish started gassping for air. I then kept PH to 5.7 and it GSA disappeared. 
If BBA thrives then CO2 levels are low. Increase CO2 slowlly and watch the fish.


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## Aquaspot (Jan 19, 2006)

Cranking up the CO2 will stop more BBA from coming. But you will still have to do manual removal of the existing BBA.


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## plantbrain (Jan 23, 2004)

trenac said:


> Try here... http://www.azgardens.com/pond_snails.php


I'll be a monkey's uncle if they eat BBA.

I had 30 in a 20 gal test tank, they did not even put a dent in actively growing BBA.

Took them out, added more CO2, pruned etc, BBA never came back. 
SAE's will have a much better impact on BBA as far as a critter.
They have a long history attacking BBA.

Olives are worthless, I've had 100's of them. I've given the remainder to local club.

The African zebra nerites, they may do a great job, but the olives are , while a nice looking snail, poor as a herbivore even at high densities form everything I tried with them.

You ansd your plants will do much better when you address the root cause rather than look for band aids. Herbivores effects are generally sublte when it comes to algae control.

They are most useful at prevention of new outbreaks, rather than existing ones.

Even there is some debate about that.

Regards, 
Tom Barr

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## Erirku (Oct 5, 2004)

I have to really agree with Tom on this! Algae is a big nusiance, so what is the first thing that pops into mind? Something that will drastically get rid of it, as fast as it came! The problem with what we deal with in our natural and man-made habitat, is natural in all cases! All newly setup tanks or even a slight change in this enclosed habitat, and BOOM "alage". AAAAGGGGGHHHHH!!!! If you saw my nano thread, that tank was full of mad BBA and stag in that tank. After a couple of months, it disappeared. It took some time, but now it has really evolved into one of my favorites. It may not be the best envisioned aquascape, but I love it!
It all has to do with science, in dosing and finding a theorhetical solution behind dosing. All the dosing of macros and micros must be balanced out. If one is out of balance, a slight bloom of algae may occur or even worse, a nightmare in aquascapeville! I hope, all who read this, never gives up on what you started. Good luck, Eric .


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## Zebrapl3co (Aug 3, 2005)

Nope, nerite does very little in combating BBA. I have the zigzag pattern nerite. The Red union nerite, and the smaller ones with the horns. None did the trick. But they are great for cleaning up your glass though. I never have to wipe my tank.
As for SAE, they are only good for a few months when they where 1". After they hit 2" they are more interested in fish food, and they completely ignore all forms of algae when they hit 4"+.
The best way is to remove them by hand, and balancing your nutrients along with frequent water changes.


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## jerseyjay (Jan 25, 2004)

plantbrain said:


> Olives are worthless, I've had 100's of them. I've given the remainder to local club.


Tom,

I have to disagree with you here since myself and many other reported nothing but positive feedback about olive nerite snails and to say that they are "worthless" is simply incorrect. Maybe you went through some lazy batch but that is certainly not the case in my tank.

I wish I photographed entire progress. 40 snails were introduced to my 75G tank and every single "smaller" / "not heavily infected" BBA spot was cleaned within days. Was it CO2 / nutrients / fish / manual removal, no. Snails went after some spot algae on anubias leaves and later started working on BBA. I will not even mention "glass algae". I will chose olive snails any day over SAE when it comes to "BBA".

Of course BBA should be addressed in different matter - CO2 / nutrients balance but if I can have snail which can cover many areas, I would buy them in a heartbeat.


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## markstr (Feb 23, 2004)

Big Question you guys on this subject.

I just stripped my tank and am Bleaching everything hoses, Rocks etc..
Now, 
I have an Ehiem #2028 filter.. I took out the Effimech and bleached
all the trays and insides of the filter but, I have not as of yet done anything
to the Effimech/Effisubstrate materials. I have a Feeling that if I bleach them that everything Biologically will be history.. But then on the other hand
are there not Spores still present within it???? Suggestions???
I did replace the primary and secondary (Blue/white color respecfully) filters.
I don't want to start this filter back up until I get some suggestions on this..
I do know that within the Substrate (Eco.) that there is established Biological activity so I'm assuming that If I kill off whats in the Media that it will reconstitute. Is this a Fair assumption??? I also thought about just running
hot water over the Effi.. The Tank is in it's 6 month of operation...
I started off wrong with this. Very High Lights and low CO2 and ferts not in check. Later, I got it more balanced but the BBA is so present that I just thought I would break it down and Clean everything up.. ( 5 WPG +)......
Pressurized CO2, External Reactor..


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