# BBA Out of control



## wonword (Apr 10, 2008)

Hello, my BBA is geting out of contol. I think its because im using 2 x 65 w PC 6700k bulbs and its too much light without CO2 and ferts. So im going to go back to a lowlight with my 6 T8's 3 feet above the tank. The BBA was growing on my java moss & ferns, swords anf glass and everything else. I notices in my nano thought with very little light, there is no BBA and the moss is growing better! Should I just cut the leaves and let the rest die off in low light?


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## bigstick120 (Mar 8, 2005)

What size tank? Your light means nothing to us if you dont tell us the size of the tank. You are correct BBA is most commonly cause by low CO2


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## inkslinger (Jan 1, 2005)

Shut every thing down even your lights for an 1 1/2 hr and spot treat it with H202 then kick everything back on .


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## Evil-Lynn (Apr 6, 2009)

Light has little to do with the spread of BBA. BBA grows slower with no light but still grows. Even with a week blackout you won't get rid of your BBA problem.

Nobody knows what causes BBA exactly, there are a lot of theories. One of them is fluctuating levels of CO2. Have you tried dosing Flourish Excel? Adding this periodically and as directed will kill most of your BBA, or at least it will keep it from taking over your tank.

A cheaper method would be applying hydrogen peroxide to the affected plant leafs. This kills the BBA within a few days. However if your BBA is out of control I don't recommend this since it won't do much when it comes killing free swimming BBA spores...

I recommend you do the following: remove decorations like rocks and what not. Soak them up in pure bleach for about 15 minutes. You rinse them well with water, then you let it dry outdoors for 24 to 36 hours to make sure the bleach evaporates well. Then you rinse them with water again. This will kill the BBA off most of your decorations. While you do this, treat your entire tank with Flourish Excel. This will provide your plants with CO2, and it will kill your BBA. When you see no traces of BBA in the tank, you can reintroduce rocks, etc. This combination of bleach and flourish it's what's worked the best for me. I hope it works for you if you decide to try it out.

You have to remember though, the more you let the BBA to get out of control, the harder it is to eradicate. If your CO2 levels are not stable and you use no external CO2 providers, then you will have to add Flourish Excell on regular basis. Either that or turn your tank Low Tech style...


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

I've had BBA issues twice and each time was from a different set of circumstances. You need to get it under control first.
First you need to prune infected plants ruthlessly, bleach dip any affected decorations - bogwood should be boiled and then scrape off any remaining BBA. Do not add any iron supplements and check your tap water for Fe. I had free iron in my tap water and added whole house filters (dirt/sediment and carbon) and filter down to 1 miron nominal. Keep PO4 levels to around 0.1ppm. Keep CO2 to around 30ppm and steady/level. Keep NO3 (nitrate) to at least 10ppm. Once the BBA is under control then go back to your regular fert regime.

BBA, IMO, is not caused by just one issue it is at least 2 parameters not being met. CO2 fluctutons and too low, high iron, low NO3, high PO4. Elevated PO4 just allows it to grow faster and better.

Also, as Bigstick mentioned: How big is your tank? Lighting levels doesnt seem to affect it too much althou we do not want to have intensity too high for this and many other reasons. Duration may be an issue.


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## inkslinger (Jan 1, 2005)

When Spot treating with H202 you need to shut your lights off . Or it will break down the the H202 I had a bad case of BBA and use a 32oz in 3 days and it clean every thing in mt tank wood,equipment, plants and gravel, By raising my CO2 and adding a HK pump I was able to keep it at bay. Here are a few places to check out.

http://www.gpodio.com/h2o2.asp
http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm
http://aquariumalgae.blogspot.com/
http://www.aquariaplants.com/alqaeproblems.htm


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## hiddenleaf (Mar 26, 2009)

yes a did have the same problem with the bba spreading in my tank. I dose flourish excel, reduce my light and do a lot of trimming with the affected plants (the plants are ok now and growing well again), i even discard my driftwood coz the bba took over it >.< and my tank is better now. As much as i want to do the bleaching and boiling the wood i rather not bring it back in my tank, and just let my plants keep growing and start rescaping it later.


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## Christian_rubilar (Jul 21, 2005)

Evil-Lynn said:


> Nobody knows what causes BBA exactly, there are a lot of theories. One of them is fluctuating levels of CO2...


Well, i disagree. If you take a look at the algae finder, if you have the left picture one, then you overdozed with iron. This usually happend when you use too much csm+b.
But esencially, BBA means nothing because there are several algae that are called BBA and the solutions are different in each case.
Take a look at this thread:
http://www.drpez.net/panel/showthread.php?t=154436
It is in spanish, go down until you find the algae pictures and try to identify the algae you have. There you will find the why this algae appears (which imbalance is envolved) and how th fix it.
You can use google language tools to translate the protocol you need.


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## wonword (Apr 10, 2008)

Thanks for all the info you guys, ill give some of these a try. I just reduced my lighting to a low light setup and will begine trimming and dipping. The tank is a 55g btw.
Thanks,
John


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