Still Constant Algae Issues

[techen]

Would a blackout help me? I have issues too, dosing more ferts now.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Black outs are really for BGA.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Really? I don't have any BGA, just BBA and I was all set to start a blackout on Monday. Hmm.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

BBA is caused by CO2 fluctuations, like WC's with lights on etc or dodgy levels if injecting, best way to rid it is over dosing liquid carbon.

 

[This Old Spouse]

I've changed my ways recently, like W/Cs with lights off, reducing the lighting, etc. The good news is that there's no new BBA, but what was already there is stubbornly hanging on. I've pulled off lots of leaves that were smothered with the stuff, but if I pull off any more I won't have any plants left. 

 

[techen]

Ah well, Am going to keep double dosing my ferts. Added a new powerhead today and it makes all my plants sway too. Sorted.

 

[Zikofski]

hmm okay that screwed me over to i was gona do it for the BBA as i dont have BGA anymore as i scrubbed and removed it easily , took out my wood today and cleaned most of the algae off, i also cut most leafs of my plants again that where affected and did my drying of the leafs, in fact i noticed that if the leaf was dry but under your LED lights being dry that killed the algae rather than just drying them off maybe your lights have an impact on the algae that is dry? no idea but ye most is now red in the the tank i have also re arranged my pipe's more central but still on the left made them lower down both out puts together and central and they push out further so maybe this will help the flow around the tank i shall also when i have time try to pinch the ends as i did a few tests and it increased the pressure of the water coming out making it go further need a more permanent solution to that if all else fails in the next few weeks i shall buy some liquid carbon and dose that to get rid of the bba fingers crossed i dont haft to go down that route


i have also took my cave out as that was causing to many problems with poop and dead plants being left inside and i cant get to them may be a cause to the algae not sure tho i also bought some more fish today woop woop

 

[snazy]

Just curious, but which one of the BBA did you guys and girls have? There are some different Rodophytas species I think.
 
I had once the one that coats the surface of the leaves making them appear black, but not fluffy. The ottos eat it and I am not talking about brown diatoms. I am talking black and in patches or even full coating of the leaf jet black like charcoal. This one is fairly easy to get rid of, first if you have ottos, second if you don't get too lazy with the water changes over the summer and remember to turn off the tank lights from time to time. CO2 related I guess and possibly organics, however nitrAte was at 0. I suspect I had high phosphates because a few days of nitrAte dosing induced GSA. And normally when dosing only nitrAtes, phosphates get consumed faster, leading to a 0 level eventually which can cause GSA. So I replaced one algae with the other. I couldn't balance the N and P with my dosing for the life of me and GSA flourished for months but when I stopped both for a while the GSA went away, still not dosing for now but the tank is fairly well fed and well stocked so plenty of nitrates and phosphates should be there.
 
Then the tank developed a different Rodophytas species(Lemanea) that grows on the edges of the leaves fluffy and black, which I think is the BBA most refer to. This one is a pain in the h**e. I am almost done with it but I haven't gathered my thoughts yet what the issue was because I actually reduced the flow in the tank when trying to fight it. It grew exactly where a powerhead was blowing but I think it wasn't the flow, but the mechanical damage to the leaves. I stopped iron dosing after I read somewhere overdose can trigger it. In my case double dose of Excel did not make a difference and spot dosing melted my anubias although the crinum was unaffected, so was the BBA. I cut whatever leaves I could and now I see it has become like an old man's head, kind of losing fluffiness

And some hungry platies are pulling off the left overs

 
I think another issue in both cases of BBA in my case could be my hard water affecting the available CO2 to the plants, or causing different levels of availability. I think the harder the water, the less consumable CO2 but I'll try to see where I stand once I measure the Kh, Gh and calcium of the water and I suspect more calcium than magnesium too, running out of magnesium in the tank due to the issue with my floating plants as well dying on me in all tanks. Also I read that the calcium/magnesium ratio could cause an issue with BBA species.  Some stones used as hardscape maybe affecting this too especially marble stones. I won't do the RO water route though, way too much water needed for this tank...
 
So good luck. I rambled my bit

 

[snazy]

So these are the two BBA I had:
 

 
And:
 

 
 
And these two are different BBA species apparently:
 

 

 

[This Old Spouse]

Hmm. The third photo doesn't look like BBA at all. I have what you had. These are photos of it at its worst:
 

 

 

 

[snazy]

That's a lot of algae by the way. Very nice pictures actually I caught mine early enough so it didn't spread that much.
What did you figure was the problem coming from?
 
Edit: Picture 3 is some Rodophytas species as well. It isn't called black beard algae I suppose but not sure what it's called then. It looks like the one Zikofski has judging by the pictures.

 

[This Old Spouse]

I think I have/had every kind of algae there is. Now I've got some hair algae. 

 

[snazy]

Do you dose any ferts? Is there a CO2 supply?

 

[This Old Spouse]

I do dose Flourish but no CO2 until I can afford the setup.

 

[snazy]

Maybe you can get liquid carbon in the mean time. It isn't more expensive than the ferts themselves.