Bba Growth

[K_Hedin]

Hello all,

I have a 55G US aquarium. I am currently having a problem with BBA. After not doing water changes for a month and a half it still hadn't gone away and my plants started suffering from not getting more nutrients in the water. I did a water change last week and turned my air stones on to create more flow. Looked closely at one of my plants today and the BBA was out of control on it. Turned the air stones off. Still need to conquer this BBA problem though. Attached are a few pictures of the tank.

I would love to dose with Flourish Excel but my budget is very tight right now and I can't afford the small extras. Is there another way to combat this? I have tried pruning the plants back in the past and then I just ended up having to regrow everything.

Forgot to add the tank details. 35W T8 bulb on 8 hours a day. Usually gets some direct sunlight for about an hour in the late afternoon. HOB filter doing 300 gallons/hour. Not dosing anything at this time. Ammonia/Nitrites/Nitrates all 0 according to my test. I can only think that the nitrates come up 0 because the tank is planted and my tank is not that heavily populated. Although the cause of algae is light and ammonia so I am kind of confused by that. Stocking is 8 Sunset Platies, 2 Sailfin Mollies, 2 Black Mollies, 1 Columbian Shark, 1 Tire Track Eel, 1 Swordfish, 1 Guppy, 6 Peppered Cories, and 5 Black Skirt Tetras.

If you want to name any of the plants you see as well that would be cool.

Thanks.

The first 3 are of the BBA affected plant and side of the tank. The last two are just reference of the rest of the tank.

 

[K_Hedin]

bump

 

[lljdma06]

Hi, looks like you have Hygrophila difformis (1st two pictures). The red plante is a nymphaea species (lotus), you've also got hornwort, and limnophila species (ambulia)

As for your BBA problem.

You sure you got BBA? Can you get a close-up of the algae? I can't see BBA on the leaves, but it may be a bad picture.

Hi, by the way.

llj

 

[K_Hedin]

Hey llj,

Hopefully one of these new pictures will help. The digital camera I am using is not the best. The algae on the leaves is black and bushy though. It is kind of thick and has hairs coming off of it.

I will see if I can get one to actually focus.

 

[K_Hedin]

Think I got it.

 

[lljdma06]

How is the flow where the wisteria is?

 

[K_Hedin]

That corner is actually dead. The HOB filter is on the other side of the tank. I would like to get a second filter to run on the left side but once again those darn money constraints.

 

[lljdma06]

That corner is actually dead. The HOB filter is on the other side of the tank. I would like to get a second filter to run on the left side but once again those darn money constraints.

In my humble opinion, that's what it is. What kind of filter you looking for? An HOB? I've got some used filters. I could perhaps send you one. I'm in the process of switching to more Marine systems so I don't need HOBs like I used to.

llj

 

[K_Hedin]

So the corner needs flow but when I had an air stone on the problem got worse. Is that because there was too much flow? The filter on the tank currently is an aqua-tech 30-60 gallon power filter. It filters 330GPH. So that is 6x turnover and I know you usually want about 10. I do keep the water level pretty high so that the output from the filter only pushes water on the surface though. The output doesn't cascade down into the water at all.

On a side note I am now noticing some BBA in the 10G tank as well. It is growing on the wisteria as well but in the 10G the wisteria is in the front of the tank on the same side as the filter. I keep that tanks water level very high as well.

Don't know that beggars can be choosers when offered equipment. If more flow is the solution then I guess what I can get is what I get.

 

[lljdma06]

Do you dose the tank at all? I'm really trying to think about what's wrong... I had wisteria once and it did the same thing.

llj

 

[K_Hedin]

Right now the tank is not being dosed with anything. I scrub what I can off and I scrub the walls every time I do a water change. Perhaps I should do this during the water change instead of afterwards?

 

[K_Hedin]

Went and got a free 10G tank on craigslist last night. It has a Chinese Algae Eater in it. What do you think about me putting that in my 55 to help or do they not go after BBA?

 

[lljdma06]

Went and got a free 10G tank on craigslist last night. It has a Chinese Algae Eater in it. What do you think about me putting that in my 55 to help or do they not go after BBA?

It won't touch the bba, and it's a pain in the rear as a fish. Hahaha, you need a free filter from Craiglist.

 

[K_Hedin]

Working on it finding one. Wish the 10G would have had a ridiculously huge one on it but nope, just your standard HOB 10G filter. Oh well. Maybe another few months of searching.

The 10G has turned in a rescue though. These people put a CAE, Silver Dollar, Columbian Shark, and some mollies in it. Just crazy.