Qu. blackbeard algae & CO2 injection

[Neonlights]

I currently run my nano tank on two periods of lighting/co2 in a day. I’ve got about 60 bubbles per minute (1 per second) but the indicator liquid is blue (showing not enough). It’s usually green at this rate.

I’ve had a terrible infestation of blackbeard algae for the past 18 months and have tried doing a few days without artificial light, without co2, cut back on feeding/stopped feeding for a couple days, nothing helps.

Would I better doing a solid 6hr co2/lights (staggered) rather than 1x2hr and 1x4hr split?

 

[anewbie]

I'm not sure that lighting impact bba; I think it is usually associated with imbalance. 2 of my blackwater aquariums developed massive amount of bba but after a year or so it suddenly died (making a huge mess) but hasn't returned upon death.

I would say that when i ran co2 i was more prone to bba (esp since i did not focus on fertlizing schedule as some of the more dedicated users); also i find soft water more prone to bba then hard water but i'm not sure why.

Until blackwater (i have approx 16 or 17 tanks that are pure ro water); it always took co2 to cause large amounts of bba. In any event i would read up on correct fertilizer dosing with co2 (including micro elements) and see if a more rigorous schedule helps. I did find two fishes that lavish eating bba but neither are going to be suitable for a very small aquarium. One was Siamese algae eaters (sometime mixed up with flying foxes that won't touch the stuff - worse there are three species of closely related fishes sold under the common name Siamese algae eater of which only one lavish bba); the other is panda gara which likes a nice group of 6 or so - so they can spend the day fighting with each other.

 

[Neonlights]

I'm not sure that lighting impact bba; I think it is usually associated with imbalance. 2 of my blackwater aquariums developed massive amount of bba but after a year or so it suddenly died (making a huge mess) but hasn't returned upon death.

I would say that when i ran co2 i was more prone to bba (esp since i did not focus on fertlizing schedule as some of the more dedicated users); also i find soft water more prone to bba then hard water but i'm not sure why.

Until blackwater (i have approx 16 or 17 tanks that are pure ro water); it always took co2 to cause large amounts of bba. In any event i would read up on correct fertilizer dosing with co2 (including micro elements) and see if a more rigorous schedule helps. I did find two fishes that lavish eating bba but neither are going to be suitable for a very small aquarium. One was Siamese algae eaters (sometime mixed up with flying foxes that won't touch the stuff - worse there are three species of closely related fishes sold under the common name Siamese algae eater of which only one lavish bba); the other is panda gara which likes a nice group of 6 or so - so they can spend the day fighting with each other.

Thanks for sharing your experience. With each water change I fertilize with API’s Leaf Zone and I add Seachem’s Stability. It would be ironic if the CO2 I’m adding to encourage plant growth is just fueling the bba.

The plants I have aren’t particularly fast growing. I don’t know the species names but I’ll post a photo of the aquarium later.

 

[anewbie]

If the plants in question don't need co2 i'd stop using it but again it depends on the species. Of course it will take a year for the aquarium to fall back into balance.