Battling BGA and BBA at The Same Time?

I had success killing BGA using Maracyn (followed dosage instruction that came with it). It would kill beneficial bacteria but not all.

 

Hi,

I am/was fighting the same, and blackouts don't help against BBA. I did 3 blackouts this month myself, and BBA is still there, as well as the rest of my plants. Just a few took a slight beating like Potamogeton wrightii, but P helferi doesnt show any damage at all. You are sure you are continuing dosing and CO2 the entire blackout?

BGA is entirely gone for now. Make sure you clean gravel and filters and do WC afterwards a blackout.

Good luck, Koen.

 

Water circulation is key

Hi Steven,
Try addressing the cause of your problems, dead/dying plant material and poor circulation (dead spots) and give it some time. Take out infested plants. You might need to keep replacing plants and adding plants until this turns around for you. I had to. Remove hard scape, wood, etc., to treat BBA. Short cuts remind me of a mountain path. Once, instead of staying on the path, I kept going off the trail to head down the mountain. It worked a couple of times but I overshot the trail eventually and had to walk back up the mountain to get back on the path taking me home. http://www.barrreport.com/showthread.php/7155-Help-with-CO2-Efficiency

You might still have a lot more light then you need. If the lights can be run independently try running only one light at a time with more or less a 4 hour overlap instead of a blackout. Here is a resent lighting question with links to a few of Vaughn's studies on lighting that should help you balance your demand for CO2, with appropriate lighting, http://www.barrreport.com/showthread.php?t=7266 If I am reading it right, one T5HO (2xT5NO) is considered mid-light. You can always increase the amount of light when you are satisfied that your CO2 levels are consistent, your water is circulating properly and your dissolved oxygen levels remain high with proper surface ripple. Low O2 levels are what you are bumping up against, I fear, in your attempt to increase your levels of CO2.

I notice your powerhead is close to the surface. That's fine, if it is drawing water from lower down in the tank. The way it is now might not improve the amount of DO in your water. Can it be fitted with something to draw water in from near the substrate? If not, place the powerhead closer to the substrate and run a line from the output to the surface to create more surface ripple.Not a bad picture really. After all is said a done you should be be able to help others with all you have learned from this experience.

Cheers,

 

I can get good current and no splashing with my HOB filter if it is set on maximum output with high water level, but this will induce surface rippling. As long as there is no splashing, is this OK as far as CO2 is concerned. I like the idea of having good circulation and oxygen levels in my 29 gal tall, which has a low surface/water volume ration.

 

Hi Steven,

What result do you have untill now?

I had issues where BBA and BGA where present on the same time. BBA and BGA was gone after months going nonCO2 driven, but plant health was very poor then. So back on CO2, BGA is back as well...(?) Don't know why, but after multiple blackouts, BGA was coming back after days. But after a gravel cleaning and a single blackout it is entirely gone and not come back for 2 weeks, not even a single spot. So I've addressed some part of the problem with gravel cleaning...

BBA is little present after going CO2 again, but I have now not a unstable dupla regulator, but a dual stage reg with a nice needle valve from swagelok, so I have extremely stable CO2 output for 24/7. As I have 24/7 CO2, I leave CO2 open during blackout, As I know, no damage can be done (at night I still have lower pH (so higher CO2) than during day time. Maybe stable CO2 output gives me less BBA than last year.

But I'm battleling diatoms and Rhizoclonium now, not sure what is causing it. I'm back on the fourth total blackout now, after installing two koralia 1, so I have massive current now. I'm pretty sure my flow was far to less.

So in the end we will prevail, make sure you follow Toms recommendations and have a lot of patience. It will take some time and errors before all puzzles are in place to have a real nice tank. I'm not there yet!

 

I would just like to remind you that addressing the cause of the algae will prevent it from returning, not EM or Excel. What caused the BBA and BGA outbreak? Answer that and you will know what needs to be done to prevent it from happening again.

 

Yeah, I did several blackouts in a row on my tank but sure enough the BGA came back a few weeks later to my dissapointment. Problem was that each time I reset everything after the blackout, I didn't really change anything, and, to make matters worse, the plant biomass in my tank was gradually declining therefore exarbating the problem.

In the end I did something that was so easy I wished I had done it in the first place, I halved the amount of light over my tank. The result was incredible - suddenly I was providing enough CO2, nutrients, and the plants starting growing new leaves, throwing out runners etc etc. I also bought some really cheap bunches of stem plants and they started to take off.

No BGA problem for a good 12 months or so now, only some minor BGA along the gravel line at the front which is ok as Tom mentioned (I use an old credit card to scrape it away).

I still have some BBA here and there, but it's better than it was, and I'm working at it.

So, after you have completed the black out, take a different approach. Reduce the lighting, put in lots of cheap plants, plenty of CO2/ferts, and I bet you'll see things improve.