BBA and Pearling

[shane]

I have a 60 gallon Discus tank that I have had setup for almost 1 year now. I am using pressurized CO2 using both mist and reactor. I have (2) filters, one used for the CO2 reactor. I have 150 watts of PC lighting on for 9 hours a day. CO2 comes on 1.5 hours before the lights turn on and CO2 turns off 1 hour before lights turn off.

I have a drop checker with 4DH solution. It always seems to be green. Day or night.

The problem I am having is BBA popping up. Mostly on the anubius, some small spots on some crypts, and driftwood. I also notice I get very little pearling by the end of the day. I have cranked up the CO2 to the point it affects the discus and then backed off.

For circulation I have the (2) filter 2215 and 2217 plus a Maxi-Jet 400 powerhead.

For dosing, I am using ADA Green Brighty Step 2 (10ml per day) and Brighty K (10ml per day).

I have tried dosing Excel but haven't seen any results. Been doing it for a few weeks. Dosing as per instructions.

I do weekly 50% water changes.

Any ideas on what to try to get rid of the BBA? Should I be worried that I get very little pearling at the end of the day?

 

[PeterGwee]

Shane, the amount of pearling has to do with the rate of growth (light intensity with the nutrients and CO2 in non-limiting conditions). Hard to quantify though how much pearling each tank should get. High CO2 does not and will not kill off the current BBA but will stop it from growing. You need to get rid of the current affected stuff and then see if it returns or not. It should not if the CO2 is in good non-limitng range. You need to ID the green colour intensity of the reagent + 4dKH standard inside the drop checker and not just assume green is good. The colour intensity tells the difference in pH. The ADA nutrients regime might not cover everything like EI dry fert dosing since they are pretty lean in content.

Regards,
Peter Gwee

 

[Tom Barr]

And lean nutrients are hardly the cure for BBA.............that much was well tested years and years ago by myself and a couple of other folks.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[shane]

Sounds like I should change my nutrient dosing. Should I go get some TMG? I have never used TMG. The only other netrients I have used are Seachem.

If I use TMG, then I need to dose phosphates, nitrates I never dose (discus do that for me). What about iron, does TMG have iron in it?

 

[hbosman]

I have had pearling increase at times after dosing ferts, csm+b, kno3, k2so4. This would be when the light was running at the full 156 watts T5 in a 46 gallon tank.