Bba Started After Adding Pressurized Co2

[Amit]

Hi,
I have had a pressurized CO2 system for over 4 years now but haven't been using it frequently until recently.
I have seen that whenever I added the pressurized CO2, I started getting BBA all over the tank.
I have always been having a problem with my CO2 regulator and so the full tank would never last me more than a month.
I have bought a new CO2 regulator about 2 months back and the CO2 application has been consistent since then.
My problem is, ever since I have added the CO2, I have been battling with BBA. I do use Hydrogen Peroxide to kill it but new Algae grows soon after. I have also been having a problem with Green Spot Algae growing on some leaved and on the glass.
I have an overkill for a filter which has been tuned down as the full flow is very high but I do make sure that the current flow is good enough.
Forums all over the internet show that BBA is caused by less or inconsistent CO2. My CO2 is turned ON along with my lights and OFF along with them.
I do not believe that insufficient Co2 or flow could be a cause for the BBA as it grows even on the CO2 diffusor which is also in a position where the flow is good.
I didnt have these problems with BBA even with the same light and fertilizers without the CO2.
Can you please help me with this?

Regards,
Amit

 

[Amit]

Forgot to add specs of my setup:
a. Size: 10 Gallons - Pic attached.
b. Fauna - 12 Cardinaltetras, 2 Ottos, some RCS..
c. Flora - Dwarf Hairgrass, Java ferns - needle leaf, Anubias, Ludwigia hi red
d. Light - Zetlight ZP 4000 - 23 watts. 10 hours light period.
e. Fertilizers - Stock solution prepared from powdered ferts. (pics attached, dosing as per instructed in pics), Occasional Flourish Advance, Azoo Carbon plus, DTPA Iron twice per week.
f. Co2 - over 1 BPS (CO2 indicator is yellow) diffused using a in tank diffusor.
g. Filter - Ehiem 2213 which is tapped down to reduce the flow

 

[kcube58]

You have to bring down the light period to 6 hrs.....10 hrs is way too long. I had a BBA outbreak when my photo period was 7 hrs daily. The outbreak was so huge that i had to pull out my entire rotalas even though it is a fast growing plant. Bba first started with the slow growing anubius and then took over the entire tank. Another reason of my outbreak was insufficient co2.....the ceramic of my diffuser was somehow producing very large co2 bubbles instead of the fine ones which it normally produces. I then shifted my co2 injection mechanism to a co2 reactor which is far better than a diffuser as it needs no occasional cleaning and the bubbles are fine too. All this has helped me to bring down the bba. I still have a few but the co2 mixing is so efficient that it is not allowing the bba to spread.

Sent from my Mi MIX 2 using Tapatalk

 

[Amit]

Hi,

My light period has always been the same for many years now but I never faced any problem with BBA when CO2 was not being used.
I understand that the light period is high but fail to understand how CO2 plays a part in this.

Regards,
Amit

 

[Hydroponic]

My experience with BBA is no different than what you've already read. I only had severe BBA when CO2 was inconsistent (also due to a problematic regulator). Do you have a pH meter? I think measuring pH at different times during the photoperiod would give more clues to what is wrong than the drop-checker.

I also get some light BBA when the filter needs a good cleaning.

How long have you been having these issues and how bad is the BBA? If it is just a little bit, I would just scrub it during water change.

 

[Jim Beccia]

What about adding a Flag Fish they will devour the BBA in short time.