Flourish To Kill BBA

[anaconda]

At the planted tank forum, they succesfully managed to kill BBA by spraying it with Flourish

Anyone tried it out? Does it really work?

I got a low maintenance tank, Flourish is a kind of fert if I am not wrong, just wonderng if I use this method what it will do to the nutrient balance in the tank? Cause if I am not wrong, logically if u spray Flourish on the bba, it will also leak into the water causing an injection into the water....might end up with other algae bloom but with no BBA

[vinz]

Ehh... can you provide a link to the thread? So we can have more info before we comment.

[anaconda]

http://www.plantedfanatics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26

here ya go

[Justikanz]

It is Excel, not Flourish. This topic was also discussed in AQ and APC before.

[zenscape]

Speaking from my personal experience- yes, Seachem Flourish Excel does eliminate BBA fast. I had had these bushes of stubborn BBA on the bog wood for months. Nothing would make them go away. I just made them disappeared last week by using a syringe and "injected" excel at the BBA location. Next day, BBA turned yellow and was wiped off easily from the bogwood.

A couple of years back, I read about double dosing of Excel to help reducing algae from a foreign forum. But this method may harm critters and should be done with care. Subsequently, some chaps suggested using a springe loaded with Excel and inject on the BBA directly. I thought it was a good idea. This way, the amount of dosage of Excel into your tank may not be that much. (i just used about 10ml, 1 to 2 shots)

I guess a large concentration of excel on BBA will kill them even for a spilt second of contact.

[StanChung]

i think seachem should repackage and sell it as BBA killer...

[vinz]

It is Excel, not Flourish. This topic was also discussed in AQ and APC before.

I had my suspicions too before the link was posted.

Well, technically, it is Flourish Excel. Flourish is range of products. Unfortunately, the primary product inthe range is also called Flourish.

[anaconda]

From the Seachem site it says

"Flourish Excel™ is a source of bioavailable organic carbon. All plants require a source of carbon. This is typically obtained from CO2, but, may also be derived from simple organic compounds (such as photosynthetic intermediates). Therefore, one can derive a substantial benefit with the use of Flourish Excel™ either alone or in conjunction with CO2 injection. Flourish Excel™ also has iron reducing properties which promote the ferrous state of iron (Fe+2), which is more easily utilized by plants than ferric iron (Fe+3). Flourish Excel™ is an integral component of Seachem’s plant products and is recommended for use with the entire Flourish™ line as well as our Flourite™ and Onyx Sand™ substrates. Contains no phosphate or nitrate. "

So if we keep injecting Excel on BBA, wont that increase the CO2 concentration int he water and increase the FE ? Would that sort of unbalance the nutrient levels? causing algae bloom of another kind?

[PeterGwee]

The excel doesn't add the Fe but rather helps in "breaking up" the "bond" of the Fe making it usable to plants faster. Fe nor any other inorganic stuff we dose does not cause algae. As long as things are all in the non-limiting range (within reason...not to toxic levels), the plants do well. BBA is a CO2 issue and dosing excel helps in that area but the main thing if you use the gas is to use it well.

Regards
Peter Gwee

[zenscape]

anaconda, I didn't inject it a few times, just one shot and it did the job well. By the way, Excel will unlikely to be a source of algae even if you "keep injecting". FYI, ppl had reported double/triple dosing Excel like mad for 2 weeks without any adverse effect and they called it a "cycle".

I read before that some people had great success by injecting hydrogen peroxide to get rid of BBA. I don't suspect it's effectiveness, but I dare not try that. As Excel is a fertilisation product, I felt no harm trying it. I was merely experimenting Excel to get rid a few bushes of BBA and it worked well. Just wanted to share with you my experience. But of course, at the end of the day, we should focus on long term plan to address the problem.

[Jungle-mania]

I use excel as a CO2 supplement, never had a BBA in sight. But you can forget about introducing a BBA ridden plant and hope that the regular dosing will remove it.

[Betta Almighty]

Adding too much of excel does not do any harm to fishes right?

[|squee|]

It can harm fishes when excessively overdosed.

[mordrake]

in a large tank.. say 6ft like mine .... is it possible to just dose excel in instead of spot dosing? very backbreaking to spot dose ....
according to dosing instructions, say i dose 100ml for my 214G...

[Jungle-mania]

Sure you can, that is of course you don't have BBA to start with. I usually take the drastic measure of taking the plant out and rinsing it in mild chlorox solution if they have BBA.

[mordrake]

no new bba but have some "leftover" on tank corners, back wall, and some nana leaves.
guess i'd better manually remove all that i can and spot dose where reachable. don't want anything to happen to fishes

[vratenza]

i have a 6 ft tank as well... isssn't it "siong" on your wallet if u dose excel?

Since the problem is CO2, just try to maintain ur co2 at 30ppm and make sure the co2 is well distributed to all corners of ur tank PLUS manually remove the BBA....... I had a brush with BBA once...... of all area of my tank, it just grew on the solitary GuJing i have right in the middle of the tank ....... and it only grow on the tips of the oldr leaves that have stagnant growth.... newer leaves fron the centre are not affected........
What i did...... upped my CO2 and put in a powerhead to circulate the water to the centre of my tank, trimmed the older infected leaves...... and BBA is gone forever!

[mordrake]

i have a 6 ft tank as well... isssn't it "siong" on your wallet if u dose excel?

Since the problem is CO2, just try to maintain ur co2 at 30ppm and make sure the co2 is well distributed to all corners of ur tank PLUS manually remove the BBA....... I had a brush with BBA once...... of all area of my tank, it just grew on the solitary GuJing i have right in the middle of the tank ....... and it only grow on the tips of the oldr leaves that have stagnant growth.... newer leaves fron the centre are not affected........
What i did...... upped my CO2 and put in a powerhead to circulate the water to the centre of my tank, trimmed the older infected leaves...... and BBA is gone forever!

yep already doing that.
i'm trying out Tom's venturi co2 mist method using a maxijet 1200 powerhead (1100l/h). with another eden 214 (500l/h) powerhead, 2 x 2028 and ecco 2233, circulation is pretty good in the tank

[neon]

yep already doing that.
i'm trying out Tom's venturi co2 mist method using a maxijet 1200 powerhead (1100l/h). with another eden 214 (500l/h) powerhead, 2 x 2028 and ecco 2233, circulation is pretty good in the tank

I don't think this venturi misting effective in spreading the CO2 far enough. As suggested by PeterGwee, I am now using a powerhead , invert it (no airlock will be possible) and CO2 tube inside the suction part, connect the output to a long rainbar which you can diy yourself. This misting is intense and strong , will spread very far from the back to the front of the tank , in very very fine CO2 mist. Right now I am using two powerhead with rainbar, left and right for CO2.

[StanChung]

yup... the tom barr design makes the bubbles waft out...you need another piece of equipment to push the bubble all over the aquarium...

i like the idea of the rainbar already...