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Thread: Fight against Hair algae and BBA

  1. #1
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    Fight against Hair algae and BBA

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    I read the various thread on fighting these 2 algae.. wanted to document what I am doing and seek advise from the expert in this forum.. please let me know if I should do anything else, so far, my foreground plant (glosso, and hair grass) has BBA, and some of my fast growing plant has fine green hair algae

    My nitrate are high, PH around 6, KH super low 0.3 (worry), lights are around 5.5 wpg, 22gallon 2-ft tank

    1. Increase CO2 from 1 to now 3 bubbles per second (light maintained at 8hrs)
    2. Change 1/3 water everyday (today is day 2)
    3. added 2 oto

    Should I
    a. add more oto (how many more ?)
    b. add yamato ?
    c. add more fast growing plant ? (lacking space)
    d. continue to change water everyday ?

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    Increase CO2 and water circulation (to avoid dead spot) will reduce BBA, but you still need to cut the infected plants

    Yamato will eat your hair algae randomly. You can also remove it manually

    Add some fast growing floating plant, since you are lacking space.

    Otos only eat soft algae, does it wont eat hair algae and BBA

    Too much light also cause algae to grow faster, you might want to reduce you light wattage.

    Algae is cause by NH3/NH4 and not NO3. Is nitrate NO3? (I fail my chemistry )
    -Robert
    Aquascaping is a marriage between Art and Farming
    My Blog: http://aquatic-art.blogspot.com/

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    thanks, in that case, I will do more "combing" and continue my water change...

    the 2 feet tank makes it difficult to increase circulation without shaking too many other plants around.

    is there any magic solution that will rid those algae ? shall I reduce my light time ? or just the wattage ?

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    sure, Seachem excel will kill BBA, but it is remporary solution. I'm not sure about those algae killer chemical sold at LFS. Balancing you tank water chemistry is still the best way.

    For excel you can use syringe and inject the solution near/close to the BBA. Do it once a day for 3 days and BBA will turn white. Some people double the recomended excel dossage but it might kill your shrimp if you have one.

    Just reduce the wattage.

    How is your fertelizer dossing?
    -Robert
    Aquascaping is a marriage between Art and Farming
    My Blog: http://aquatic-art.blogspot.com/

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    Quote Originally Posted by joeyttk View Post
    thanks, in that case, I will do more "combing" and continue my water change...

    the 2 feet tank makes it difficult to increase circulation without shaking too many other plants around.

    is there any magic solution that will rid those algae ? shall I reduce my light time ? or just the wattage ?
    Some people say excel good. You can try. But I think those algone, rid algae, algaecides, etc are not recommended. There's no magic solution that can kill algae without harming higher plants at all as algae are plants also. Plants are already suffering badly from algae infection, those solution will be a finishing blow to the plants. I tried before when I was beginner, add already, BBA die about 70% but my plants start to yellow in the end worst. The best way is to remove/trim/clean and then fertilise correctly.
    I'm back!

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    I have not start dosing any fertilizer yet.

    I think I will start with the yamato today. and then resume my water changing on Thursday (T+3) if things dun get better

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    With such high light you should dosse fert. There where your inbalance is. Hight light mean plant will grow faster, mean need more nutrient. Without nutrient they will stop growing and algae take over.
    -Robert
    Aquascaping is a marriage between Art and Farming
    My Blog: http://aquatic-art.blogspot.com/

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    I see... thanks! I will also do fert dosing today

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    It is a CO2 issue.....solve that first before anything. No nutrient dosing regime would work if the CO2 is not addressed. Why do you want 5.5w/g of light since the more light you add, the more demand it is on the overall CO2 and nutrients. Loose up on them and you get algae...(exactly what is happening.). I'll suggest you drop the light down to 2wpg which is easier but growth is definitely going to be slower. BBA is a CO2 issue and will stop growing if the CO2 is being addressed (all that is left is to trim the BBA off.). Hair algae is a high algae species (pretty much like plants and will grow in good conditions. You need to be aggressive at trimming the infected parts off and make sure you dose well.).

    Regards,
    Peter Gwee
    Plant Physiology by Taiz and Zeiger

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    Talking about CO2, how did you disolve the CO2 in your tank? are you using reactor or diffuser? to be honest bps doesn't tell you anything.
    -Robert
    Aquascaping is a marriage between Art and Farming
    My Blog: http://aquatic-art.blogspot.com/

  11. #11
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    for CO2, I am using diffuser... now up-ing my co2 count.

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    In my fight against BBA and hair algae, i did the below

    1. First manually remove all the algae you can see
    a. For Hair algae, just cut the leave away.
    b. For BBA, i used a brush and applied Oxysept (a contact lens solution which is primarily H2O2) on the DW. Brush it about 2 times at 5 minutes interval. The BBA will turn red and then white after a few days. It will then die off. Please note that this only apply to DW and BW. not on plants or else the plants will die.

    2. Bump up the CO2 SLOWLY.

    3. I changed from T5 (48W) to PL (36W). I had no hair algae since.
    I am into Plecos now...
    L46, L173, L134 & L236
    ~~Jeffrey~~

  13. #13
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    thanks, doing lots of trimming these days... will see if effort pay off in a week

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