Bba Whats Causing It And How Do I Get Rid Of It?

[mattlee]

i have a few patches of bba on my bogwood. can anyone tell me whats causing it and how do i get rid of it? i have a 4 foot tank with 90% fake plants, the only real plants i have are about 20 floating frogbit, 8 moss balls, some java moss & flame moss and 2 floating water lettuce. i run 2 externals an eheim 2215 and a rena xp3, the eheim spray bar is just above the water line to generate surface movement and is at the end of the tank facing accross the width from left to right. the rena spray bar is on the back of the tank on the right hand side facing the front of the tank so i should be getting plenty of circulation in the tank. the rena also has a UV filter running on the out pipe which is supposed to zap any algae in the water. both filters run just sponges and ceramics for the bacteria growth with the rena having a carbon chem zorb pouch inside too to remove any nasties etc.

my tank is in the conservatory so does get more than average daylight but never gets direct sunlight as its against a brick wall and the sun rises and sets behind the wall. my lights are only on for about 5/6 hours a day from 4/5pm - 10pm ish. my tank is fully stocked and possibly slightly overstocked but as im running 2 x externals i can get away with this to an extent, i only feed my fish once a day giving them a good pinch of flake and a couple of pinches of prima granules. i add 2 or 3 catfish tablets after lights out to ensure my bottom feeders get a fair share (i have 8 corys and 4 loaches).
i try and do weekly water changes of 30% ish, if not weekly then its never longer than 10 days and the only chems i put in the tank are water conditioner (aquasafe).

i also get quite a bit of gda as its in the conservatory but this is solved with a good magnetic glass cleaner, but comes back within a few days. this i dont mind so much as i can just scrape it off but the bba looks horrible in the tank. i ave tried to give as much info as possible if i have missed anything out just ask and ill try and let you know, can anyone help me?

 

[baron von bubba]

http/www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm

 

[mattlee]

thanks for the link
is my tank a high light tank or low?
it gets alot of non direct daylight but the actual lights are only on for about 5 hours a day. i dont use CO2 so without buying the CO2 gear how do i increase it?
sorry if these questions seen a bit novice like but i guess i am a novice in this part of fish keeping......

 

[baron von bubba]

thanks for the link
is my tank a high light tank or low?
it gets alot of non direct daylight but the actual lights are only on for about 5 hours a day. i dont use CO2 so without buying the CO2 gear how do i increase it?
sorry if these questions seen a bit novice like but i guess i am a novice in this part of fish keeping......

you dont say what your lighting is?!

BBA as the link says can be caused by uneven co2 levels, in a low tech tank this can be caused by the water changes.
either plant the tank more and think about stopping the changes all together or if you dont want to do that try leaving the water out for 24 hours or so, that way the excess CO2 in the tap water will gas off!

pretty much the only way to get rid of the BBA that is present is to buy some "liquid carbon" and dose the effected areas directly. but if will be back if you dont address the problems!

no need to apologise for the questions, after all thats what forums are for!

 

[mattlee]

sorry, my tank has 2X glowpower 40W T8 tubes in the hood

 

[mattlee]

sorry, my tank has 2X glowpower 40W T8 tubes in the hood

i would prefer real plants, who wouldnt! if i was to add real plants, are there any that i can use that dont need co2 and fertilisers etc that i can just add and basically leave them to it if you like? i have been told java ferm is ok in a low tec tank.....