# Is this BBA?



## dock (Sep 6, 2011)

Is this bba or something else? Can someone tell me what that is? Thank you.


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## Scotmando (Jul 10, 2011)

Yes. I think it is. Ramshorn snail will eat it up.


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## coldmantis (Apr 5, 2010)

100% bba

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## dock (Sep 6, 2011)

Oh boy, nightmare just started  I gave the hose a thorough clean and let's see if it will stop there. If it won't how many snail are needed to do the task?


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## coldmantis (Apr 5, 2010)

Cleaning won't help, it will only come back. There are a few things that cause BBa outbreak.

You have more plants then your tank can handle without injecting co2

You decided to try diy sugar+yeast co2 but you got lazy and didn't keep up with changing the mixture every week

You have presurrized co2 but you bubble rate is always inconsistent and you didn't bother to address that or noticed

Basically all co2 related

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## Scotmando (Jul 10, 2011)

I prescribe 12-20 medium ramshorn snails per 10g and examine 2 weeks later. 

Ramshorns are voracious BBA munchers. 

Nothing prevents BBA or Black Beard Algae. It's in the air, on incoming plants, wood, rocks. It just happens and often shows up after a new setup. 

It can be also controlled with cO2 injection or regular dosing of Seachem Excel, but this costs $$$. 

Lots of healthy, growing plants & good water flow also keeps algae at bay. 

I have a 8g Nano aquarium(no cO2) in my kitchen and had BBA in my fissidens fontanus a.k.a. Phoenix moss. I introduced 12 Ramshorn snails & they eliminated it in 3 weeks or so. Very natural & low to no cost. A year & a bit later the tank looks great with no BBA.


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## dock (Sep 6, 2011)

coldmantis said:


> Cleaning won't help, it will only come back. There are a few things that cause BBa outbreak.
> 
> You have more plants then your tank can handle without injecting co2
> 
> ...


Thanks coldmantis! I like the way you presented.

Why would you need to change sugar+yeast mixture every week? AFAIK, the DIY co2 will last for more than 2-3 weeks. 
I will keep up with my excel to see if it helps, was too busy last month.


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## coldmantis (Apr 5, 2010)

Because its diy and uncontrollable, if your fresh mix will produce 3 bubbles per second for a few days but by the time you decide to change in at the end of 3 weeks it probably only doing 1 bubble every 4 seconds. That's a big difference in Bubble rate so your plants won't be getting enough co2 and that's when bba takes over. Not sure how big your tank is but I have had customers tell me that they only use 1 2L bottle for a 100g.... And they change it once a month.... For 100g you should be using no less than 4 2L bottles and changing 1 per week and even with 4 bottles it's not enough for a tank that size. Diy co2 its only effective up to 40g, anything bigger you need pressurized. I remember when I first started with co2, I believe I chained 3 2 L bottles and a 2.5g gas jug on a 45g tall and that was still not good enough and I had bba all the time

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## dock (Sep 6, 2011)

Scotmando said:


> I prescribe 12-20 medium ramshorn snails per 10g and examine 2 weeks later.
> 
> Ramshorns are voracious BBA munchers.
> 
> I have a 8g Nano aquarium(no cO2) in my kitchen and had BBA in my fissidens fontanus a.k.a. Phoenix moss. I introduced 12 Ramshorn snails & they eliminated it in 3 weeks or so. Very natural & low to no cost. A year & a bit later the tank looks great with no BBA.


Thanks Scott! I've heard that ramshorns are good too but my tank's already stocked with some algae eating shrimp, corydoras, pleco, and another type of catfish, MTS and some pond snails, I'm very reluctant to introduce another type of self-reproduce snail into the tank atm. Will ramshorn snails eat plants and reproduce very quickly?



coldmantis said:


> Because its diy and uncontrollable, if your fresh mix will produce 3 bubbles per second for a few days but by the time you decide to change in at the end of 3 weeks it probably only doing 1 bubble every 4 seconds. That's a big difference in Bubble rate so your plants won't be getting enough co2 and that's when bba takes over. Not sure how big your tank is but I have had customers tell me that they only use 1 2L bottle for a 100g.... And they change it once a month.... For 100g you should be using no less than 4 2L bottles and changing 1 per week and even with 4 bottles it's not enough for a tank that size. Diy co2 its only effective up to 40g, anything bigger you need pressurized. I remember when I first started with co2, I believe I chained 3 2 L bottles and a 2.5g gas jug on a 45g tall and that was still not good enough and I had bba all the time
> 
> Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4


Thanks, I see your point.


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