# Water for water changes



## clambier (Jun 4, 2017)

i have been struggling with black beard algae for a while. i have pressurized co2 and have been following pps-pro method fennex pro 24/7 led light . I live in hamilton and i was reading that the tap water has orthophosphate in it since late 2018 and i was wondering if that is contributing to me having too much phosphate in the tank. what is everyone else doing/using for water changes as i am looking for options. My tank is 75 gallon and is currently lightly planted


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## conix67 (Jul 27, 2008)

I have 46G planted low tech that's been suffering from BBA for a few years. It started from the driftwood I had in the tank which were slowly disintegrating over time (rotting?). So I did the followings and it has gotten so much better

Frequent (weekly) water change of 1/3 - initially with tap water + prime then switched to filtered water (by product of RO/DI system for my reef tank)
Seachem Excel overdose (20ml daily, target BBA on plants, substrate, etc)
remove what is covered with BBA (substrate, driftwood, plants)

As expected, overdose of Excel caused vallisneria to melt away as well but other than that, the tank looks so much better now.

I was skeptical about the use of Excel to fight BBA but it does work. Apparently it kills them which is what I wanted. The only downside is the cost..


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## clambier (Jun 4, 2017)

Thanks for the suggestion... I do have a bottle of exel that i can dose daily to attack the algae. how are you fertilizing your tank?


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## infolific (Apr 10, 2016)

I used one dose of 1ml per gallon of water after a water change. In my case that was 40 ml for 40 gallons of water. I did nothing for the next 2 weeks except watch the BBA disappear. I did this on two different tanks and got the same results. Both are heavily planted with CO2 so I can't speak to what the right dose is for other setups.

I added the Excel slowly and dropped it in front of a powerhead so it dispersed quickly. I watched my fish for any signs of distress, but I didn't see any. I was also ready to do a quick water change if needed, but one wasn't needed.

Corys, otos, cherry shrimp, angels, nerites, assassin snails, and pseudomugils all fared fine. Only bolbitis and water sprite took a hit. Val growing fine now.

Finally, this isn't my discovery. I found a thread about this approach on plantedtank.net.


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## thaile601 (Mar 7, 2010)

infolific said:


> I used one dose of 1ml per gallon of water after a water change. In my case that was 40 ml for 40 gallons of water. I did nothing for the next 2 weeks except watch the BBA disappear. I did this on two different tanks and got the same results. Both are heavily planted with CO2 so I can't speak to what the right dose is for other setups.
> 
> I added the Excel slowly and dropped it in front of a powerhead so it dispersed quickly. I watched my fish for any signs of distress, but I didn't see any. I was also ready to do a quick water change if needed, but one wasn't needed.
> 
> ...


Hi Infolific,
How's often you do water changed during 2 weeks treatment?
Thanks
Le


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