Excel, BBA and Solder Wire

[TimboS]

Hi All,

I think my tank is starting to develop that small black furry type of algae (BBA?), specifically on one plant near the immersed spray bar outlet and on the driftwood underneath.

Since the tank is only 124L by dimension, and the lighting is low in power (about 1.2 wpg-ish), upon good advice I stopped using Flourish and just continued using Excel. I also upped the lighting to 10 hours a day. Now this happens and I am wondering if it's too much light or too much Excel?

By my workings, for my tank size, I need 3ml of Excel. Since it says not to overdose, I use this measurement according to the every other day regime, but administer daily due to the 24 hour thing. Also, just to be cautious, I go under so 3ml every second day is 1.5ml per day but I only use 1ml per day to be sure. Is this too much I wonder? I would not say my plants are "exploding" with growth.

What type of things could I look for to see if I am dosing too much Excel?

Also, when I asked a LFS about plant weights (to keep them in the substrate while vacuuming around them), he rolled out a heap of solder wire and said to use that. Hmm, solder wire in a discus tank? Thought I would ask about that one before doing so.

Timbo

[Bald_noggin]

Also, when I asked a LFS about plant weights (to keep them in the substrate while vacuuming around them), he rolled out a heap of solder wire and said to use that . Hmm, solder wire in a discus tank? Thought I would ask about that one before doing so.

Solder is typically 63% tin and 37% lead for eutectic or perfect ratio solder. There may possibly be a small amount of copper (2%) which would take 1% from each other element.

And this is with out mention of the chemicals that make up the rosin (flux) core which when heated becomes acid like. I'd stay well away from it personally.

Col.

[Dearra]

I am no expert, but I have very low lighting as well. My plants are not exploding with growth but they are doing ok. I have a lot of Swords. So I will tell you what I have been doing for nearly 12 months.

My tank size is 252 litres

Once a week I do a water change then I add 30mls Flourish Excell, 6mls Flourish and 6mls Iron. They do grow slowly, but at least they haven't died, so I am very happy about that.

I only have my lights on from 4pm to 10.30pm as well, I don't seem to get as much algae anymore.

It is all trial and error though. I struggled for 2 years, now I have got a good balance and I am sticking with it.

Dearra

[ILLUSN]

DONT PUT SOLDER WIRE INTO A DISC?US TANK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the soft acidic water will disolve the lead and copper and poison your fish.

[TimboS]

Ok - solder wire problem solved with the logical answer, and one I suspected. Thanks.

What about the Excel and BBA issue?

Does Excel encourage BBA or kill it? Is the answer somehow dose dependent?

I have dropped my lighting from 10 down to 8 hours per day to see if that makes any difference.

As for adding more and more plants to chew up the nutrients, the more I add, the nitrate reading seems to go nowhere, so I suspect I am still overfeeding. I now give one block of frozen food (one of the many types of fish fuel) and one pinch of tetra bits in the morning, and the same in the evening. I used to give two blocks each time but the discus bellies would become rather swollen, in fact distended is probably the right word !!

T.

[ILLUSN]

Excell will kill BBA, if the bba is bad, get a small syringe and just squirt the excell onto it, the extra carbon in the tank also helps the plants grow faster starving the bba of nourishment.

your feeding sounds ok, BBA is a massive problem in dads non co2 heavily over fed, haevily overstocked planted discus tank, but non existant in its sister tank which has a co2 system.