hello all, I am pretty new here and have been reading a lot of post on bba. I have a 125 gallon tank with eco complete, i have two quad t5ho lights(312watts total). the plants i have are myrios, a couple of swords, three ulvaceus, 4 tiger lotus plants. According to the watts per gallon rule i have 2.5. i also have co2 injection. i do a 50% water change weekly and i also use dry ferts from greenleaf. I was adding ferts daily according to the die schedule but i was getting way to much algae. so i stopped and dose twice a week. on Mondays i add 3/4tsp. of plantex. Wed. i add all the other ferts. Sundays i do the 50% water change. My problem is the bba. i have read that poor water flow can be an issue as well as co2 levels going up and down a lot. i keep the co2/ph at 6.7 that seems to about 30 ppm. Checking the drop checker as it is green. so is it the lighting? I am adding the ferts and co2 so my lighting is not high enough? im going to replace my filter, i am using the eheim pro 3e, and it sucks the flow rate has dropped to crap and i can not get eheim to answer any questions with it since the electronic  light just goes up and down and wont inrease the flow anymore. So am i on the right track? Any help would be great thanks mark.

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Comment by Peter on February 27, 2013 at 9:38pm
How long do u run ur lights. ?? Wpg rule is for t8 bulbs no t5 nor t5ho lights Read this http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=184368
Comment by mark ruddy on February 27, 2013 at 9:54pm

i run my lights for 10 hours a day, according that par schedule im still getting almost 100 micromols, which is very high. So i am still getting bba, i was going to go with leds and these lights. maybe cut the lights back to 8 hours a day? And my bulbs are 6500k, should i get some at 10000k?

Comment by Peter on February 27, 2013 at 9:59pm
With 4x t5ho u should run ur lights 5-6 hrs a day.
Comment by mark ruddy on February 27, 2013 at 10:03pm

wow, well i considered putting them on separate timers, say 10 am 4 bulbs come on, then say 2pm the other 4 then 4 off at 5 then 4 off at 7. but 5-6 hours a day  what if i didnt use all 8?

Comment by mark ruddy on February 27, 2013 at 10:17pm

oh by the way i have two t5ho lights over my tank  36 inches a piece to equal the 72 i needed

Comment by Peter on February 27, 2013 at 10:37pm

if u run less bulbs yes u can run the lights a bit longer. 

Comment by mark ruddy on February 27, 2013 at 10:41pm

thank you for your help  i really appreciate it a lot.

Comment by LED on February 27, 2013 at 11:16pm

do remember that BBA generally is the result of low CO2 and/or lack of water circulation.  most of the time I think its CO2, but if you can tackle the flow rate issue it can fix it.

Comment by mark ruddy on February 27, 2013 at 11:26pm

hmm i am i am getting a new canister filter in a few weeks, its rated at 550 gallons an hour as opposed to my eheim 488, and is probably only doing a quarter of that.

Comment by LED on February 28, 2013 at 11:17pm

now that comment as a possibility.  I have seen my dads tank with tons of bba and it was in a high flow area, so it could but a combination of stuff.  but who knows =)

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