There was no phosphate in the water at all.
Well, there's your problem.
Gee, for years other people told me that the cause of BBA was too much
phosphate. Now you say having no phosphate causes it. This is
typical of the conflicting information I often here about BBA
problems.

Obviously you are of the camp that believes you can control BBA with
the water. I bought into that mentality for years, and fought the
BBA using that method. The BBA won. Maybe for some people, their
water, their plants, and their type of BBA, that method can have some
success. But it is very clear from everything else I have read that
more and more 'water treatment' people are becoming convinced that
BBA is a different kind of problem entirely.

I have seen really nice show aquariums with tons of plant growth and
no BBA. When I ask the aqua person how they did it, they tell me: "I
rinse every plant in Chlorine before I put it in the tank - I don't
let BBA in the tank". That is how they handle it, they prevent it.

Once it gets in it's like cancer. Some may go into remission, some
may go away, some may respond to therapy, but in most cases it will
keep growing.

I've had plant growth through the top of the tank. Swords with 24
inch leaves, and so much plant growth I had to prune plants every
week. Yet the BBA never went away. I've read articles from other
people who believed that water control could combat BBA as well, yet
they were left scratching their heads when they lost the fight and
the BBA kept growing.

I do not know if you have any BBA in your tank(s) right now, but if
you would really like to test your theories in practice, I would be
happy to send you some of mine. I can send you a rock or plant with
the BBA species I have. Just let me know.

Regards, Chris.

I see that your situation has set your mind already.... it's easy to give
up, easier than fixing the problem and I admit, I have been battling BBA for
4 months and what caused mine, is a three fold effect. 1, ran out of CO2, 2
days... only 2 days and it started. 2, PMDD ran out... 3, water changes
were neglected for an extra 2 weeks....

In a period of 2 weeks, my tank went haywire... 2 swords that were
beautiful, covered, my anubias, trashed, sunset hygro, wadded up with BBA...

The only way I know to fix it, was to clean what algae I could, manually...
Soak whatever equipment in Chlorine bleach, and startup the CO2 and ferts
again... 2 weeks later, it's not growing, but its' a daily manual removal
routine that I get into, and it's getting better every day....

There is hope, but only if youre not in denial, that you MUST do something,
it isn't such an easy fix that it'll just hit you one day... it's a serious
method of nutrients, and CO2... you can deny all you want... Tom Barr knows
his stuff...


--
RedForeman ©® future fabricator and creator of a ratbike
streetfighter!!!

==========================
2003 TRX450ES
1992 TRX-350 XX (For Sale)
1987 TRX250R (sold)
1987 CBR600 Hurricane (sold)
1987 VFR700 Interceptor (sold)
1995 TRX300ex (sold)
2000 CBR600F4 silver/red (sold) *sniff*sniff*
'98 Tacoma Ext Cab 4X4 Lifted....
==========================
ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤° `°¤ø,¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø
"By US Code Title 47, Sec.227(a)(2)(B), a computer/modem/printer
meets the definition of a telephone fax machine. By Sec.227(b)(1)(C),
it is unlawful to send any unsolicited advertisement to such equipment.
By Sec.227(b)(3)(C), a violation of the aforementioned Section is
punishable by action to recover actual monetary loss, or $500,
whichever is greater, for each violation."

If you do send me unsolicited e-mail I will proof-read it at a rate
of $100 per hour (4 hour minimum).