BBA Black beard Algea HELP!

[Snowflake311]

I have a 100 gal tank with awfull BBA on many of the few plants I have and all the drift wood and rocks. every 2 weeks I take all the rocks and wood out and strub it clean. Then in a few weeks its all back. It is driving me crazy I know its not hurting the fish at all.

I have 2 x 92 watt T5 light.
I do weekly 30% Wc.
filter is Aquaclear 110 and a Ehemi 2217.
Temp is 80F it does get some sun light during the day for about an hour.
ph 7 I have soft water.
Plants are 3 mid size sword plants and some crypto. I was useing some Iron fert to the water once a week but have stoped that. The tank gets about 12 hours of light. I was feeding 2 times and sometimes 3 times a day. I have cut back on feedings.

I have been trying to spot treat with Excel but there is too much to spot treat. I did notice that in the areas that I added the excel to are free of the nasty algea.

Whats the best way to treat this stuff I'm getting really mad at it.

 

[pjsmetana]

You may lose the tank to this stuff...

Before that happens, I'd try lowering the water level, and using a scrub brush while using a gravel vac over the affected areas. You can recycle the water you pull out after it settles, just dont get any of the crap that settle back in. After you get as much of it up as you can, use some of that algae-fix crap and set up a strong UV light. Drop your light times down to 8hrs per day, cut out ferts, and cut back feedings. Not much else can be done.

 

[Sever0n]

I had a lady in our shop with black algae. I had her run rowaphos in her tank and it cleared it right out of there. maybe a fluke experience but it'd be something to try.

 

[chonhzilla]

BBA does require manual removal if it is over running everything. Excel does a great job but it will get expensive. Hydrogen peroxide does help too but, works a bit slower. From my personal experience, the presence of BBA was cause but low level co2 and the lack of efficient flow in the tank. You've got a really nice light fixture and I believe is your number one contributor to the problem. In my experiences I usually catch a good draft of BBA when I fail to adjust my co2 count after messing with it. I am aware you do not have co2, the plants you have do not require any. BBA is tough to understand, many people blame lack of flow and poor levels of co2 which I can agree. Blacking out the tank will not take care of the BBA; neither will backing off the feeding. I've been able to keep the BBA out of my tank for a good while now after a good session of manual removal, while increasing the co2 levels and flow. Manual removal and backing off your lighting period will help.


Black Brush Algae, BBA

Description Often grows on leaf edges of slow growing plants, bog wood and mechanical equipment. Also sometimes it grows in fast flowing areas of the tank. Grows in clumps or patches of fine black tufts up to about 0.5cm long.

Cause In a high light tank it is an indication of low or fluctuating CO2 levels or not enough water circulation around the plants. In a low light tank it is often due to changing CO2 levels.

Removal In a high light tank you will need to increase your levels of CO2 and/or improve water circulation around the plants. Scrub and cut off as much as you can first. Increase levels slowly to 30ppm or more but watch the fish to see if they are respiring heavily. Make sure you have good water flow around the whole tank along with some good surface movement. Adding a powerhead may help.
If you have a low light tank without CO2 injection then not doing any water changes will help. This is because tap water often has lots of CO2 dissolved in it which causes CO2 levels in your tank to fluctuate. The algae respond to this a lot quicker than the plants do.
Siamese Algae Eaters are known to eat BBA so can be used to control this algae.
Overdosing Flourish Excel will clear it up.




http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm

 

[hybridtheoryd16]

Manually remove as much as you can. Then do a major water change and spot treat the bad area's with hydrogen peroxide while the water is drained. Use up to 2ml per gallon of tank size. Wait for atleast 30minutes before refilling.

Any plants or decor that can be removed should be. And then dipped in a bleach solution of 1 part bleach to 20 parts water. Swords can be dipped for 30-40 seconds and then rinsed off thouroghly. Other decor can have straight bleach poured over them in a bath tub. And then rinsed after a few minutes.

After you get as much as possible out and off the tank then you need to address the cause.

In your case its #1 too much light and #2 no bablanced food for the plants. (plants that dont grow get algae)You only need 1 of those light units and only have it on for around 8-10hrs a day on a timer. I would suggest buy a good quality plant fertilizer tab and sticking them under all the swords. Swords are heavy root feeders and if you use a substrate fertilizer like this you will be better off. Because you wont have a water column loaded with ferts for the algae to use.

It will take alot longer to erradicate the algae than it did for it to take over. Just be patient and get everything in order.

 

[Snowflake311]

Thanks chonhzilla and hybridtheoryd16 great info. I will give it a try. I'm thinking of pulling all the plants from that tank clean them and add to my other tank.

Thanks again.

oh yeah I use root tabs they work great.

 

[FSM]

92W T5s don't exist as far as I know. Are they 96W power compacts?

Turn them on for 8 hours per day or less.

 

[Snowflake311]

92W T5s don't exist as far as I know. Are they 96W power compacts?

Turn them on for 8 hours per day or less.

Just checked them yeah it's 96watt. I knew it was 90 something. I'm going to cut the light down for sure. Thanks Monday I'm going to take everything scrub and clean do a huge wc and see how it goes.

Would it be better to not add any ferts at all? I'm going to move the plants out because the fish I'm going to add will eat them all anyways.

Should I put a lower watt bulb in? You can do that right?

 

[FSM]

You are stuck with 96W I think; that is the only wattage for the 3 ft size. Lift the fixture up a few inches if you can.

 

[Snowflake311]

But can't I put a 36 watt blub in a fixture that is for a 96 watt?