Tank specs:
10 gallon with two 6500 cfl bulbs
Liquid ei dosing with weekly 50% water changes. Light is on 8 hrs a day
Co2 injection via fluval 20g co2 kit
Dose excel daily
I recently just got rid of bga in my tank using hydrogen peroxide and injecting it onto the algae. Now I'm attacking this other algae in my tank. It's some sort of hair algae or maybe black beard algae. I've been trying to use the same method of hydrogen peroxide on it and it seems to turn it red for a day or two and then goes back to normal and ends up killing the leaves it was on that I sprayed. (Anubis, didn't bother sword) this stuff is starting to spread more and it's annoying me. I just did my weekly water change and did a couple squirts of excel directly onto the leaves with the algae to see what that does, but I'm starting to regret that since my fish seem to moving slow so I might have a few dead tetras in the morning ( hopefully not)
I believe my tank isn't getting enough of co2 from the fluval co2 kit since my drop checker never quites get green but only a bluish green. That and I get the occasional spot algae and a ton of this other algae I don't know the name of.
Any ideas how to get rid of this annoying algae?
Looks like BBA.
I have this on only the tallest, oldest leaves in my tank.
Additional water flow is claimed to prevent this.
Lowering the light intensity or photoperiod may also help.
Physically removing is tough, this stuff tends to have a firm hold.
The configuration of CFL that works best is in a brooder type lamp up off the top by about at least 4". One 13W bulb for a 10g tank. I think the best way to arrange that is by
getting a bookshelf bracket and place it on the wall behind the tank, take off the clamp from the brooder lamp and hang it by the cord from the bookshelf bracket so you get to adjust the height that way. Some even spray paint the outside of the dome part black or what ever.
The BBA probably won't go away on the older leaves. It attacks them most but not exclusively. It will go away from any newer leaves it's on once you reduce the light as suggested, but will take a while to do so. Best to cut off any older leaves it's on. After a month you can direct dose either Excel or Hydrogen Peroxide on any remaining spots of it. HP is better for cost reasons, but don't exceed 1.5 ml per gallon in a day. Direct dose/w no current. Turn off filter etc for 5-10 min before till 25-30 min after. Bubbles indicate it's working.
Just last night I removed all my sword leaves with it on it. I didn't remove the ones off my anubias considering they are slow growing and almost every leaf has it so there won't be much of a plant left. Update: only one tetra died over night from the excel overdose which I'm fine with it since they are only a $1 a piece. What is a safe amount of excel to use injecting with a syringe?
I had this on my Anubias. This is what I did. I bought a hanging Java Moss from Petco and weighed it down in the middle of water between light and Anubias. It took almost 2 weeks but all the algae died off. I upped my ferts a little too. The plants leaves where it had the algae is still healing. there are brown spots but it is slowly disappearing. New leaves are healthy. I still have one leaf with the algae as it has a long stem thats in the light.
It's difficult to maintain a stable water chemistry in such a small tank and if the plants aren't using all the fertilizers you put into the tank water, then you create a perfect environment for algae to grow because of the excess nutrients. Most aquatic plants don't require adding commercial ferts to the water, they'll do fine with lights that provide 2 watts per gallon of tank size and need just the ferts the fish produce and pure water conditions. A 10 G tank will need 50 to 60 percent water changes every 3 to 4 days to maintain healthy mineral levels for the plants and keep excess nutrients out of the water.
Foster and Smith has good information on controlling algae on their website.
Tank specs:
10 gallon with two 6500 cfl bulbs
Liquid ei dosing with weekly 50% water changes. Light is on 8 hrs a day
Co2 injection via fluval 20g co2 kit
Dose excel daily
I recently just got rid of bga in my tank using hydrogen peroxide and injecting it onto the algae. Now I'm attacking this other algae in my tank. It's some sort of hair algae or maybe black beard algae. I've been trying to use the same method of hydrogen peroxide on it and it seems to turn it red for a day or two and then goes back to normal and ends up killing the leaves it was on that I sprayed. (Anubis, didn't bother sword) this stuff is starting to spread more and it's annoying me. I just did my weekly water change and did a couple squirts of excel directly onto the leaves with the algae to see what that does, but I'm starting to regret that since my fish seem to moving slow so I might have a few dead tetras in the morning ( hopefully not)
I believe my tank isn't getting enough of co2 from the fluval co2 kit since my drop checker never quites get green but only a bluish green. That and I get the occasional spot algae and a ton of this other algae I don't know the name of.
Any ideas how to get rid of this annoying algae?
Keep the co2 consistent. If you need to, i think you do, buy a 5lb co2 tank plus a quality regulator to keep consistent co2 levels and your bbs will die completely. Keep co2 consistent. You can also use ph vs. Kh hardness charts for co2 levels. That's a quick way.
Tank specs:
10 gallon with two 6500 cfl bulbs
Liquid ei dosing with weekly 50% water changes. Light is on 8 hrs a day
Co2 injection via fluval 20g co2 kit
Dose excel daily
I recently just got rid of bga in my tank using hydrogen peroxide and injecting it onto the algae. Now I'm attacking this other algae in my tank. It's some sort of hair algae or maybe black beard algae. I've been trying to use the same method of hydrogen peroxide on it and it seems to turn it red for a day or two and then goes back to normal and ends up killing the leaves it was on that I sprayed. (Anubis, didn't bother sword) this stuff is starting to spread more and it's annoying me. I just did my weekly water change and did a couple squirts of excel directly onto the leaves with the algae to see what that does, but I'm starting to regret that since my fish seem to moving slow so I might have a few dead tetras in the morning ( hopefully not)
I believe my tank isn't getting enough of co2 from the fluval co2 kit since my drop checker never quites get green but only a bluish green. That and I get the occasional spot algae and a ton of this other algae I don't know the name of.
Any ideas how to get rid of this annoying algae?
Keep the co2 consistent. If you need to, i think you do, buy a 5lb co2 tank plus a quality regulator to keep consistent co2 levels and your bbs will die completely. Keep co2 consistent. You can also use ph vs. Kh hardness charts for co2 levels. That's a quick way.
The plan is eventually to get a 5 lb tank and an aquatek regulator that way I can use it on my 55 in the future. That stupid little kit from fluval is ok but not consistent at all
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