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getting rid of black brush algae

102K views 64 replies 36 participants last post by  Hilde 
#1 ·
My tank's been infested with bba for the last 6 months. I've been reading the advice on the board off and on and kept my nitrates and phosphates at the recommonded ratios for 5 months straight with no change. My last attempt I added a large mass of fast growing floating type plants to consume nutrients but it didn't seem to slow the growth of bba down at all. In the last 3 weeks I thought I'd try to starve the algae of phosphates and stopped dosing it bringing the levels down to .1 for the last 3 weeks. The algae still thrives, no better or worse. Nitrates are still between 5 to 10 and the plants are all growing really well but so is the algae. BBA is really the only algae problem in the tank.
46 gallon
3 watts per gallon
pressurized co2 at 30ppm
nitrates between 5 and 10
I dose 5 ml flourish iron twice a week
5 ml plantex twice a week (1 tbsl per 500 ml)
1 teaspoon pottasium at water change
1/3 water change once a week
ph 6.8
gh and kh on the low side
I've heard a few people mention that using flourish excel seemed to get rid of their bba and was curious about that. I have some on order and will probably try it. I need to find some siamese algae eaters also. The only algae eaters i have are ottos and amano shrimp. I've heard of the bleach dip method but it would be very difficult to dip everything in my tank, the algae spores are probably everywhere. I also have considered the copper treatment. I've tried to order the azoo brush algae killer but it is only sold in australia. I really just dont have many more ideas and would certainly appreciate any advice anyone has on getting rid of it.
 
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#28 ·
Isn't it true you can control (and virtually eliminate) BBA at 30ppm or more if its kept that high? But it can always come back. So its really a control, rather than a cure. At least that was how I interpreted some advice from Rex regarding defeating BBA. Also, with such high O2 as a result of plant pearling, you don't have to worry about O2 for your fish, even if the CO2 levels gets in the supposedly "dangerous" 40 to 60 ppm occasionally. My fish never seem to have a problem. Now, if I can just get rid of the blasted film algae on my glass. :icon_frow
 
#30 ·
upped the co2 to 40-45ppm last couple of weeks and has minimal if any effect on bba. Have mechanically removed as much as possible every day. Added 4 siamese algae eaters yesterday, added a dozen or so stem plants, have kept dosing, nitrates 5-10ppm, phosphates .5-1.0ppm. I'll give this another month and then if nothing is any better I'll bleach the whole tank.
 
#31 ·
plantbrain said:
Well somehow for over a decade it's not infested any tank I've worked on after I made this change.iven the number of tanks, the number of folks I've helped and the time, luck ain't it.

It's also something I can go back and repeat.
Algae is there for a reason, if it's still a problem, you still have a CO2 issue, that's not what you want to hear, but the algae does not lie, your test kit might......

So until ytou address that, you'll keep having it come back again and again.
Or perhaps I have been really really really lucky for a really long time........


Regards,
Tom Barr
I don't have any BBA on my plants at all, every once in a while I see a tuft growing on a single piece of Florite. I keep my CO2 at 26-28 ppm which is not as high as mr hyde is going to try, but my tanks ok by my standards. If cranking up the CO2 gets rid of it and turning down the CO2 brings it back then it's never really gone is it? In one million tanks there are a million different variables times the number of different fish, plants, substate, and etc., either have had some luck or have been doing this long enough that you don't get your variables as far out of wack as the rest of us, or are you saying that you have found the holy grail and that one size fits all.
 
#32 ·
I want someone to give me a definitive confirmation to the following statement:

"Sufficient Co2 will hinder the growth of BBA."

If this is true isn't the path to success with this algae ensuring a constant flow of 30 to 45 ppm Co2? I mean add in some SAEs to boot but this seems too simple for this algae to cause the discussion/hatred that it does...

Someone confirm or deny please

cheers,
Abe
 
#34 ·
If other things are out of balance, you could have all the co2 in the world and you'd get bba.

My tank runs over 40 ppm of co2. Close to 50, I'd guess(if I add fish to the tank without long acclimation-weeks they die in less than an hour....). I still get bba in this tank.

also, this thread might be one of the best grave robbings I've ever seen.
 
#37 ·
Alright, allow me to explain and... thank you for the hijacking comment :). I mean they weren't using it anymore and I didn't see the need to start another one when I could dust this perfect thread off right here.

I have a problem with bba but it is a problem that persists. I will only allow the tank to get so bad before I tear it down, bleach it, and replant everything. I have heard the same, what I consider truth, story over and over regarding each type of algae. Bottom line, there is something out of whack be it lighting, ferts, or Co2. Let me give my tank bio and we'll see if the experts can give me a hand.

Lighting:
My lighting is a true story of live and learn. I had 60 watts of T8 6500 over my 125g tank and I couldn't grow anything. It is a 125 long and given the depth of my substrate I got about 19" of water that my lighting has to penetrate. Tired of having plants wither away I bought a light fixture that I knew would grow plant life -- a 6 x 80W T5HO light fixture... thats right baby 480 watts of luminescent heaven. Now on top of buying the equivelant of a rectangular search light I also put it approximately 4" above my tank. So in short... I grew plants alright and everything else too. There wasn't a type of algae that I didn't have so I took some steps:

Following this thread I thought I would put Hoppy's theory into practice mostly because I don't have a PAR meter and I trust the work that this man does and here is the result:

First off here is a shot of only 4 of the lights on, 2 x 6500 and 2 x 10000 and this is what we can get. See the glare and the obvious over intensification of the lighting due to both light strength AND placement of the fixture. Notice my home made screens on display above the tank.


I know someone wants to comment on how sparsely the tank is planted but I assure you there is a plant at least every 2 sq. inches. After my last bleaching because of bba I had to mow a lot of leaves off of my stem plants to trigger new growth and that is what you're looking at right here.

Now, this is after I turned another light off. So I'm running on 2 x 6500 and 1 10K bulb AND I have the screens in place:


Ferts:

I have yet to find a location locally that sells the raw material that I need to dose dry ferts, lord knows that I would love to. I guess I could buy them online but unfortunately I am my worst enemy here because I don't want to take the time to learn a schedule that works for the tank. However, I do fertilize my tank daily with a blend purchased here. I do dose religiously and I do a 50% change at the end of each week which besides providing the reset I believe my fish & inverts really enjoy the large infusion of fresh water. I dose according to their directions but I will admit that as the plants get larger my dosage gets larger because I suspect the amount dosed should mirror what the surface area of each plant can absorb... I could be wrong on this.

Plants:

I have my fast growing stems, floaters, heavy root, and so on and so forth. Most improtantly is that the tank is PLANTED. Not semi or moderately but heavily. I will admit that the photos don't show to what degree the tank is planted so I snapped a couple more shots:

My struggling carpet


My giant vals are sprouting daughters and growing, excuse the Crinum thaianums I just picked those up today


My ball of java moss that I call shrimp manor is actually moss completely covering some mopani, the side is hygro and mermaid


Sprouting nana, I think


The point is that she is well planted and the plants are absorbing what I am giving them, the light is turned down, Co2 is high so what else could I possibly change in order stop bba from growing? Do I need to wait until the majority of my plants are larger and therefore can produce a larger uptake of nutrients and ultimately knocking bba down?

Lemme know,
Abe
 
#38 ·
Well, firstly you have a very thinly planted tank of mostly slow growers. (BTW is that Java Fern planted in the substrate, cause that's a no, no.)

You have way too much light for that type of setup even with only 4 bulbs.

The high light, slow growth and thin planting will most defintely cause problems. Again this tank is a good example of even if you throw 100ppm of co2 your still probably gonna have problems. It simply doesn't have the plant mass, growth factor to support the other variables.
 
#39 ·
ok so I have pretty much no more substrate that I can disturb to plant anything. All of the plants are small. I'm aware that the mass isn't there because everything is small I can't accelerate the growth of small plants to make them large to add to the mass.

If I'm "thinly planted" what am I suppose to do when there are plants everywhere, create another layer of substrate to start planting in? I'm sorry to sound sarcastic but you pretty much are saying that I don't have the plants needed to produce the needed effect. I have about 90 vals, amoung other plants, in the tank ranging from giant to cork screw to regular and each produce a runner and about an inch of growth a day. I have floating lettuce that is unstoppable as far as duplication. The rotala is creeping along the substrate and up just fine.

Maybe you need to be more specific because you make it sound like I'm doomed unless I stuff the tank full of egeria densa and wisteria.... If I'm truely lacking fast growers give me some ideas on what I can throw in there to fill the minimal amount of gaps I have. Also, there needs to be a distinguishing factor between thinly planted and mowed down. I have the same plants in the tank that I have in the tank in my signature. The only difference is that I had to remove a lot of the leaves.

So, what are some good fast growing plants?

Cheers,
Abe
 
#40 ·
I'm kind of calling you out cards. You want to criticize what I have and what I have worked for that is fine. However, the mentality of this forum has always been one that has presented not only a problem but a way to fight through the issues that the OP is having.

If I'm "thinly planted" and "lack the plant mass" then what can I do? Show me the path to success please. I don't post on this forum to waste the time typing.

Be constructive instead of having an attitude that is damning without presentation of a solution.

Cheers,
Abe
 
#42 ·
Re-reading I think you're right. My apologies cards. That mood was driven by day-to-day work related stress. I think I fell prey to the forum version of road rage. I have already lowered the light even more by unplugging another bulb which means there are some areas of my tank that are receiving almost no light what-so-ever.

This is not a genuine emergency or major concern at this stage. Having said that I would like to prevent bba if and when I reach that crossroads and I don't think that lowering the lighting is going to be the kick that finally kills the would-be opponent.

To follow cards post more literally:
very thinly planted tank of mostly slow growers
I want to put some more fast growers in there. Lets make that happen and attack this situation on multiple fronts.
 
#47 ·
im really new in this planted aquarium world, i am facing the same problem too (BBA) for around 2 month now, is it possible that by introducing some Otocinclus vestitus or siamese algae eater can help me get rid of BBA, or any other algae eater tht can help me cleaning this BBA....
 
#48 ·
I just read this whole thread + a few others to refresh my memory so I could get rid of a small bba outbreak. If you read this thread you posted in you will find the answers. Here's a quick list of things mentioned of inportance in this thread:

Low co2, you want at least 30 ppm in most situations
High light(without co2 and ferns to support it
Proper dosing methods(ei was mentioned here, it's nice and simple,works for most people).
I have also noticed a link between sachem flourish iron and bba
Fluctuating co2 levels is also suspect along with low nitrates(I disagree,my nitrates are kept at 15 ppm and I have algae)

You can get rid of it by spot dosing excel or h202(hydrogen peroxide)

Thanks everyone that posted in this thread. I have came to the conclusion that bba showed up in my medium light non co2 tank because I got lazy with dosing excel. This was kind of one those moments where I went "DUH!" and smacked myselfin the forehead.

For some reason I continued reading. This thread is a very good read.
 
#49 ·
Wow this is an epic thread, I found it on google... and as it turns out it was posted on just today.

Seth - What was the connection between Seachem Iron and BBA that you found?

I have a slight amont of BBA everywhere and it's driving me crazy. It doesn't grow in thick tufts or patches like most photos I see, but very slowly small amounts on the edges of leaves. I prune a lot of affected leaves. I have also been spot dosing excel. I have pulled plants out and soaked in H2O2 and even soaked the sword leaf tips in cups of h2o2 when the water was low during water change.

I'm thinking of upping my fert dosing... I have might lights cut back to 6 hrs, and I don't know my exact amt of co2 but i know its pretty high....

Sighhh

Just curious about your Iron / BBA statement! Thanks
 
#50 ·
Every time I dose flourish iron(or comprehensive) I end up with bba butif I dose csm+b I do not get bba.

Lastnight I looked through a lot of threads. As I always do when I have a question. It became apparent to me that people dosing flourish iron seamed to have a lot worse problems with bba.
I read a lot last night, like 50 threads.
I haven't done any true experiments to prove my findings, but I'm satisfied.
 
#55 ·
My 75 gallon oscar tank was infested with bba a few months ago when I decided to try a couple plants in his tank. Now the plants are gone and I can't get rid of the algae. I read that overdosing Flourish Excel can get rid of it, but how much can I dose without hurting my large oscar? The initial dose I used last night was for 90 gallons. Now it says add 1 cap a day. How much more than that should I use?
 
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