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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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#2 ·
I feel for you, man, because I fought the same fight for YEARS. Brush algae is just too resilient. Blackouts won't kill it because it can survive in complete darkness for WEEKS. It's nearly impossible to starve it because it can also survive in sterile water for weeks at a time.
If anyone has actually defeated Brush algae without SAE's, I will bow down!
 
#3 ·
I too had a tough time with BBA.....some say it infests tanks with high carbonate hardness.....

in the end....I gave up and left it alone.....as as my plants grew like gangbusters.....they mysteriously dissappeared...I still have a few here and there growing on rocks....but at least its under control right now...
 
#59 ·
I too had a tough time with BBA.....some say it infests tanks with high carbonate hardness.....
I have low carbonate hardness. Still struggling with it. When I started the tank, 29G, 4years ago tap water was soft with ph 8.6. Read that this meant the tap water was treated with phosphates. Dosed more with KNO3 and had a 3hr siesta period.

Now tap water ph is soft with ph 7.6. BBA is attaching my ferns. Still struggling with it. Next step is to take ferns out and dip them in diluted seachem excel.

I have always been told low Co2 is the culprit. Mr Hyde has good Co2 which proves my theory that is an imbalance of some sort.
 
#7 ·
Listen to wolfy. He knows his EI dosing. I adapted one of his dosing schedules for my 75 gal High light tank and the plants are responding very well. Make sure your co2 is up to at least 30ppm with his schedule and you'll see great results.

Marcel
 
#8 ·
when doing diy CO2, how do you test for CO2 ppm? i look at the bubbles as they come out and by the "eye-ball" method, there seems to be 1 bubble per minute...how do i know what that translates into??
thanks
 
#12 ·
I've kept the co2 at 30 ppm or a bit higher for the last 3 months. I use the co2/kh chart and keep my ph at the right level to achieve the 30ppm. I also have a lamotte co2 test kit I occasionally use to double check my levels. Having high co2 levels was one of the things I had read about early on when I had this problem so I've kept a close eye on that one. My plants all do well, usually the water looks like a glass of 7up with everything pearling and growing well. Nitrates between 5 and 10ppm, phosphates between .5 and 1ppm. My nitrate kit is a lamotte, I use a red sea phosphate kit and have double checked my phosphate kit with another red sea kit to verify results. As far as I can tell everything is in order and this stuff should be clearing up but it just goes on growing on about everything. I trim the bba coated leaves every week and vacuum the fallen algae from the gravel. There is no trouble with any other type of algae, even my glass stays pretty much algae free.
 
#13 ·
mr hyde said:
I've kept the co2 at 30 ppm or a bit higher for the last 3 months. I use the co2/kh chart and keep my ph at the right level to achieve the 30ppm. I also have a lamotte co2 test kit I occasionally use to double check my levels. Having high co2 levels was one of the things I had read about early on when I had this problem so I've kept a close eye on that one. My plants all do well, usually the water looks like a glass of 7up with everything pearling and growing well. Nitrates between 5 and 10ppm, phosphates between .5 and 1ppm. My nitrate kit is a lamotte, I use a red sea phosphate kit and have double checked my phosphate kit with another red sea kit to verify results. As far as I can tell everything is in order and this stuff should be clearing up but it just goes on growing on about everything. I trim the bba coated leaves every week and vacuum the fallen algae from the gravel. There is no trouble with any other type of algae, even my glass stays pretty much algae free.
So is it still growing or not?
You need to remove what's there.
The high levels of CO2 wills top the growth, it will not remove it.
You can prune it off easily and then replant.

But you claim it's not and it's still growing, unlike test kits, algae never lies, add more CO2 than you are. Ignore your test for a little while, slowly add more. If you have a little surface movement, that's ideal. Turn CO2 off at night, that will prevent high levels from building up and allow a chance to off gas at night.

Add more KNO3/KH2PO4/CO2 and traces.

Regards,
Tom Barr



 
#14 ·
Thanks Tom
I'll try upping the co2. Your saying that bba can't reproduce when there are high co2 levels? I'm sure now that it can't be starved of phosphates. I'm sure you knew that already but i was out of ideas at the time. I'll continue to dose everything like always with a little more on traces.
Hyde
 
#15 ·
The CO2 does help slow down the growth (very good) but does not stop it completely. I went through a month long campaigne of sitting in front of the tank every morning and afternoon and removing it by hand. I trimmed and trashed plants that were infested and removed individual pieces of flourite with tongs (my tanks 30" tall and I can't reach the bottom). Now every once and a while a piece of it will show up and I just pull it out, so I guess your never rid of it. The up side is, if there's ever a Aquarium tong competition I will definitely be in the running for first place, good luck.
 
#16 ·
I have been having a break-out of brush algae lately also and came across this article. I think it is probably left as a last "nuclear option".

Fighting Algae with Hydrogen Peroxide
 
#18 ·
150EH said:
The CO2 does help slow down the growth (very good) but does not stop it completely. I went through a month long campaigne of sitting in front of the tank every morning and afternoon and removing it by hand. I trimmed and trashed plants that were infested and removed individual pieces of flourite with tongs (my tanks 30" tall and I can't reach the bottom). Now every once and a while a piece of it will show up and I just pull it out, so I guess your never rid of it. The up side is, if there's ever a Aquarium tong competition I will definitely be in the running for first place, good luck.
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



 
#20 ·
Clownknife said:
I have upped and upped my C02 and I am still haveing problems. What I am wondering is if my reactor is not big enough?

I have a reactor 200 with pressurized C02. My tank is a 200g. The reactor is supposed to be rated for this size tank. I am wondering if it is?
Check your co2 level- that should tell you how effecient it is for your size tank.
 
#21 ·
I have "nuked" algae with persoxide and will confirm that is does work. However, if you do it *correctly*, you will also lose some weaker plants, fish, and a lot of snails.
 
#22 ·
I upped the co2 up between 35 and 40ppm now and have been checking it regularly with the lamotte test kit. The kit seems to be reliable. I did a major pruning and cleanup of the bba. Also bleached a couple bolbitis plants that were heavily infested. I think it's possible my co2 has been dipping down pretty low lately. I noticed that my ph probe isn't holding it's accuracy for a month at a time like it used to which would screw up my ph-kh/co2 calculations. I'll test the co2 every other day with the lamotte kit and make sure it stays up and hopfully this bba will finally stop growing so fast and I can get it under control. I'm so burned out on pruning and cleaning up bba it isn't even funny. :icon_frow
 
#26 ·
You will kill yourself with test kits, my CO2 , "if done by the test kits" tells me I am between 48 and 60ppm of CO2 (closer to 60 :icon_roll ) which by all standards is a deadly range for fish and my fish dont surface for O2 and could care less. So is that an accurate reading ? Dont know , dont care... the fish colors are beautiful, appetite is perfect.
I believe I read Tom saying earlier... forget the kits and up the CO2, I would take that info to the bank. I have been doing it for years and unless I see a photo , I have forgotten what BBA even looks like.
 
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