BLACK BEARD ALGIE,how do you do it?

[grantbudd74]

Ok here it is: How do you get rid of yours?

Lights on or off?
Ferts Yes/No?
Spot treatment yes/no?
Total black out yes/no?
Removing all visable trace of BBA yes/no?
Increase Co2 yes/no?

There is a lot of info on how to get rid of the dredded BBA and I hear mixed reports so its your chance to tell u how and why

I look forward to hearing what you guys have to say.

Thx

Grant

Melbourne, Australia

OH AND YES I HAVE BBA ON MY SWORDS AND VAL ETC

yes i use co2

[mehran]

Lights on or off? There is two approach. One reducing the time and the other is having a period of one or two hour of light off during the day.
Ferts Yes/No? If you have high tech set up you need Ferts and believe it or not in most cases over ferts doesn't cause algea breakout IF you have a good ligh/CO2 balance.
Spot treatment yes/no? Effective with Excell if you have SPOTS of infestation Increasing Excell dose in the tank is another approch
Total black out yes/no? Severe breakout yes one of the good approach.
Removing all visable trace of BBA yes/no? If you have time:)
Increase Co2 yes/no? Yes and most of the time my best approach
Here is a good link for diffrent type of Algea and treatment approach

http://www.aquariumalgae.blogspot.com/
Mehran

[Dkarc@Aol.com]

I have heard using Hydrogen Peroxide (3%) works very well in containing nuisance algae. I have heard it works very well on cyano, but not sure on BBA. May be worth a shot.

-Ryan

[shane2008]

BBA is typically due to not enough CO2. Increase the CO2 SLOWLY.

To get rid of the BBA that is currently in the tank, Seachem Excel can help over time.

[grantbudd74]

HI guys

A few other questions:

How often to dose excel and by how much?Double the dose? everyday?

My co2 is high after going for 2-3 a second so I am back t 2 drops a second.

Fish are ok breathing a little hard but ok.

What fert to use? Low etch tank, val, crypts, swords, nubias java moss. All t5 and t8 lighting and co2. All ferts are flourish but which ones would you use? 200Ltr tank

Thanks

Grant

[shane2008]

I never overdose Excel. It may affect some fish adversely. I would follow the directions on the bottle. It will take time for the existing BBA to go away using Excel.

If you know your CO2 is high enough, then perhaps your ferts are not high enough. You want to make sure you have enough NPK and micros as well.

I would try to lower your lighting output. Either by reducing the amount of bulbs that are on, by reducing the on time of the lights, or by rasing the lights. This will reduce the tanks demands for CO2 and fertilizers. Then once you get the BBA under control you can go from there.

The brand of ferts that you use really doesn't matter.

[wizzin]

I've had luck with increasing water circulation/movement and increasing oxygenation by using a powerhead w/ venturi at night. basically, c02 on during lights on, then powerhead on while lights off. Plus the other suggestions above (increase c02, reduce light period, cut back on ferts, manually remove as much as possible and spot treat as a last line of attack).

[draal5]

excel aplied directly to the BBA will kill it almost over night use a syringe to apply

excel can be over dosed safely

here' s the 14 day routine for bad outbreaks double dose day one and single dose everyday except for water change days then double dose on those days BBA will be gone. repeat if necessary


good luck

[shane2008]

If you do the direct application of Excel to the plant leaves apply a small amount. I have had excel kill anubius leaves when Excel applied in a large dose.

[jeff@zina.com]

True Siamese Algae Eaters and Rosy Barbs will eat it. Siamese Foxes will also eat it usually. But pull out anything you can toss out that has it, trim plants, etc. Toss it, don't clean it.

Jeff

[Patr1ck]

I agree on the SAE's. What about black mollies? Has anybody heard of them eating BBA

Pat

[grantbudd74]

Ok so I did a lights out for 3 days and the Discus looked far from happy but a quick WC and a good feed got them back on track.

S I have started double dosing with EXCEL and also the usual NPK stuff along with 8hrs of light as usual and its back!!!!!! It was almost gone before....

Bare in mind I have discus and a few corys, 2 plecs and 2 C/loaches.

I bought 2 swords but I have to say I have noticed my plants are NOT growing as fast as they used to. My Co2 indicator test tube thing on the side of the tank says I'm ok at 2 drops per second.

I read iron is now a problem.....So is potassium so is nitrogen.....If only there is a solution????Maybe remove my big old sword????

You may get an idea I am new to this

Any ideas?? Didnt like the ambient light only thing as I thought I was going to see a tank with 4 dead discus in when I first turned on the lights. THey were very dark and fins clamped a bit. They are OK now mind.....

Thanks for reading

[mehran]

Can you give us detail info about your tank including: Light system, Wattage and duration of lighting, Method of Co2 application, How do you monitor CO2 level, Density of plant, Number of fish and your feeding regiem, KH, Amonia and Nitrate level, How old is your setup. \
Mehran

[tacks]

Hi I feel you can do several things. Treat with excel, remove as much as you can by hand,get a drop checker, and you need more co2 in the tank 2 bubbles a second is not enough. Raise your co2 but watch your fish they will tell you when you have enough. HTH Ed

[alpine]

Grant, my wife tried the Excell method in her planted tank as suggested to me by a biologist at the ACA . First time she submersed the plants in pure excell for a short amound of time, the second time as it was suggested by someone else she double dose excell in the tank . Neither time was succesfull and brought fish and plant casualties . I had to take all the blame :o
Good luck in your quest .

Roberto.

[Dutch dude]

BBA is a pain in the a$$ and can be hard to get ride of. My experiences,....mostly grow on the wood, spots on the glass, mainly edges of old plant leaves les bba in dark aria's.

Darken the tank for 3 day's won't have any effect on the bba not any other algea. Some algea stop growing or reduce in growth but when the lights go on again they make up.

More ferts make the plants grow faster (just like increasing CO2) so you can remove more of the old leaves so you will be able to keep the plants relatively clean. It doesn't effect the bba on the wood dough and only Iron ferts seem to slow down the growth a bit,...but not enough to say it is useful.

More frequent water changes doesn't seem to have effect either.

color of the lights don't effect the bba

Reducing light strength or light period seem to have some effect but it does have a dramatic effect on your plant growth. Your plants will die of before you see significant slow down of the growth of bba.

There are only few fish that eat from the bba and only when you starve them.

Is there anything that is sufficient,....Yes,.....keeping the wood clean! BBA seem to grow good on the mold. Only one thing has proven to be very sufficient,.....more current in the tank and more surface water movement so oxygen levels will raise. I have had BBA for 3 years in one of my tanks and since I increased the turn over time to 6 times an hour it starts to disappear.

Ooh and I hate chemicals that should kill algea. Often is is only a temporary solution and you would not be the first that get troubles with his fish or plants after a treatment.

[poconoboss]

Blacking out will NOT help as BBA is brought on not by excessive light but by excessive nutrients. ;)

Fish will never eat enough of it to keep it under control.

I removed mine completely with dosing Excel.

I use a large dose after a water change and smaller doses every day or other day. I have the dosing amounts at home, I will post them later.

[ChloroPhil]

Blacking out will NOT help as BBA is brought on not by excessive light but by excessive nutrients. ;)

Fish will never eat enough of it to keep it under control.

I removed mine completely with dosing Excel.

I use a large dose after a water change and smaller doses every day or other day. I have the dosing amounts at home, I will post them later.


Agreed 100%. Excel works well for killing the stuff but you've got to get a control of your nutrient situation to fix the cause and not the symptoms.

Regards,
Phil

[kush]

Fish will never eat enough of it to keep it under control.
.

A school of either true SAE or American flag fish will eliminate BBA - but they will also eliminate any java moss, etc.

Stem plants will outcompete BBA if you can strictly limit nutrients in the tank. For me, that means micro-dosing my ferts. I have just shy of 3 wpg and inline CO2 injection. I add 2 ml daily of an iron supplement - and nothing else - to 120 gallons, just enough to give me the faintest blush on a Fe test kit.

[exv152]

BBA is caused by fluctuating CO2 levels, and/or not enough water circulation. Spot treating with excel, or SAE's are really just band-aid solutions to a larger problem. But, from personal experience, not enough CO2 is usually the biggest culprit with this kind of algae.