HOW TO Get Rid Of BLACK BEARD ALGAE

[@MCorrigan]

If you algae, particularly black beard algae it's because you have too many nutrients in your tank. The easy to way cure that is to add more plants, which will take up the nutrients in your tank, particularly nitrate. If you have lots of plants and still have BBA it's because you're probably adding too much liquid plant fertiliser. So much so your plants can't take it all up, so algae grows. It is rare that it is due to too much light or too little Co2. Try to stay away from hydrogen peroxide and products like Seachem Excel as they are literally poisons for your tank. Add more plants and cut back on fertilisers. I have a heavily planted tank, I don't use a Co2 system, and I do 30% water change once a month or more. My plants are thriving and I have no algae. Oh and over-feeding your fish is another cause. I feed my fish no more than three times a week. Fish in the wild don't eat daily.

[@jamesjamesnet]

This is a great channel watching from South Florida USA

[@BRSfresh]

Thanks so much 🙌

[@michaelc6755]

Please cover the long, stringy green hair algae. I only get it in very small patches, but it can get extremely long fairly quickly.

[@joelspaulding]

I see a MJ vid and I smash that like button ❤ Great video and super informative. Can’t wait to see the rest of the series.

[@BTQ410]

A really good fish that eats BBA is the Florida Flag Fish. When I had BBA take over my tank (the one and only time, and I don’t do CO2), I treated my whole tank with hydrogen peroxide 3% (SeaChem Flourish Excel did nothing for me) and after 2 weeks of dosing (you can get the dose inline) I was about ready to give up and tear down my tank. I then read about Florida Flag Fish, and I found some at my LFS so I gave it go. I had tried other algae eaters and wasn’t impressed. I put the Flagfish into my tank and after about 2 to 3 weeks. They went crazy on the BBA and I had it all over the plants, lights and tubes, even on my hardscape. I now keep a gang of Flagfish that can help me with all my tanks if needed, so far they haven’t been needed again. I also, don’t have iron or dose iron and I still got BBA. I highly recommend Flagfish if you are fighting BBA.

[@BRSfresh]

Thanks for the feedback! Definitely hard to track down the exact cause of BBA in any individual set up, but regardless of the cause it’s great to know that there are solutions!

[@Mattcc3]

I got this algae. It came on some bucephalandra ketagang. I got rid of most of it before putting the plant in the tank. I’m only getting it now on the seiryu stone close to the water surface where there’s flow.

[@BRSfresh]

I hear you! I have experienced the same thing

[@tracys.6033]

Great information MJ. Please do green air algae that won't come off with toothbrush or anything else. Then the algae that grows on my annubis and also won't rub off

[@gregwilson5910]

I had a huge problem with BBA, regular water changes ( once a week ) cutting back on feeding and reduced lighting. Its a long process but Perserverance works. Seachem helped in reducing algae but upset my Coolie loaches no end so stopped using it. Thanks MJ for your advice and tips.

[@williammcdowell6257]

I have found Rosy Barbs will eat BBA if you don't overfeed them.

[@keithhoofard5844]

You did one on GSA quite a while back, so likely no new revelations. Watched it, but still dealing with GSA in my 120-gallon going on 2 years. Prune and scrape , and back in a week. Every combination of light spectrum/intensity and many different fertilizers (w/ PO4), from lean to heavy, has done nothing to remedy. RO-DI water changes (50-70%) weekly without fail (remin with the Seachem lineup). Running CO2 as well. I think it’s just mocking me for sport at this point. Or these twin 59W Fluval 3.0 plant lights are partly to blame. Never had algae until I switched to LED.

[@williammcdowell6257]

Feel your pain there. My experience is intensity is less often the issue than duration or spectrum. I recently addressed algae issues with a 5 hour photo period per day for a week, algae visibly weakened - plants stopped growing - upon resuming a 7 hour photo period, plants started growing. I find also that CO2 really does need to be in the 20-30 ppm range when the tank is illuminated for plants to out-compete algae. But so many factors can contribute, often in combination. I find a warmer light spectrum less likely to stimulate algae, many modern LEDS for aquarium use are too generous in the blue. Unless levels of Phosphate, Nitrate or Iron are high (for Nitrate I aim for less than 10 ppm and for Phosphate less than 1) or hardness has exceeded 150 ppm TDS I haven't been able to link algae to water quality. I don't do a lot of water changes but I do harvest floating plants, sometimes twice a week. Hope that might help a little, good luck.

[@keithhoofard5844]

@@williammcdowell6257 I just recently backed off to no more than 15% red and 5% blue, after reading those can promote algae (with the whites 60-70%). The >150 TDS I had not heard; mine sits at 350 ppm following Seachem mixing with Equilibrium (gives 6 dGH with one dose), with 4 dKH using their two buffers at 1.5 doses each). I do believe I have issues getting enough CO2 dissolved in a 120-gal, as the drop checker just barely has a lime green meniscus while bulk of fluid remains dark blue, with CO2 running at a fast bubble pace. Diffusing into the FX5 intake was the only way to increase contact time. So, I have a Reactor on order. Change that variable and see what happens (along with keeping a close eye on phosphate and nitrate. Thanks for the insight.

[@williammcdowell6257]

@@keithhoofard5844 I have to use a reactor, other methods of diffusion seem incapable of sustaining decent CO2 levels in my main tank. Low light tanks with Java fern, Crypts etc., are honestly much less bother, but less interesting. Best of luck.

[@keithhoofard5844]

@@williammcdowell6257Anything I do has to be the best of the best, including the aquarium, plants, and livestock. Been incredibly frustrating seeing more issues develop as I add more technology, that was supposed to make life easier. I dove headlong into Discus 24 years ago with this same tank, ran 440W of T12 VHO 12 hours a day, some crazy 7-layer dip substrate recipe I found online, and using straight RO (missed the part about remin). No algae, plants went crazy, and my first 6 discus paired up and were successfully breeding in a community tank. Bizarre.

[@AngelFlores-zm4ub]

I have adequate filtration, medium light on a timer, nitrates never go above 20ppm, 30%WC weekly, and yet I still get BBA ? The worst is that they are on plants that took 6-12 months to spread

[@kasperskovly292]

Green hair algae

[@soaplag]

I gotta stop the iron...ooops

[@robertsmit5522]

Staghorn please

[@roynassour6230]

Hello, I had started my 30 gallons tank for arround 2 months with CO2 injection and a full spectrum light and an Atman cannister filter. all plants are doing great except my Anubias and monte carlo grass they are covered by some bba. Is it normal for now ? because the grass isn't growing yet. FYI i am dosing some liquide co2 also. Need advice please. Thank you

[@BRSfresh]

Hi! It’s a bit hard to say not knowing all the parameters but basically there is normalcy in algae in the first couple of months. That said it’s best not to let it get out of control - in my experience what has worked if you feel it’s getting away from you is to go dark. Light off, CO2 off, cover the tank with a beach towel and do that for a couple of days. Then see if you have improvement. That can jump start algae relief but you’ll still need to look at backing off any nutrients you’re adding, backing your light down to a minimum number of hours like 4 to 6 until you see improvement and if you’re running CO2, you should not need to dose extra CO2 as well. Especially with Monte Carlo and Anubias. Hope that helps!

[@marcusshhiew5047]

next GDA

[@andugo]

Too strong flow will cause bba?

[@BRSfresh]

Yes, amongst many others, excessive flow can be a contributing factor to BBA

[@stephenevans7884]

Le grande fromage.