oh no...

[cds]

Yes, I have an algae problem that I'm desparately trying to contain. Can someone help!?

It starts out like stubble on the leaves then grows to a fuzzy hair like state... even on my intake tube now, and heater. I think this is black beard no?

It's a 37G high tank. 72W from 2 36W 6700k bulbs on about 10 hours per day. I've added peat to the fluval 204 filter and dose the tank with Kent freshwater plant food about 2-3 times per week. I have 10 lbs. of laterite mixed with the gravel (but the gravel is exceptionally thick--5+ inches in some places). Also have about 10 or so Flourish tabs in the gravel. I pre-filter the water during changes (about 1 every two weeks).

NO3 about 20ppm
NO2 about .5 ppm
Total Hardness 250ppm
Alkalinity 0 (zero) ppm
Ph 6.4 (approx)

Livestock:
1 clown loach
1 med. angel
2 black skirt tetras
2 ch. algae eaters (not really helping)
4 cardinal tetras

Plants:
2 x-lg crypts
3 large am swords
2 what I think are borneo swords
2 mini-vals

Can someone please help me??

As always, thanks in advance...

cds

[cds]

and one more thing I forgot to add about my specs... I have a small DIY CO2 reactor.

cds

[djlen]

Go to the search engine(upper right corner of page) and type in Black Beard or BBA. There's all kinds of info on the subject.
In brief: Pull all affected areas. Scrub, prune, clean all affected areas. Large water change with thorough siphoning, covering the entire substrate. Doesn't have to be deep. Especially with the root tabs in it. Just cover the whole surface.
Bleach inanimate objects in 50/50 solution. Plants in 19:1 solution. This will kill BBA. Be sure and use Tap Water Conditioner on all bleached objects before re-introduction to the tank.
Get all of the algae that you can see out.
Try and get CO2 up to 25 - 30ppm.
For more information use the Search Engine.

Len

[Locust]

If you've got the room in your tank, Siamese Algae Eaters will eat BBA, Try to get young ones, as they tend to be more active at eating algae.

I found this link, and it seems pretty comprehensive:
http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Algae/red-algae.html

[Robert H]

Your N03 is too high, should be 10 to 15ppm... 2 or 3 times a week may be too much for the Kent fertilizer. Try once a week.

TEN POUNDS of laterite??? What kind of laterite are you talking about? Laterite is only sold in small boxes of a few ounces, and you mix it with gravel in the bottom layer. Are you talking about something else like a clay gravel? If you are talking about Flourite, it may actually not be enough.

Whats your P04 level?

[djlen]

SAEs will eat the new stuff but not the old established BBA. Scrub the tank!

Len

[cds]

don't kill me for saying this, but what is PO4 and how do I test for it?

cds

[Locust]

PO4 is phosphate, and you can get phosphate test kits. I'd suggest checking the price at an online store like Big Al's, since test kits are often subject to serious markups.