Black Beard Algae

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fishorama

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Jun 28, 2006
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Well, that doesn't look bad at all to me. The "hedge" is not an aquatic plant & will slowly die. Just remove it now, it's never going to look or grow well for very long.

I know much of my bba in this 1 tank is from inconsistancy & my laziness. I just get tired of constantly trying to keep up with it (sigh).
 
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Nyk0nn

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Sep 27, 2021
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The Scarlet temples are being plucked out by either the gold barbs or the Gourami's? Could be my devil thorn snail that likes to burrow but I doubt it.
Going to have to go back to the store to buy more.

Side question, what would I have to do if a wanted to scrap the whole tank and start over? My fish, shrimp and snail all couldn't hang out in a bucket for a bit till I clean and set the tank up again correct? I've changed it around a few times with décor and different woods but I'm not real happy with it anymore?
 

fishorama

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Jun 28, 2006
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SF Bay area, CA
I'm not sure it's animals making your red temples unhappy. Mine did not grow healthy roots or enough to keep them down well...but your tank is different than mine...give them 1 or 2 more tries & move on to something else. I get most of my plants for free from my club, but even still it gets tiresome to keep killing the same plants...I try for 2 or maybe even 3 attempts & give it a long rest before I try a plant species again. Sorry to be a buzz kill.
 

The Masked Shadow

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Feb 17, 2021
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My input:

In my experience, Siamese Algae Eaters do little to nothing. I would suggest buying Rid-X and dosing the proper amount (I’ll link a thread if you want). I bought this thing called a Nano+ Water Sterilizer. It prevents algae from growing. Worked within days! Used to be this. You can’t tell through the blanket of other algae, but there is a lot of BBA. Cleared it up in less than a week

0BC6A2D2-D315-4820-871D-9ABE03038D0E.jpeg

7D2C9B52-65C0-446F-8F0F-C4EED39F19FC.jpeg
 
Apr 2, 2002
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New York
In my experience I have used a group of SAEs to eliminate a BBA invasion with a lot of it in dwarf hair grass. The key is to stop feeding the tank.



This was my pressurized co2 added tank. I had two major algee outbreaks due to eauipment issues. The first was very early on because i did not tape all the co2 connections and I let all the co2 leak out in a week and I did nit realize it. The second (and what caused hte bba outbreak above) was due to one of the 4 power compact bulbs going out and it took a week to get a replacement.

I normally had no SAE in that tank. I collected them from other tanks for the specific purpose of eliminating the BBA. They did their job.
 

Nyk0nn

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Sep 27, 2021
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I'm not sure it's animals making your red temples unhappy. Mine did not grow healthy roots or enough to keep them down well...but your tank is different than mine...give them 1 or 2 more tries & move on to something else. I get most of my plants for free from my club, but even still it gets tiresome to keep killing the same plants...I try for 2 or maybe even 3 attempts & give it a long rest before I try a plant species again. Sorry to be a buzz kill.
No worries, I'm getting used to it..
 

Nyk0nn

AC Members
Sep 27, 2021
144
12
18
Pennsylvania
Real Name
B
My input:

In my experience, Siamese Algae Eaters do little to nothing. I would suggest buying Rid-X and dosing the proper amount (I’ll link a thread if you want). I bought this thing called a Nano+ Water Sterilizer. It prevents algae from growing. Worked within days! Used to be this. You can’t tell through the blanket of other algae, but there is a lot of BBA. Cleared it up in less than a week

View attachment 230946

View attachment 230947
Rid-X? Like the stuff for septic systems?
 
Apr 2, 2002
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Re using ozone in aquariums, there is science on this. There is a difference between using ozone in seawater as opposed to freshwater. In fw it will degrade the bacterial cycling system. There are a lot more papers dealing with ozone use in sw than in fw. I cannot fugure out what the "yellow substances" are that build up and that the ozone removes. My water never yellows????


Nur Adlin, Masashi Hatamoto, Shinichi Yamazaki, Takahiro Watari & Takashi Yamaguchi (2022) A potential zero water exchange system for recirculating aquarium using a DHS-USB system coupled with ozone, Environmental Technology, 43:2, 275-285, DOI: 10.1080/09593330.2020.1784295

ABSTRACT
Partial water exchange is one of the most common conventional methods used to maintain water quality and aesthetic beauty in recirculating aquarium systems (RASs). However, this method uses substantial amount of water. The ozone-down-flow hanging sponge-up-flow sludge blanket (ozone-DHS-USB) system attempts to be a more responsible method for aquarium maintenance. It eliminates the necessity for water exchange in aquarium by maintaining nitrogen concentrations at a safe level and by reducing yellow substances. Also, the impact of O3 on the DHS-USB system was investigated. The system was assayed using an on-site freshwater aquarium influenced by ambient temperature ranging from 23°C to 34°C. During ozonation Phases 1 and 3, the colour of the water in the aquarium was successfully maintained below 10 colour units. The 16S rRNA gene analysis of microorganisms in the DHS revealed that constant application of O3 has caused a decrease in nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB). Nevertheless, NH3 and NO−2 were maintained within 0.1 mg N L−1, and NO−3 was maintained at 14.6 ± 9.20 mg N L−1 throughout the study. Carps survived for 425 days without any water exchange performed. Our study supports that the ozone-DHS-USB system has a high potential towards creating low-maintenance aquaria.

Graphical abstract
full paper here https://www.researchgate.net/profil...using-a-DHS-USB-system-coupled-with-ozone.pdf

Basically, using the ozone decreases the bacteria present. This may not matter as long as the ozone is not stopped for some reason. If the unit breaks the biological system will not be able to handle the resulting ammonia and nitrite.
 
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