Black brush algae in a planted tank.

DO you have any ottos in there? As far as I know, they will eat that stuff. The one I just put in my tank is getting rid of it quickly. Chinese algae eaters will eat it to, I know that from experience (get a little one if you get one, they are voracious algae eaters when small, but when they get bigger they start wanting other foods more).

BBA looks more like little tufts of black or red hair or grass. It generally attaches to the edges of leaves. So, what you have is definitely not BBA. I couldn't figure out exactly what kind that was (probably diatoms), but it's what I have had a small breakout of in the last week or so. That little otto is cleaning things up well though!
 
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Diatoms usually wipe right off, though. May be early stages of BBA.
 
IME with BBA, the beginning stages don't look like that. Generally, it grows along the edges of leaves before it starts growing in the middle of leaves. A couple of ottos and some snails might help to determine for sure which it is. If the snails and ottos eat it, then it's most likely diatoms. If they leave it be, then it could possibly be BBA. Upon close inspection, is there any height to the algae at all, or is it totally flat? BBA grows in little tufts, not in sheets.

I haven't spent alot of time researching the care of my plants and whatnot until recently, but I've definitely dealt with a variety of algae types in my 3 or so years of keeping a fish tank, and I've been growing BBA for about two years. I've seen it in various stages, and it always grows in tufts, like tiny patches of very fine grass.
 
I don't have any ottos and the algae looks alot more black then how it appears on the photos, however I do have some diatoms on the glass in the corners that wipe right off.

The tank I started up in Nov of last year. So not quite a year old yet.

Thank you all for your input and help :D
 
Water flow. BBA grows in 'dead zones' so you need water flow.

If it's BBA then it will just 'go away' if you direct the current at it. Put in a power head and aim the water stream at it. Over a few days it will shrink and disappear. It doesn't have to be a hard stream, just a little so you see the BBA waving in the breeze, as it were. Once that patch is gone you can direct the current in a different direction. Changing the current around every couple of weeks can help keep your tank free of BBA. BBA is nice on driftwood and rocks -- kinda pretty. But on plants, it blocks out every bit of light and kills the leaf.

Even if it isn't BBA, extra current won't hurt.
 
could help, but i've had bba growing out my spraybar holes.
 
BBA grows on the intake of my filters, and on my rocks that are directly in the path of the strongest current in the tank. At one of the LPS, they have gorgeous BBA growing on everything, lol, especially on the intakes and outflows (they don't grow plants in the tanks, and boy, you should see this BBA, it is just beautiful, and could be a centerpiece with a little effort).
 
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