Black hair algae causes and cures? (Thread Move)

OgreMkV

OgreMkV

Father of Earth's Next Emperor
Apr 26, 2007
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Port Arthur, TX
ogremkv.wordpress.com
I'll repost this here. Thanks everyone in the old thread.

OK, I'm getting this black hair algae (for want of a better term). It is very short (1/4" or less) filaments growing on the edges of leaves. It seems to have gotten to the anachris very good and the grasses a little less and almost none on the swords.

I have minimal lighting (barely enough for plants) and only lightly planted. You can see pics of the tank from the link in my sig. Current fauna is also in my sig.

I dose twice a week with Seachem Flourish (slightly less than one capfull . I run my lights about 12 hours a day since they are somewhat ill-suited to the task. A lighting upgrade is in my future... probably the 96w upgrade from ahsupply.com.

This black crap is very difficult to scrape off with my fingernail and as far as I can see the otos and gouramis won't touch the stuff. Yes, my gouramis eat algae... my fish are WEIRD!

Two 10-15% water changes per week. Nitrate and ammonia 0, nitrite nearly so, pH 6.5, hardness 120 or so, alkalinity 80 (both ppm).

Just so you know, my swords have tripled in size in size since installation in the tank and I have new growth on all plants.
 
As I stated in the other thread my 55 gallon gets basically no ferts.

I would cut the lighting down to 8-10 hours. Doesn't matter that you have inadequate light,its intensity more then it is length that makes the difference. I run 10 hrs with 96 watts over my 55 gallon.

I would cut your flourish down to 1 cap a week.

I would up my water changes to 25% weekly. 0 nitrates isn't good for a planted tank and doing the multiple water changes could be taking away needed nitrates. If you find the nitrates are still low you might want to consider adding KNO3 once a month. I add a tsp once a month if testing shows I need it. A good range for nitrates in a planted tank is 10-20 ppm.

I stated in the other thread that BB is caused by low CO2. It is also caused by big fluctuations which can be attributed to the multiple changes.

HTH
 
Lightly planted tanks usually have a problem with algae, not enough plants to outcompete the algae. Get a good amount of plants in the tank and algae rarely becomes a problem again until you have high light.

0 nitrates indicate a lack of nutrients, which leads to inconsistent plant growth and algae. Flourish contains very small amounts of macros, you may need to add extra nitrates and potassium (KNO3).

Only siamese algae eaters will touch BBA, and usually only in their early stages. Once it gets to the fuzzy black bush stage nothing will touch it.
 
OgreMkV said:
Multiple small WCs cause bigger fluctuations than one big change each week?
Click to expand...

Yes because the new water contains more CO2 then the water in the tank. Buy changing it 2 times it has different levels twice. When you change it once it changes 1 time.

Think of it as adding blue food coloring to the tank that dissipates after 24 hours. Do it 2xs a week and twice that week your water is blue twice. Do it once and your water is blue once. It doesn't matter that you added twice as much because its going to dissipate just as quickly.
 
As for fish that eat black hair algae, try the black lyretail mollie. They luv the stuff. Won'y killit though. They are little farmers that harvest the stuff. But the have certain water requirements that are needed to stay healthy. These requirements may not be suitable for your aquarium.
 
pour out some Prime into a plastic container and dip the algae-affected plant parts into it. take it out, give it a few minutes, and replace it in the tank. Prime kills BBA. it doesn't prevent it, but gives you time to deal with the causes of the problem, and it most likely won't grow back in the same spot.
 
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