# Need help with black beard algae problem



## 4evrfish (Oct 5, 2012)

I am having a problem with black beard algae in my 110 gallon planted tank. The tank has been running for about 5 years now, with small barbs, tetras and amano shrimp. It is heavily planted with mainly java fern and bolbitus, plus some crypts and anubias. The pH is 6.6, temp 78-80, phosphate.03, nitrate not detectable, KH 4, GH 5. I use R/O water for the weekly 30% water changes, with Equilibrium and buffers added. I have pressurized CO2 with a drop checker, and fluorescent lighting. I am running a wet-dry filter (left-over from this tanks' early life as a mini-reef in the 1990's), plus a Fluval filter. All filter media is rinsed weekly. 

The plants are growing nicely. In fact, up to now I have been selling plants back to my LFS in exchange for supplies. So far I have been removing the plants' leaves affected by the algae, but I can never get on top of the problem.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to get rid of this once and for all?


----------



## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

You have organics. No matter how clean your tank looks it is not clean enough.

The water flow needs to be such that all areas of the tank are moving.

The filter needs to be biological (and if you feel like it - use fine mechanical. Only the mechanical media needs to be rinsed weekly. NOT the biological.). The biomedia needs to be 10% of the tank volume.

BBA does not care about N and P.


----------



## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

Such low NO3 and PO4 suggest the plants are on the edge of deficiencies. They are removing all the nitrogen and phosphate they can find. 
I would dose enough KNO3 to keep the NO3 between 5-10 ppm. Dose enough KH2PO4 to keep the phosphate about 1 ppm. 

You can kill this one with hydrogen peroxide. 3% is the common product available in the USA. If you are using something else, adjust the dose. 
Figure out these amounts based on the total volume in the tank and sump:
1ml H2O2 per gallon
1.5 ml H2O2 per gallon
2 ml H2O2 per gallon

How to use these:
1 to 1.5 ml/gal can be dosed using an eye dropper or a syringe without a needle. Turn off pumps, filters, bubblers. Hold the syringe really close in a dense clump and squirt a couple of drops. Move to another nearby clump, squirt again... until you are out of H2O2. You might not get over the whole tank in one treatment. 
Wait half an hour. 
Turn on filter, pump, bubbler... 
When the algae turns pink it is dead. (this can take overnight)
Next day, do a water change and re-dose. Either repeat the areas treated yesterday (if they are not pink, yet) or treat new areas. 

How to use the 2 ml/gal dose:
Drain the tank until the algae is exposed to the air. 
Squirt the H2O2 into the masses of algae. Allow it to bubble a while. Do not allow much of the H2O2 to drip into the water. It may only take a few minutes to quit bubbling. Give it more time. 
Refill the tank. 

Reason: most fish, plants, shrimp, snails... can handle 1 ml H2O2 per gallon of tank water. Even 1.5 ml/gal seems OK. But 2 ml/gal is too much. Dose only on algae in the air, and allow a lot of bubbling to happen. This is the H2O2 turning into H2O and O2. When most of the bubbling stops there is a lot less H2O2 and it is safe to refill.


----------



## 4evrfish (Oct 5, 2012)

niko said:


> You have organics. No matter how clean your tank looks it is not clean enough.
> 
> The water flow needs to be such that all areas of the tank are moving.
> 
> ...


Thank you for your reply. I did have some questions about what you mean by biological filter. I am running a wet/dry filter with bioballs, in addition to the Fluval. The tank itself is heavily planted and contains gravel, wood and rocks. Aren't all of these surfaces considered "biological filtration" in a mature tank? Do you think I should add more biological filtration to my wet/dry filter? I do gravel-vac weekly. There is good water circulation in the tank. Please let me know what I need to be doing to improve the situation. Thanks!


----------

