# Help! Green Brush Algae?! Please Help Identify!



## nap83 (Feb 7, 2006)

it grows on my driftwood and my substrate, could never get rid of it, and i've had bga before... what could possible get this algae out of my tank?!

hair-like, green, it smells when i take it out of thw water...



















2wpg, 55g, ei dosing, light is 8 hrs per day with a 2 hour break prd.


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## frozenbarb (Feb 8, 2007)

Any Co2? Doing in this tank?.. because Dosing without co2 can cause aglae problems


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## nap83 (Feb 7, 2006)

yes diy co2, changed every 2 weeks. 1 teaspoon plus 2 1/2 cups of sugar in a 1 gallon bottle... pretty desperate, no ther problems in the tank but this. the tank has been pretty healthy for the past 2 years.... it suffered bga 4 months ago but was rid off during blackout....


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## frozenbarb (Feb 8, 2007)

One of the Hardest Algae to get rid of... I would say use the excel treatment


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## JamesC (Jul 26, 2005)

Looks as though it is cladophora. Take a look at http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm and see if the photo's look the same as your's. Real difficult to clear sometimes. Excel seems to slow it but doesn't always erradicate it. Manual removal and good CO2 + ferts I've found seems to work. Stable CO2 is very important which is often very hard to achieve using yeast based systems. Best to have two running at the same time and alternate the recharges every week. This gives a bit more stability.

James


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## nap83 (Feb 7, 2006)

yep it is cladophora, any more suggestions to add to help me out?


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

If you have 2 watts per gallon of light or more you almost have to have steady CO2 concentration in the water to avoid algae problems. You didn't say what lighting you have.


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## PMD (May 3, 2005)

I have some of this growing in my 29 gal for a few months. Excel will slow it's growth and "bleach"/kill the larger clumps, but it will not actually kill off the stuff entirely. This stuff reproduces like mad from tiny filaments that break off the clumps. It can also reproduce by releasing zoospores which form new filaments.

Best ways to control Cladophora algae are:

1) Low flow/current in the aquarium
2) Dose excel
3) Use CO2
4) Pull out any large clumps that form
5) Use a UV Filter if you have one

Low flow keeps the filaments from spreading around too much. The UV filter will kill off any zoospores that are released. The rest is self explanatory. I wish there was some sort of biological control for this stuff, but nothing seems to eat it.


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

I disagree that low flow is a good way to control any algae. If CO2 is beneficial, and it is because it helps the plants grow fast and healthy, then you need good circulation of the water in the tank to keep CO2 enriched water available to all plants all the time. In the end, all algae are best conquered by having very healthy, actively growing plants.


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## Endler Guy (Aug 19, 2007)

nap83 said:


> it suffered bga 4 months ago but was rid off during blackout....


Did you lose any plants during the blackout? If not, I'd dose excel and duplicate that blackout. I don't think algae would have the same carbohydrate reserves that plants do. The algae should starve, shouldn't it?


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## stepheus (Jun 13, 2006)

Cladophora does not go off easy. I'd suggest hungry juvenile SAE and a lot of patience.


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