# Black Beard algae causes



## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

About five months after my 10g was set up(it's an El Natural tank), I had started getting BBA(I'm assuming that's what it was) but it didn't look furry. It looked more like this. I use to have it on my heater and on some of my Wisteria stems as well as on the cave decoration I have in there.

What I would like to know is what actually causes this type of algae? Could it have been from the lack of water circulation? At that time, I did not have a filter in the tank and it has not made an appearance since I added a HOB back in January of this year.


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## Afyounie (Aug 10, 2007)

It comes about when there is not a constant and stable amount of co2 in the tank. The circulation of the pump helped with this by circulating the carbon source in your tank. Algae usually is just the result of inbalances in the aquarium, and by correcting those inbalances, you can be rid of the algae, or at least slow it down.


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

BBA, like all algae, love light. The more light, the better they grow. Cutting down on at least the time the lights are on helps a lot in getting control over algae, and reducing the intensity helps, too. Since el natural tanks don't have high light intensity, nor CO2 injection, reducing the time the lights are on is about the only thing left to change.


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