# Black Algae & Dirty Plants --- HELP --- HELP ---



## key5000 (Apr 24, 2015)

I had 55GL tank that housed various plants and some 14 Neon fish.
I performed 10gl water change every week but the algae and plants are very dirty as shown on pictures below.

Please help me on how to prevent it.


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

Black Brush Algae. Is typically from dirty conditions and imbalances in nutrients and lack of water flow. Keep your filter clean, do NOT overdose iron and keep CO2 steady at 30ppm. Make sure your nitrates aren't too low. Keep them around 20ppm. If your water flow is not very good you may want to get a powerhead to assist in water circulation.


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## Maryland Guppy (Mar 5, 2015)

Consider a shorter photoperiod until under control?


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## Vishu1708 (Apr 16, 2015)

You might also want trim the badly affected parts of plants. At night, pour a few drops of H2O2 on the plants(use a dropper) to kill the algae. Switch off the lights and filter when dosing H2O2.


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## snakehuntr_007 (Mar 11, 2015)

I had a bad bba outbreak a while back and had to scrap the tank and start over. It was much worse than yours, though, so I would follow the advice you've gotten here and not worry about it. I have a question for you, though. Was your bba that is on your driftwood always that color shade? Mine was dark, dark black and yours seems to be the color of dying/dead bba.


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## key5000 (Apr 24, 2015)

I never use CO2 or any chemical in the tank. All it has is 20" long air bubbles tube and water change every week. 
For BBA, it is only on drift woods, rocks and subtrate. 
What is it on the plants and what caused?


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## snakehuntr_007 (Mar 11, 2015)

What kind of filtration are you using? Honestly this looks like something I've had a bad problem with in the past. When my tank starts growing and getting thick, my plants start to accumulate a mulm and algae problem. The mulm is stuff that settles and gets trapped on the leaves. It's organic and algae will start to grow on it too since the mulm is basically a fertilizer. Put a power head in there or throw on a canister filter. Another thing you can do to get ahead is a large water change. This will remove a lot of the dissolved organic solids (DOS) in your water column. After doing that, gently stir your tank to knock a lot of the stuff off so your filter can pick some of it up. After your water clears, clean out your filter. Getting a cleaning crew will help. From most helpful to least, in my experience: amano shrimp, cherry shrimp, otocinclus, bristlenose, red tailed shark. I think the shrimp are more effective because they can comb through your tank like a fine toothed comb and get in all the nooks and crannies. They also really like that mulm. That's about all I can say. I would increase filtration/flow as soon as I could and also do a large water change and filter cleaning as soon as possible


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/algae/89126-organics-analysis.html

Read that. All of it.


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