# what is this algae and why do i have it?



## splat (Nov 17, 2010)

this algae is covering all my plants and it's ugly and driving me crazy. do i have too much of something or not enough? 
thanks


----------



## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

I'm not sure what it is, I haven't experienced that yet, however what others will ask you is:

what kind of lighting do you have?
how many hours is lighting on?
what fertilizers if any do you use and how often?
do you use any sort of co2 or metricide\excel?


----------



## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

You are not alone. I had to plug mine out once for a while.


----------



## EDGE (Aug 24, 2010)

blackbrush algae mixed with staghorn. I have that in my otocinclus tank that get fed twice a day when food takes longer to consume. But no staghorn from what I can see in my corydoras tank that get fed 3 times a day. This is usually caused by high organic matter from excess food waste or fish waste. Some relate this to ammonia spike. But if that is the case, I would see tonnes of staghorn algae in ADA soil based tank rather than green water. go figure.

Same with the black brush algae. bba is also mainly caused by organic matter, but increase PO4 ppm level and increase in CO2 injection tends to reduce the amount. The easier way to get rid of bba is to use seachem excel (metricide) as they are a form of algaecide. This does not directly solve the caused of the problem which is excess organic matter. bba is quite common in high light beef heart fed tank. Even in low light tank, bba do appear but not as explosive.


----------



## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

I've seen this is CO2 injected and also Excel tanks of mine. It only occurred in areas of poor flow where the plants were not pruned properly. I would prune those areas back aggressive and get rid of all you can see.


----------



## EDGE (Aug 24, 2010)

http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/plan...lic-enemy-1-black-brush-algae-how-fight-2286/ is a link to people with success story of dealing with bba.

Here is a shot of staghorn and bba on the java fern in the oto tank right at the water return. Increase flow usually solved some of the problem as the debris gets moved off the leave. Anything we do can reduced the problem.


----------



## ubr0ke (Jan 10, 2011)

If you have a problem with bba tell me a little about your tank?...
lights? co2-pressurized or diy?...fert dosing?...substrate?..etc

I used to struggle with algae but have came to a place where it doesn't exsist in any of my 3 tanks. Its a balance and with a little of info about your tanks im sure I can guide you through it.


----------



## splat (Nov 17, 2010)

i have DIY jello CO2...almost have all the stuff for pressurized. i have mineralized soil capped with ecocomplete. i dose seachem ferts 2/week as suggested on the bottle. i have 2 x 54 W T5 HO on for about 10 hours per day. this algae is now starting to grow on the gravel...UG


----------



## ubr0ke (Jan 10, 2011)

the diy co2 is the cause...way to inconsistant..
You have alot of light also...too much...
Raise your fixture about 6 inches to a foot ..this will decrease the demand for co2...
Do a water change, prune like crazy add some excell and some critters to help...sae,ottos,amano shrimp. Also make sure flow around tank is sufficient. 

If you want to check and remove high organic levels in your tank I have a recipe for that but its a little more technical...if you want ask.

do all that then come back and report haha.


----------



## BubBleBee (May 7, 2010)

ubr0ke said:


> the diy co2 is the cause...way to inconsistant..
> You have alot of light also...too much...
> Raise your fixture about 6 inches to a foot ..this will decrease the demand for co2...
> Do a water change, prune like crazy add some excell and some critters to help...sae,ottos,amano shrimp. Also make sure flow around tank is sufficient.
> ...


I'm curiouse please enlighten me.....I'm also having the same prob buuuuuut it came in on plants and didn't notice that it had algae nor was i advised that the plants had it......I have a huge jug of metricide which i plan on over dosing to help get rid of this crap before it take over everything else........I'm curious bout ur last weeellll second last statement.....wannna know more....TIA


----------



## Teal'c (Apr 22, 2010)

Siamese algae eater!!


----------



## neven (May 15, 2010)

ubr0ke said:


> the diy co2 is the cause...way to inconsistant...


DiY is as inconsistent as you are willing to let it be. He said he was on jello co2, that's consistent output for around 3-4 months. So this would not be the issue. As long as he's getting the output needed for a tank his size and surface agitation he'll be fine and it wont be inconsistent. (drop checkers for the win).

One thing popped out at me... MTS substrate... if you prepare it wrong (or don't let it soak long enough) it can wreck havoc on your water parameters making it a real pain to control algae. Second, is it capped with sand? or is eco complete the cap? Third, How often do you disturb the substrate for replanting?

Even without these questions answered i can recommend a few things.
1. remove any bba you see
2. DO NOT UPROOT ANYTHING until this is fixed.
3. Stop your liquid ferts for now. I normally don't recommend this, but you have one hell of a rich substrate on your hands, so wait until this bba is conquered before thinking dosing. You want to know if there is a nitrate/nitrite/ammonia issue with the MTS.
4. Continue excel dosing if you have been. You can probably double dose the excel for now before going to the more drastic numbers you see in the guide.
5. Look around the tank when the filter is going, is there spots where lots of dead plant matter settles? if so you need to try to stop this from happening. IF the tank isn't a nano, you can add a circulation powerhead if shifting decor isn't helping. You wont be able to get all the dead spots gone, but the goal is to reduce them so its easy to vaccuum those areas weekly
6. Make sure your jello co2 didn't fizzle, a drop checker is a must to any co2 enriched fish tank, get one if you dont have it. Make sure you are deep green or slightly lime green. any less will be insufficient allowing BBA to compete for nutrients and photons.
7. 10 hours is a long photo period, drop it to 8 hours to see if it helps.

lastly, as 2 wheels said, it happens in any kind of tank, even balanced tanks can see a tuft of black beard now and then on an upper leaf or driftwood.

The only way to really prevent it is to keep on top of your tank maintnence, full ei dosing regime, co2 enrichment and get more powerful lights and hang them high and use a par meter to find just how high.


----------



## neven (May 15, 2010)

Also looking at charts, your tanks is 21 inches high if im correct, 4 feet long, and the lighting is 4 foot tubes. if your fixture is sitting on the tank rim, you'll be in the high light category making it a real pain to balance the tank.

To put yourself in the medium light range, you'll need to have the lights mounted around 27-28 inches above the substrate (not tank rim). This will put you at 70 PAR.


----------



## ubr0ke (Jan 10, 2011)

potassium propagate....I have instructions for dosing to remove organics..but im not typing them unless you need them.

Organics may have a part in bba but heres a test for you...Switch your bubble count daily for a week...bring it up and bring it down...I bet you get bba...clean of organics or not.


----------



## EDGE (Aug 24, 2010)

CO2 doesn't directly fixed the bba issues. the underlying problem is organics and organic nutrients. CO2 increase plant metabolism which allows the plant to utilized the nutrients faster so there is less chance for algae to take hold of the organic nutrients. If you are using soil and have a high bioload, you will be battling with algae CO2 or not. 

If you want to do a test on organics and algae. Do a window sill test with distilled water.

place both jar next to each other. one with ammonium/ammonia and one with KNO3 added. the one with KNO3 will have far less algae, if not any, than ammonium/ammonia.

ADD: rotting / dying leaves will contribute to algae as that is part of organics waste.


----------

