I have got a lot of Black Beard Algae growing in my tank the loaches wont touch it... i don’t know what to do to stop it??? i searched the net and found this article:

Red algae: Also called Black Beard Algae (bba), or Black Brush Algae. Short hairs (1/4" long), closely packed together. Appears dark green, black, or dark red. Grows on plant leaves, and sometimes on decorations/substrate. Often grows all around the edges of plant leaves.

BBA thrives in situations of high phosphates. Phosphates come from fish waste, excess food, and occasionally will be present in the water supply. The best way to eliminate BBA is to let the plants out-compete the algae for the nutrients.

In heavily planted tanks, BBA will often show up when the plants have used up all the nitrates. This causes plant growth to slow or stop, which leaves the excess phosphates available to the algae. By supplying extra Nitrate to a planted tank, we allow plant growth to continue until all phosphate is consumed. Then plant AND algae growth will slow/stop. As long as a usable (5-10ppm) level of Nitrate is maintained, the the plants will continue to use up the available phosphate, effectively controls BBA and other phosphorus-dependant algaes. See the article "Adding Nitrate to a Planted Tank" for detailed instructions on how to increase your Nitrate levels.

Very few fish will eat BBA. The most famous one is the SAE (Siamese Algae Eater). I've got 5 of them in my 75g. I added several BBA infested stems of Bacopa to the tank recently, and overnight, the SAEs had completely cleaned it. But even these amazing fish won't be able to control it you don't have the phosphate level under control. Another fish rumored to eat BBA is the American Flag Fish. In tanks with very large amounts of BBA, the BBA covered leaves should be removed once the phosphate level is controlled.

And basically it just confused me can anyone explain more simply ??? Or have any suggestions on what i can do??

Cheers

What it is basically saying is that if the plants are limited by one nutrient, such as nitrate, then there is an imbalance in the tank, and that will allow algae to flourish since the plants are not growing as actively as they should be because of the lack of nitrate.

Could you tell me a little about your tank set up, such as the amount of light, the size, how long you leave the lights on, whether you fertilize, whether you dose CO2, that kind of thing. Also, if you measure the nitrate, what is the nitrate.

Maybe I can give you a few suggestions

okay here we go;

Lighting: tube, daylight 18W

Size: height 46cm, length 81cm, width 31 cm - 96 liters (UK)

Lights on: approx 12 to 15 hours daily

Fertilizer used: no

Co2 dose: no

Nitrate: in between 25 - 30 (tested today), Tap water 0 - 10

Thanx

When trying to grow plants successfully in an aquarium, I have found that it is a matter of trial and error. What I would do first, is I would cut down a bit on the amount of time you leave the light on. I would leave it on for about 11 hours of so. I have my lights on a small, inexpensive timer. That way, the amount of time the light is on per day is constant. You have very low light for growing plants, but it doesn't help to increase the amount of time the lights are on. It does help to add more light. If you could add another tube it would be great, but I know it is almost impossible with the store bought hoods on most tanks.

Can you buy Seachem products in the UK? If so, I would start to use Flourish Excel as a replacement for CO2 addition. I have found that it works quite well. Also, you may want to start adding some trace elements to your tank. Seachem makes a good trace element fertilizer called Flourish. There are other brands, as well, but just be sure they only contain the trace elements, sometimes called micro nutrients. There is another good one available here in Canada called Kent Freshwater Plant Micronutrient Supplement.

How many plants do you have in your tank and what types are they? That will affect how much fertilizer you should put in. If you have a small number of plants, I would take the lowest recommended dose, and cut that in half and start with that. It is better to start to add fertilizers slowly.

Also, it takes about 6 weeks to tell if any of the changes are helping, so you have to be patient.

If you have any plants that are attached to rocks or bogwood, such as java fern or anubias, you can actually remove them from the tank, and dip them in a 19 parts water and 1 part bleach solution for a couple of minutes. That will kill the algae. Then rinse them very well several times in dechlorinated water before putting them back in the tank.

I hope some of this helps, and please feel free to ask questions.

Thanx

i have about 4 Jungle Val, and 3 variegated kind similar, small version of the jungle Val & a small broad leaf plant (not sure what this one is yet <_< ) oh and 1 Anacharis. Nothing clinging to my bogwood.

Googled Seachem and there are UK sites which sell it but i am going LFS on Saturday so will see if they have it first.

Don’t think i can put another tube in, but i have seen lights "to encourage plant growth" would this work?? Will have another look on Saturday.

Cheers, again for your help much appreciated.

Is this the tank with your mollies in it? Mollies are supposed to love to eat this stuff, rosey barbs too.

I had it once and SAE's took care of it. So will otos, and algae eating shrimp. But all can be hard to find.

I don't believe the nitrate thing personally, I mean I do agree that you'll have issues when there isn't enough nitrate for the live plants, but its obviously not the cause in your tank, there's plenty of nitrates.

I'd agree you need more lighting, plants care more about wattage than the spectrum though a proper spectrum will help. And if you can get some fish that like to eat it, that is an option as well, if your tank can handle the extra bioload.

I just wanted to point out, the Seachem Flourish or the Kent Freshwater doesn't contain nitrate. I agree that Lozbug's tank has plenty of nitrate, however, she could have a deficiency in some of the micronutrients .

Just wanted to make sure that she realizes that not all plant fertilizers are the same.

I like to use "full spectrum" bulbs in my plant tanks. I don't buy bulbs specifically for aquariums, but I just make sure that they are full spectrum. I find that I get good plant growth with them. Look for a bulb with at least 5,000 K (kelvin).

I was thinking about this further, and I think your main problem is lighting. Maybe you could try adding some plants that require less light, such as java fern and java moss.

Really what you are trying to do in a planted tank, is to have the plants out compete the algae for nutrients and therefore starve the algae. So perhaps adding some plants that would grow better with less light might help.

I'll keep thinking

Thanx to both.

Myaj: no this is the coldwater tank.

I will look in to hight & better lighting then, see what the LFS has on saturday.

Thanx again