# Losing battle with black hair algae



## falcooo (Sep 30, 2011)

Ughh! I hate BBA. I'm no help in telling you how to get rid of it, but good luck!

As far as post pictures. Reply with 'advanced' reply and click 'manage attachments' from there you can upload from your computer. Or if you create and album, you can simply copy and paste the code into your text.


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## Immortal1 (Feb 18, 2015)

I have also done my battles with Black Beard Algae (BBA). 
I have learned Siamese Algae Eater (SAE) fish will eat the stuff but that does not really fix the problem. Very good water circulation, lower lighting period, and frequent water changes seem to be your best weapons in battling the foe.


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## philipraposo1982 (Mar 6, 2014)

By not continuing to dose ferts your only making it worse. Excess nutrients dont cause algae.


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## ichy (Apr 6, 2015)

h2o2 knocks it back


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## Immortal1 (Feb 18, 2015)

True on both accounts above. Keep dosing ferts - you want the plants to beat out the algae. Hydrogen peroxide does weaken BBA. My experience is to apply the peroxide while doing a water change.


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## ichy (Apr 6, 2015)

Immortal1 said:


> True on both accounts above. Keep dosing ferts - you want the plants to beat out the algae. Hydrogen peroxide does weaken BBA. My experience is to apply the peroxide while doing a water change.


Yes, when I spot treat I turn of the filters off so no flow. Syringe about 4ml over the area I want to treat, then let sit for 15-20. 
Do water change and turn the filters back on. In a couple days it will start to turn red....its dead...


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## Steve001 (Feb 26, 2011)

algaewar said:


> Hello,
> CO2 is at least 10 bubbles per second(KH/PH chart shows 45ppm) .


How did you determine you have 45ppm?



algaewar said:


> Is there a way to post pics?


Yes there is. Scroll to the bottom of this page when you reply. Click Manage Attachments, Then click Browse.


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## algaewar (Sep 15, 2015)

Thanks for all the help guys.
I use this KH/PH chart:
http://www.barrreport.com/forum/barr-report/co2-enrichment/11862-co2-ph-kh-table

I also use a drop checker which just turns neon bright green 2 hours after [email protected] kicks in.
Not sure how reliable the charts or the drop checkers are but the fish have never gasped for air at the surface. RCShrimp dont mind the CO2 either.

Please excuse my ignorance but is the Hydrogen Peroxide(h2o2) method safe? I try to lean towards no chemicals in my tank. 

Now check this out guys, can there be such thing as to "little" light that can cause the BBA to grow? When I run 2 30WATT LED flood lights I get my plants to pearl nicely, would pearling have any effect on BBA or am I just delusional?


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## Steve001 (Feb 26, 2011)

algaewar said:


> Thanks for all the help guys.
> I use this KH/PH chart:
> http://www.barrreport.com/forum/barr-report/co2-enrichment/11862-co2-ph-kh-table
> 
> ...


The chart only answers my question if you've measured KH and ph of your tank water. Do you know what both values are?

Pearling has no affect since you have BBA. 

Do you really want an answer to that delusional part? :wink:


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## algaewar (Sep 15, 2015)

Ok guys just trying to help some who might have same problem with BBA, the entire time since starting this thread I searched for the culprit. I decided to backtrack to see what changes done to the tank caused this nuisance. 
Since getting the tank up and running I frequently took pictures to document plant growth, atleast a pic a day. So I inspected every pic I have taken to see what changes were made. I noticed before removing 2 huge shells(that I threw in for calcium) from the tank there was no BBA, even with the light being the 30WATT LED flood light. At the time when I took out the shells I also added two 5"x5" pieces of driftwood which probably contributed to the huge ph swing. The tank looks like [censored][censored][censored][censored] and Im about to take out the dwarf baby tear and dunk them in hydrogen peroxide for 20 mins or so.

Today I added half a teaspoon of baking soda to the tank along with the 2 shells I removed about 2 months ago. 

KH/GH/PH test shows:
KH=7
GH=11
PH 7.0-7.2

From my understanding KH keeps the ph stable and that is where I suspect the problem began, by me removing the shells form the tank-the KH dropped, which further resulted in unstable PH once my CO2 shut off for the night. 

I attached 2 pics. One without and one with BBA. I'm winning this algae war.

Why were my replies posted

Not posted*


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 4, 2008)

algaewar said:


> Why were my replies posted
> 
> Not posted*


Posts that contain certain content (links, images) from new users often get caught by the auto spam trap and have to be manually filtered through by the moderation team.

I have cleared your posts from the trap.


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## algaewar (Sep 15, 2015)

Thanks Admin


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