Black beard algae

[HooDude]

Hi yall.

I had black beard algae in my 54 gallon bow front tank for about a year. I tried everything under the sun to try and get rid of it, to no avail. The only way to stop it from covering EVERYTHING which it just about did, was to remove it by hand.

One day while racking my brain over my algae problem I realised that it did not grow on the live plants.

With a flash of inspiration I began planting the new shoots that were coming off of my plants, and removed all of my plastic plants. After a few months I had 8 of the same plant I had origionally started with, and they filled the back of the tank. Then, I assume, whatever was on the plants leaves preventing the algae from growing on them got into the water and began to kill off the spores.

Pretty soon the black beard algae retreated from my tank, and now it is gone entirely. This whole process took about 7 months.

I unfourtunately don't know what kind of plants these are... They are tall, have a green sectioned staff, and long narrow leaves.

Good luck to anyone that has black beard algae!

 

[Feline]

Is the black beard algae the same as brush algae? I've been having problems with brush algae growing on the underside of one of my plants (I have 3 live plants, no plastic ones) so I removed those by hand and it's been like a week now. Just today seen something like.... black fur growing on the edges on 2 of the leaves and I also removed it.

Since the brush algae problem, I've introduced more plants to the tank, and now I have 5 plants. And I started to put in plant food too! Hope I wont see those ugly brown / black thing again!

 

[CFC]

One day while racking my brain over my algae problem I realised that it did not grow on the live plants.



I unfourtunately don't know what kind of plants these are... They are tall, have a green sectioned staff, and long narrow leaves.

Oh yes it does,ive been suffering from BHA in my big tank ever since i put the shovel nose in and took the SAE out and this is a very heavily planted tank.

The only way to keep it at bay is to either have SAE (one to every 10g is best) or make sure that your nitrates and phosphates are zero at all times,which means no water changes with tapwater which is rich in both uaually,a UV steriliser would probably help too.

The plant you have is probably a hygrophila species,a very fast growing plant which if given enough light will consume large ammounts of nitrate,i have these but the algea even gets on them.
Ive near enough given up fighting it for the time being because i will be starting a new tank soon which ill fight it from the start in and it wont geta hold hopefully.

 

[HooDude]

Dude I wish I could send you before and after pictures, but I have no cam and didn't take a before. There is NO brush/beard algae in the tank. None. It used to be everywhere! And I change water everyweek, 20% of the tank, replacing with tap water that I let sit out for 48 hours. I use no dechlorinator, and I fertilize with Sera Flourena once a week when I have it. Then I use it up and get cheap and don't buy any more for a month. Anyhow, whenever I get a camera i'll post pic.