Dreaded Brush Algae

[Spank]

After much battling and research I have discovered that I have the dreaded black brush algae. I've tried getting rid of it numerous times by using algaecides, giving everything in the tank a good scrub, turing the lights off for a week, but all to no avail. 2 weeks after any intervention and it's back!!!

It's driving me insane, about 50% of the plants in the tank have evidence of BBA on them, will I need to throw these out? Has anyone on here successfuly dealt with this particular type of algae without having to bleach their plants or restarting everything from scratch?

THanks all for you help
Hank

 

[jonny]

You will get rid of it using Flourish Excel. you will need to overdose it though. I use Excel daily as i do not have a co2 system but in the normal dose now.

I had a real bad attack when i first set up but now it just seems to add a slight fur to my plants. i am not too worried by this as it is not really visable unless you look really close.

 

[George Farmer]

Try draining most of the tank then using a paintbrush, "paint" a 50:50 mix of Flourish Excel and water to the infected areas.

Another technique is still switch off your filter, then using a syringe target the areas with Excel, using up to 2x regular dose in total.

Good, stable levels of CO2 should prevent BBA from re-occuring. If you don't have CO2 then consider adding standard doses of Excel on a regular basis, as a source of carbon. Heavy planing, if you are not already will also help.

 

[Spank]

thanks for the help,

There is CO2 injection into the tank and regular checks of pH show that CO2 levels are constant (pH stays at 6.5, KH is 4.0). I'm fertilising weekly with with Tropica plant nutrition+ so despite the algae problem all my plants are going bonkers.

I think I'll try a combination of things to finally rid myself of the algae,
a) I'll take out all the affected ornaments and bleach them and rinse them before placing back into the tank,
B) I'll completely remove the plants that are worse affected, ones that aren't affected badly will be bleached for 2 minutes then rinsed before replanting
c) Substrate that has algae on it will also be bleached and removed
d) Overdose with flourish excel for 2-3weeks.

Does this sound right? should I keep on fertilising with the tropica plant nutrition if I'm dosing flourish excel?

Thanks again
Hank

 

[George Farmer]

Does this sound right? should I keep on fertilising with the tropica plant nutrition if I'm dosing flourish excel?

Sounds good.

Yes, dose Tropica and Excel together. Excel provides carbon and anti-algae properties, Tropica provides other nutrients.