Black algae on sponge filter

[Candymom]

I have a small shrimp tank that had a problem with black hair algae. I’ve revamped the tank, new substrate, less light, changed plants, etc. I have my same sponge filter in there though and it has black hair algae growing on it. Am I better off just replacing that filter? It’s also growing on the end of one piece of cholla wood. Should I remove that, too? 

Edited May 28, 2021 by Candymom
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[Mmiller2001]

Just spot dose with a liquid carbon. It will be gone in a few days.

[Sarina]

Black beard algae can be caused by a lot of things, but I’ve found the usual cause is most likely a lack of dissolved CO2 and flow, and an excess of nutrients and light. If you drop your lighting level down and do smaller, more frequent water changes to slowly bring down nutrient levels, you should see the BBA start to disappear. You could also consider adding a DIY CO2 system with yeast and sugar to boost the CO2 levels. Here is an instructional link if you’re interested in going that route. You could also go the extreme route and do 5 days of blackout (three isn’t enough for BBA, trust me, I know) but that generally means not being able to look at your tank for like a week and that’s no fun at all. The last option is to just leave it alone. If it’s not spreading and it’s not too unsightly, BBA isn’t necessarily harmful. I used to have quite a bit on my old 29g blackwater display and I quite enjoyed the way it looked. BBA thrives in environments which fluctuate, so it may be as simple as just leaving things be to sort themselves out. I hope that helps, let me know if you need more details 😊

[Sarina]

12 minutes ago, Mmiller2001 said:

Just spot dose with a liquid carbon. It will be gone in a few days.

When you give advice about liquid carbon, make sure you include that liquid carbon can be dangerous for plants and livestock because it’s not actually liquid carbon, it’s an algacide, which can harm epiphyte, primitive, and floating plants, as well as livestock if not dosed correctly. There’s more information on it here and here.

[Mmiller2001]

7 minutes ago, Nirvanaquatics said:

When you give advice about liquid carbon, make sure you include that liquid carbon can be dangerous for plants and livestock because it’s not actually liquid carbon, it’s an algacide, which can harm epiphyte, primitive, and floating plants, as well as livestock if not dosed correctly. There’s more information on it here and here.

I leave it to people to do their own research. 

[Sarina]

Just now, Mmiller2001 said:

I leave it to people to do their own research. 

But that's not very helpful, especially on a forum like this where people are specifically asking for detailed information on solving a problem. In the future, you should consider at least providing a link with more information so that it helps guide people in their further research. Especially when it concerns potentially harmful chemicals like gluteraldehyde. 

[Mmiller2001]

Literally, the first link that popped up when I googled "Spot dosing liquid carbon".

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/liquid-co2/

Infinitely better than I would ever type out, and encourages people to do their own research.

[Sarina]

41 minutes ago, Mmiller2001 said:

Literally, the first link that popped up when I googled "Spot dosing liquid carbon".

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/liquid-co2/

Infinitely better than I would ever type out, and encourages people to do their own research.

This forum IS part of people's research. They're asking the community and relying on us for our experience and expertise. If you cannot give complete information within the forum, at least point people in the right direction with a link. The internet is vast and the information can be overwhelming, the least you can do is provide a reliable source if you don't want to explain it yourself. Keep in mind, this forum is also a source of information for people googling things, too, and if the advice they see is simply "use this product" they may take that at face value and make a devastating mistake due to lack of information. We have to be responsible with our advice here. That's why this forum is so heavily moderated. It's not that difficult to include reliable links to back up your statements, that's all I'm saying. 

[therealTruthSeeker]

The co2 is great advice, but I personally  would try other things. I am very against co2 because a planted tank can be easily balanced without co2. And just adding co2 isn't magic, where you start adding it and it solves all your problems. You sould know that starting to add co2 will 9 times out Of 10 require you to adjust everything Else to rebalance your tank. Then if you decide it's too much work later and stop using it, you must re adjust everything again.  Just throwing some things out to consider before you make the co2 jump. Consider your personal schedule also and if your life becomes more hectic do you want to continue co2. Co2 is not a big deal to some but, for some it's a deal breaker for their personal schedules.