Lessons learned from algae eaters + black beard algae

[Emily in Everett]

Fairly new to aquarium keeping (2 years in....5 gallon, 15g, and 90g). Always learning!

I let a black beard algae infestation get out of control in the 15 gallon. I was hoping tinkering with EasyCarbon and light changes would help...nope!) So I introduced 3 juvenile reticulated algae eaters a couple weeks ago and watched to see what would happen. 

LESSON 1: I should have added them months ago! Those busy fish have cleaned almost every speck of BBA (except for the biggest tufts); the tank is glowing bright green again and the plant growth has taken off. It's amazing!

LESSON 2: In a Fluval Flex 15, three algae eaters + BBA infestation = a totally clogged sump intake and filter sponge! The slots leading to the first back chamber were choked with tufts, and the sponge was so covered in mats of BBA that almost no water could pass through. I came back from a weekend away to find the pump chamber almost dry...1 more inch and the pump would have been running dry! So I cleaned it all out. 5 days later I had to do it again!

LESSON 3: if you put a large algae wafer in the tank to give the algae eaters a treat, they will gorge themselves so severely they can barely swim. After two days of fasting they are back to normal, but I'm not going to do that again! I'm a bit worried how it'll work when they outgrow this tank and get moved to the 90 gallon...the residents there get regular large algae wafers.....

Anyways, just wanted to share my experience! 

Edited October 21, 2021 by Emily in Everett

[Flumpweesel]

Wow that's intense, I'm planning on getting some of those eventually I currently have the laziest SAE who spend more time looking for for cory eggs than digging into to the algae. 

 

[lefty o]

On 10/21/2021 at 1:03 PM, Flumpweesel said:

Wow that's intense, I'm planning on getting some of those eventually I currently have the laziest SAE who spend more time looking for for cory eggs than digging into to the algae. 

 

SAE's are horrible at eating algae. once they get past juvenile stage, they eat everything but algae.

[Mmiller2001]

During your water change/maintenance day, grab a nice spray bottle, fill it a bit with hydrogen peroxide and spray down the areas where the BBA builds up on the intake. Then complete your maintenance. No reason to rinse, just mist every time.

[BF McUmber]

On 10/21/2021 at 3:30 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

During your water change/maintenance day, grab a nice spray bottle, fill it a bit with hydrogen peroxide and spray down the areas where the BBA builds up on the intake. Then complete your maintenance. No reason to rinse, just mist every time.

You don't have to rinse it!!!! I didn't know that, but didn't look into too hard yet though since it was just a few tufts. 

Obviously don't pour it into the tank, but do you have to worry too much about a mist vs a soaking?  

[Guppysnail]

I buy the spray bottle of hydrogen peroxide and the jar to pour. I’ve found on various items for different things.  they work the same but if I pour or soak I rinse (not sure I’d have to though) because I’m afraid of introducing too much into the tank. 

[Mmiller2001]

On 10/22/2021 at 9:29 PM, BF McUmber said:

You don't have to rinse it!!!! I didn't know that, but didn't look into too hard yet though since it was just a few tufts. 

Obviously don't pour it into the tank, but do you have to worry too much about a mist vs a soaking?  

No, I mist down all my intake pipes and temperature probes every water change. My spray bottle mists really well so I don't really use that much. If you were using too much it could be a small issue, but just a fine mist is all that's needed.

Edited October 23, 2021 by Mmiller2001