TanTann the fish man Posted June 3 Share Posted June 3 Im assuming this is black beard algae? Or some sort of brown algae? Best way to get rid of it? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitecloud09 Posted June 3 Share Posted June 3 How does it come off? Easily, or is it stubborn and is harder to completely erase? Kinda looks like diatoms but not sure….. @TanTann the fish man. Somebody else can help maybe with identifying it. But my best guess is BBA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TanTann the fish man Posted June 3 Author Share Posted June 3 On 6/3/2024 at 3:13 PM, Whitecloud09 said: How does it come off? Easily, or is it stubborn and is harder to completely erase? Kinda looks like diatoms but not sure….. @TanTann the fish man. Somebody else can help maybe with identifying it. But my best guess is BBA. Ok thank you! And it's not all that hard to get most of it off. But seems like a little is always left. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitecloud09 Posted June 3 Share Posted June 3 On 6/3/2024 at 3:16 PM, TanTann the fish man said: Ok thank you! And it's not all that hard to get most of it off. But seems like a little is always left. So next Q is what is your fertilizer schedule? Lighting? Algae can take control of plants aid either of these two things are off. This is what I read. Algae Caused by Too Many NutrientsA build-up of nutrients in the aquarium can be caused by generous feeding, infrequent water changes or filter maintenance, overcrowding, using tap water that has high levels of nitrate and/or phosphate, or a combination of one or more of the above I’ve found this helpful. https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/aquarium-algae Hope this helps!!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TanTann the fish man Posted June 4 Author Share Posted June 4 On 6/3/2024 at 5:50 PM, Whitecloud09 said: So next Q is what is your fertilizer schedule? Lighting? Algae can take control of plants aid either of these two things are off. This is what I read. Algae Caused by Too Many NutrientsA build-up of nutrients in the aquarium can be caused by generous feeding, infrequent water changes or filter maintenance, overcrowding, using tap water that has high levels of nitrate and/or phosphate, or a combination of one or more of the above I’ve found this helpful. https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/aquarium-algae Hope this helps!!!! Awesome I will check that out. I actually haven't been fertilizing at all yet. Tank is about 2-3 weeks old and I did use aqua soil. I do have lights on currently for 12 hours at about 30% I thought about maybe going down to 9 hours. Just really enjoy the tank being on lol 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricksonAquatics Posted June 4 Share Posted June 4 Looks like just regular old brown diatom algae 🙂 Diatoms rub off easily and are very common when setting up a new tank. Black beard algae is very stubborn to get off and looks very fluffy, usually in tufts. Usually they go away on their own after a little while. Algae eaters like Otocinclus, plecos and hillstream loaches love to snack on it. Diatoms pretty much always come with a newly set up tank so I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Just focus on getting your plants to grow and the algae will starve out and die! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TanTann the fish man Posted June 4 Author Share Posted June 4 On 6/3/2024 at 8:28 PM, EricksonAquatics said: Looks like just regular old brown diatom algae 🙂 Diatoms rub off easily and are very common when setting up a new tank. Black beard algae is very stubborn to get off and looks very fluffy, usually in tufts. Usually they go away on their own after a little while. Algae eaters like Otocinclus, plecos and hillstream loaches love to snack on it. Diatoms pretty much always come with a newly set up tank so I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Just focus on getting your plants to grow and the algae will starve out and die! Thank you! Appreciate it! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted June 4 Share Posted June 4 Looks like 3 kinds of algae. BBA on the leaves, which is also indicative of the plants not doing well and those leaves being partially dead. On 6/3/2024 at 11:51 AM, TanTann the fish man said: Then you have brown and green diatoms on the hardscape (and some plants) On 6/3/2024 at 11:51 AM, TanTann the fish man said: BBA - Hydrogen peroxide and fix the tank balance as best you can. Could be circulation, co2, GH/KH, or a plethora of issues. Green diatoms - Too much light Brown diatoms - new tank, sand, silicates, too much light, or just needs maintenance. Most algae eaters and fish that graze on algae will eat green and brown diatoms. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TanTann the fish man Posted June 4 Author Share Posted June 4 On 6/3/2024 at 10:18 PM, nabokovfan87 said: Looks like 3 kinds of algae. BBA on the leaves, which is also indicative of the plants not doing well and those leaves being partially dead. Then you have brown and green diatoms on the hardscape (and some plants) BBA - Hydrogen peroxide and fix the tank balance as best you can. Could be circulation, co2, GH/KH, or a plethora of issues. Green diatoms - Too much light Brown diatoms - new tank, sand, silicates, too much light, or just needs maintenance. Most algae eaters and fish that graze on algae will eat green and brown diatoms. Awesome thanks for the info. Maybe I will back off the light to 9 hours then. And my GH is way up there. Over 300 on the strips think that could be an issue? As far as circulation goes I think I'm ok? Not really sure the best way to tell that. I have an oase Biomaster 850 which is way over kill for my 90 gallon tank so I think it would be ok if I'm thinking correctly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted June 4 Share Posted June 4 On 6/3/2024 at 7:26 PM, TanTann the fish man said: Awesome thanks for the info. Maybe I will back off the light to 9 hours then. And my GH is way up there. Over 300 on the strips think that could be an issue? As far as circulation goes I think I'm ok? Not really sure the best way to tell that. I have an oase Biomaster 850 which is way over kill for my 90 gallon tank so I think it would be ok if I'm thinking correctly. Green aqua has a video on testing as well as water parameters. It's a great place to start and open up the conversation about what you're looking for when testing things in the tank. The main thing is going to be what is your KH in relation to your GH, more or less? Things like fertilize regime, maintenance method and regime, those all play a role as well. Some plants can tolerate harder water (higher GH and KH), but others cannot. It really depends on what you're working with, seeing, and just responding to what the tank is doing. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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