Black Algae - sick of it - Redo entire tank?

[jimsz]

I have a long established (8-9 years) 55 gal tank, live plants, eco complete for the base. Variety of fresh water fish, not overstocked. All water readings within normal ranges, lighting on for 4 hours a day, no direct sunlight. Fish fed every few days. No CO2.

I have been fighting black hair algae for a couple of years and just can't get rid of it. I am at the point to put the fish in a holding tank and get rid of all the plants, boil the few rocks and decorations, toss the eco and rebuild with new eco-complete, all new plants and the tank thoroughly scrubbed.

I use a canister filter and that media is established.

Am I approaching this properly? I am simply sick of the tank looking dirty because of the algae and I have tried all sort of ways to get rid of it and it keeps coming back.

Comments? Suggestions?

https://2047.org/fishvidfeed2019.html

 

[jocelynmeyer]

I am curious what others input here.

I have a 10gal tank that seems to have the same issue. It’s not nearly as established as yours and I definitely am a newbie. But even if I stay super on top of water changes, this stuff slowly creeps back up every few months.

 

[BBradbury]

Hello jim...

The authorities on algae growth say phosphates and nitrates from unused fish and plant foods are to blame. I think that's part of it. But, I have no visible algae in my fish tanks and I believe it's because I change 50 to 75 percent of the tank water every week. If you remove the food source from the water, there's nothing to sustain the algae, so it doesn't grow. I also started introducing a house plant called "Aglaonema" in some of my tanks and the roots remove all forms of nitrogen from the water. There's no visible algae in those tanks. A little is good for the tank, because it acts as a water filter. But, if you tend to feed your fish and plants a little too much and they don't use it, then you've made a perfect environment for any type of algae.

B

 

[KaylNeko]

May look into excel dosing for algae and/or adding a few nitrate eater plants for lower light like anacharis or Amazon swords.

If you don't already have plants, I've also shut the lights off for a week and cut feeding down to get rid of algae. It won't hurt the fish to be without light for a while.