Is this Black Beard Algae

[mozzer]

I have a sprout from my Amazon Sword that is at the surface and very close to the light and filter output. I've noticed short bluish black hairs are beginning to form on the leaves and roots. Is this BBA?

I fertilize my 26g tank with 2.5ml of Flourish 2x/week and Excel 3x/week. I've noticed that my LFS has similar but longer growth on filters, etc., in most of their freshwater tanks.

 

[rcwilliams]

Hi mate,
did u get any responses to the black beard algae?

 

[Ilminded]

It looks too white for BBA, unless you did an EXCEL blackout on your sword and that photo is a day later. Even in early stages on a plant, BBA will be black. Once you hit it with some sort of liquid CO2 or H2O2, it will eventually turn white after a few days.

 

[Rivercats]

Yes that is the beginning of BBA. What type of lighting do you have and how many hours a day do you run them? What is your nitrate and phosphate readings?

 

[mozzer]

My lighting is a 24" Finnex Fugeray LED fixture running for 3 hours in the morning and 5 hours in the evening. My Nitrates are 0 ppm. I've never tested Phosphates. How do I get rid of it? I can trim these few items, but that won't get at the real issue.

 

[Rivercats]

You shouldn't have 0 nitrates. In a planted tank you want nitrates to be 10-20ppm and phosphates at .5-1.5ppm. There is an imbalance in your tank and even spot treating the algae won't keep it from coming back until you correct the problem. If you have a fair amount of plants I suggest looking into using dry ferts as they will provide your plants with all the macro and micro nutrients they need. Also Excel only stays in solution 24 hours max and plants do best when it's dosed daily.

I learned along time ago that sword plants don't respond well to spot treating with Excel so I'd cut off any leaves you can and for those you can't draw up 2-3ml of Hydrogen Peroxide 3% for every 10 gallons of tank water, then hold the syringe as close to the algae as possible and very slowly squirt the algae. You will have to turn your lights and filters off for 20 minutes to give the Peroxide time to work. You can dose this amount daily. BBA will lighten in color as it dies off which is usually about 24 hours after treating.

 

[mozzer]

Thanks, Rivercats! How can I bring my nitrates up? My tank has only been set up for 2 months and I was running 5-10 ppm Nitrates for a while until it went down to 0. I guess that might have been around the time I noticed the algae. I will try the H2O2 dosing you suggested, and I should continue with Excel, correct? Should I be dosing Excel daily? Also, I'm wondering why you mentioned Phosphates. Were you thinking they might be high, possibly as a result of over feeding? I will test as soon as I can get a kit.

 

[Rivercats]

Just mentioned phosphates so you know the level your tank should be at. Flourish makes a liquid nitrate which is Flouish Nitrogen but honestly buying and using dry ferts dosing either El or PPS-Pro is much cheaper than buying liquid ferts and you get all the micro and macro nutrients your plants need. I do suggest buying a phosphate test kit.

 

[mozzer]

Ok, I've been able to cut out most of the BBA and I've ordered a phosphate test kit and PPS-Pro Fert Pack! After I start dosing the dry ferts, I'm assuming that my nitrate and phosphate levels should essentially correct themselves. However, how does one adjust the levels independently if necessary to achieve 10-20ppm nitrates and 0.5-1.5ppm phosphates? Rivercats, I recall seeing one of your threads where you mentioned dosing phosphates separately, but I couldn't follow how to do this per the recipe. Is this something that you recommend? As always, I want to do what's right while also keeping it simple. Thanks!

 

[mozzer]

I just found a similar link to your suggestions for dosing PPS-Pro. Would this be correct with the 3rd bottle you suggest?

1st bottle - Micros (Plantex CSM+B)

2nd bottle - Potassium Nitrate (KNO3) and Magnesium Sulfate (MgSO4 - can be eliminated unless really soft water, but can't hurt either)

3rd bottle - Mono Potassium Phosphate (KH2PO4) and Potassium Sulfate (K2SO4)

Lastly, add 5ml/250ml Excel to each bottle to prevent mold/fungus.

Is all this correct? If you decide to split the macros, this doesn't alter the weights to add to the correct amount of water, does it?

Thanks!

 

[Rivercats]

You have to weight each fert so the amounts are the same. Just remember the recipe is for 1000ml dosing bottles so if you use 500ml dosing bottles be sure the half your amounts.

How I suggest you start is do your weekly WC then take nitrate and phosphates readings 24 hours later to see what your starting levels are. Write it down as you want to keep a log for awhile. Then once you have your readings if they are all in the normal or below normal numbers I listed for tank levels then you want to start dosing all three bottles of ferts at 1ml fert per 10g of tank water. Then at the end of the week test you nitrates and phosphates before your WC to see what dosing at the normal levels for a week did for the tank. Write it down. Then do you WC and retest your water again 24 hours later for nitrates and phosphates just like the week before. Record them and compare your numbers. Look at what your numbers for nitrates and phosphates at the end of the week are and see if they fall in the proper range of if something needs changing. You can PM me if you need to. Say nitrates are 30ppm at the end of the week of dosing. Then I would have you cut down dosing on nitrates for that week. It sounds complicated but once you see how it works you can easily adjust macros to fit the needs of your tank.

 

[mozzer]

You have to weight each fert so the amounts are the same.

Sorry, I could have been more clear. Essentially, I would just put the K2SO4 and KH2PO4 in a separate bottle with 500ml water, right?

If I break it down, on the GFA blog (Our PPS-Pro Fertilizer Pack … Just Mix & Dose | Planted Aquarium Blog – Green Leaf Aquariums) the directions for a 500ml bottle are:

K2SO4 – 29 grams - bottle #3
KNO3 – 33 grams - bottle #2
KH2PO4 – 3 grams - bottle #3
MgSO4 – 20 grams - bottle #2

To use the "3rd bottle technique" I would:

1. Combine the 29 grams K2SO4 and 3 grams KH2PO4 in bottle #3 with 500ml water.

2. Combine the 33 grams KNO3 and 20 grams MgSO4 in bottle #2 with 500ml water.

3. Mix the Micros in bottle #1 and add the Excel to all 3 bottles.


Is this correct? Sorry for being so dense. I have been keeping a log and will PM if I need adjustment help. Thanks so much!

 

[Rivercats]

You have it correct BUT, there's always a but, unless you have very soft water and your Gh is under 4 you do not need to use MgSO4, magnesium, in your solution! If you do in fact have soft water then you need to add the MgSO4 to the potassium-phosphate mix. I just leave nitrates alone. Otherwise everything is correct. And you not dense it's just a little confusing in the beginning.

 

[mozzer]

Great! The dry ferts are still on the way, but I did receive my test kits. After a 30% PWC and dosing 2.5 ppm Comp and Excel this morning, parameters are:

Nitrates - 0
Phosphates - 0 (even more brown in color than the slightly blue strip on the card)
Gh - 3
KH - 3

I guess I was a little surprised to see nitrates at 0 so soon after dosing. I don't know if the following flora put me in the "heavily planted category":

1 Amazon sword
1 Amazon melon sword
1 Crypt wendtii
1 Anubias nana
2 Java swords
6 strands Ludwigia something

 

[Rivercats]

You have 3 heavy root feeders, 2 slower growing plants that use less ferts since they grow so slow, then the ludwigia is the only one that is going to pull a lot of ferts from the water. The thing with the liquid ferts is they IMO are quite weak. Now when you change over to dry ferts you might have to dose less than the 1ml of each solution for every 10g of water. Time will tell. But it might be a good idea to add some more stem plants. While your tank looks full I wouldn't call it heavily planted.