Black Brush Algea HELP

[Keybler]

Black Brush Algae HELP

Hello Hope someone can save me a buck and help my BBA issue.

I noticed BBA about a month ago, changed my light settings and bought mollies hoping for a quick fix. I plan to do 25% water changes for the next month, normally I was doing a 50% once a month. Although this tank has been setup for 6 months, Its a lot of the same fish, rocks, filter, wood that has been in another tank for 3 years. The major change was starting over in a bigger tank with different plants and that's how I got bba spores and snails. I have SAE's on order which may help.

The Million dollar question is....
- Is my lighting to much? ( I doubt, because my led model is 33% less watts and lumens of the next step up).
- Do I have no much Nitrate at 40-80ppm?
- Should I use "flourish"?

Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks!



Spec's:
75 Gallon Tank
Fluval 405 can filter (normally has snails in it)
Current Satellite Freshwater LED fixture 30w 2000 Lumens, runs 8 hours a day on the white/blue setting.
Tank stays at 75 degree's
1 Bubbler, turned fairly down to a low setting.
120 Pounds CaribSea Eco-Complete
2 larger drift wood, 1 small.
15 small plants
Tank's age - 6 Months

Fish:
9 neon tetras
5 black mollys
2 Rainbow fish
2 YOYO loaches
5 Bristle nose algae eaters (1 Adult, 4 kids)

Test Results: Water is not treated
PH 6.2
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 40-80ppm (this may be my problem, Its hard to tell if its 40 or 80, I'm leaning closer to 40)
GH & KH, very low. I only have drip strips for this test and it barely shows anything.

 

[Fresh2o]

It would be a good idea to increase the frequency of the water changes to once a week instead of once a month. I find that if I skip water changes, I see an increase of BBA. I currently do 30-35% per week. Occasionally I go as high as 50-60%. I believe the accumulation of inorganic waste compounds contribute to BBA outbreaks.
A short term fix is a spot treatment using hydrogen peroxide or Seachem Excel.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[mambee]

Increase your water changes to 40% per week and add more plants, preferably floating ones which can utilize CO2 from the air. I think that lots of time that BBA is due to wrong lighting, high nitrates, and lack of fast growing plants.

I have a 90 gallon tank which is heavily planted and receives some natural daylight which never had a problem with BBA. I have a 150 gallon tank which receives some indirect daylight which the BBA seems to like. I've added some floating plants, and that seems to have helped.

 

[libertybelle]

agreed. In my experience there's no such thing as a quick fix for bba. Algae eaters, increased water changes, balancing ferts and light, adding fast growing plants and excel. Somewhere along the way mine disappeared but who knows what actually did the job. All of them, probably!

Every once in a while I see the tiniest little spec somewhere so it's clearly still in the system but as long as things stay balanced, I never see it.