Beard Alage and getting rid of it

[Etunes]

Ok, well on my 20g i had a little bit of beard algae that came in on a plant i am pretty sure. So that little piece has EXPLODED into a freakin tank that is hairy. When ever i got this stuff in any of my other tanks i would just scrub it off the rock and let it sit for a day in the sun and then put it back in the tank and everything is good. But i would have to scrub the whole tank on this 1. So what should i do to get rid of it?

 

[Smitty]

Well, I've been fighting it myself but think I finally have it under control. I used Excel and did the first dose amount for 5 days straight. All of it has turned red (dead). Now I still need to clean it up a bit but hopefully it won't come back.

 

[cwt]

I'm going to have to get a new bottle of Excel... I have one tank that might be worse than Etunes. Had family over yesterday and my aunt thought the "black furry stuff" was pretty. lol

 

[Smitty]

Well... the excel killed it. Now I'm struggling with how to clean it all up (I posted another thread about that myself). Most of mine is on a very large piece of drift wood. I'm just going to yank that out and scrub it. Stinks because I have plants rooted to it and I'll have to take off.

 

[Etunes]

Well thanks guys, i guess one of my next purchases is excel.

 

[WhiteDevil]

Hydrogen Peroxide is better to use, beard algae is really a red algae so its not dying just becoming healthier.


Use a toothbrush to remove it.
If you dose HP directly to the BBA/BHA that will kill it but other then that unless you nuke the tank nothing really works, hardest one to get rid of.

 

[Etunes]

What about the plants? Should i do a bleach dip at a 1:10 ratio?

 

[Smitty]

Well, just an update for me... the excel seemed to kill all the BBA and I haven't had time to clean it up on my own. Well, this morning I looked at the tank and it looks like I didn't need to because I'd say 80-90% of it is just gone (think I need to clean my filter the second time in 1 week!).