# black hair algae getting really annoying



## grogan (Jan 23, 2011)

Ok guys/gals I have a 56 gallon heavily planted fresh water tank and have been having serious problems with black algae for about 2 months now. I have done some research and found that it is cause by low co2 or unstable co2 levels. I dose with API Leaf zone, API co2 booster, and API algae fix consistently and still have not seen any results. I also have 1 siamese algae eater, several tadpoles, and a chines algae eater. In my 14 gallon planted I don't have this problem because I have a large community of cherry shrimp but I cant put them in the 56 gal because I have 2 larger botia loaches who eat shrimp. 

While these steps I have taken seem to stop a full on bloom from happening it still continues to survive and destroy my beautiful planted tank. The tank has HIGH lighting but this started before I upgraded the lighting system. 

So is a full on co2 system with a ph monitor monitor my only remaining solution? Has anybody beaten this algae and have any tips because its really starting to piss me off.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Hitting the bba directly with flourish excel (the gluteradehyde 'carbon supplement") or a dilute hydrogen peroxide solution with a syringe is supposed to help. You have to careful with dose to avoid hurting fish.


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## snyderguy (Feb 9, 2010)

How many fish are in your 55? If you add more fish, it increases the CO2 levels, or you could just straight up put CO2 into the tank.


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## girth vader (Apr 24, 2006)

EMC7 is correct. However if you want a long term solution for BBA, stop feeding your fish so much or sledge hammering your ferts..... That's the root cause. Trim off every leaf with BBA and lower your feeding amounts and or dosing regiment. CO2 is always a nice asset to a planted tank, but that controls GSA...


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## grogan (Jan 23, 2011)

K this took a while but I at least got it under control. I cut down my feeding (which was sparse as is) and increased my dosage of co2. I also added two more Siames algae eaters to the tank. It is not completely gone but its under control . Thanks for the tips guys, my tank is back to growing uncontrollably 

Check out my page to see how far it has came


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