Comment by seth roach on October 13, 2012 at 12:24pm

yeah excel with remove the already grown stuff take the plants out or do a huge water change and use a dropper directly on the algae and leaves, you can mix it down a bit with water if you have a lot to do and also so you don't over-dose your tank on excel. it probably wont remove it immediately but it should go away in a day or two....that being said just using excel to get rid of the algae that is visible probably isn't going to rid your tank of BBA once its in a tank its near impossible to completely expunge it. Getting rid of the big chunks will most certainly slow it down but there is probably some underlying reason it is there in the first place and until you figure out what that is it'll keep coming back over and over and over... give it a real good cleaning and vacuuming too...i still have BBA in all my tanks its a constant struggle....also i really like the tank i love silver dollars in planted tanks even though that also tends to be a constant struggle. Good-luck!!

Comment by thefisherman15 on October 13, 2012 at 1:06pm

Thanks for your help -  I have added the excel into my tank - we will see how it does. I may have to take the driftwood out and clean it . I also put a timer on the light , which might help too .

Comment by Robert Jango on October 14, 2012 at 2:26am

I also heard Excel will help but I never tried it. Seth is right about "underlying conditions". I had the same problem when my plants were getting hit with too much light at the surface. I cut down on the intensity and amount of light and the beard algae disappeared.  Adding a floating plant like Water Lettuce is another way to cut down on the amount of light hitting your plants. And make sure your light is in the 6000K - 7000K range.

Comment by Robert Jango on October 14, 2012 at 2:31am

I just noticed the picture. Crypts hate strong light. Mine lives under a log and gets about one hour of direct sunlight a day - that's it - and its thriving.

Comment by Anthony Piti on October 14, 2012 at 3:22pm

Another way to get rid of black beard is adding 1 or 2 otto catfish if it's not going to throw your tank out of balance.  I have 2 in my 40 gallon and they love them some BBA.  But as always... check out any underlying problems.  For me I was feeding my fish too much.

Comment by thefisherman15 on October 14, 2012 at 4:08pm

Thanks Anthony .... I think my problem was a couple of things - feeding to much / lights on too long .

I have dosed the tank with excel and put a timer on the lights . I just might get a couple of those catfish , they will help I`m sure .

Comment by ŦůRbö ۰ Ҏяѻ ۰ on October 14, 2012 at 5:19pm

Holy Crap. I have the same problem, yet its not as bad as yours. I figured I was dosing to much and cut my light time down, It seems to slow and stop new growth, but I cannot seem to get it to completely go away. I even got an otto catfish, just to try to cut it down; even tho Im the type that likes to keep my fish in the "bio type," meaning I perfer to have only Amazon fish in one tank. But he/she doesnt seem to eat any, I never see it near the the algae. My BBA only grows on two of my plants, the ones in the middle, for some reason. Never on my drift wood, rocks, or the few fake plants...

Comment by ŦůRbö ۰ Ҏяѻ ۰ on October 14, 2012 at 5:23pm

Plus I only have one T5 light... so I just dont know whats going on... Sorry for not helping, I kinda useing your post to figure out whats happening to my tank as well.

Comment by seth roach on October 14, 2012 at 8:01pm

i dont think otos eat bba...if i remember right true simese algae eater are pretty much the only things that will eat it...and i would guess they would have to be pretty starved to get rid of that much....what kinda substrate you using if its gravel i would really give it a good vacuuming and if its a real thick layer think about removing some of it...a lot of the BBA i think ive been getting is from excess food deep in my substrate. fish really dont eat much...you could also get more plants that will develop deeper root structures to help keep the excess crap at bay...more competition working against the algae the weaker it will get....

Comment by thefisherman15 on October 14, 2012 at 10:45pm

Re:  Turbo  &  seth  -    I too only have only one T5 light / and gravel in this tank - but I might have to much gravel - close to two inches of gravel in spots .  Like I said earlier I think I was feeding too much /// but I was doing water changes every two weeks  and cleaning the gravel .  maybe I was not cleaning the gravel well enough ????  Yesterday  I  dosed the tank with excel  and put a timer on the light  , also I have cut down on feeding - so we will see if things improve .......

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