Re: Black brush algae

["Wim Hanssens" <Wim.Hanssens at village_uunet.be>]

My nitrate level is 20-30 ppm. My tap water has 30-40, so "big" water
changes certainly won't help.(Tried weekly changes already). My fish load is
indeed high, but nothing will stop my platies breeding, moreover, the
problem dates from before that. I must say that since I stopped fertilizing
and CO2 I got two new Anubias leaves that still don't have BBA on them( all
the other leaves are completely covered). Also my Echinodorus is putting out
new leaves twice as fast now. The Cabomba however is doing less well than
before (still ok though).What I want to know is if anybody got rid of the
stuff, without using Copper(will kill it, but probably kills my platies
too), lots of SAE(hard too get, fishload already too high, have to be in
from the start?). If I were to start over, I think I would try the
"bleaching" approach. I read that sometimes it dissapears by itself. I'd
like to find out more about this.I really want it to go, even though my wife
actually likes it(and my platies seem to eat it).

Wim
>Subject: Re: Black Brush Algae
>
>Wim Hanssens wrote:
>>
>I've only ever been lurking so far. The only reason I read this list (2
>years)is to get rid of my black brush algae, the only real problem
>I've had in my last 2 tanks. So far I did not see anything relevant.
>
>>snip
>
>
>You seem to have a high fish load and are making relatively small
>water changes. (10% every 2/3 weeks)  You don’t say what your nitrate
>level is, but my guess is that it is high. I had a black brush algae
>problem when because of a faulty test kit I allowed it to drift up to
>about 50ppm. After making a series of 30% water changes to drive the
>nitrate level down the algae began to disappear.  I,m not sure it was
>just lowering the nitrate level that solved the problem, but I would
>find pieces of it floating in the tank and within a couple of weeks it
>was gone.  I keep the nitrate level below about 5ppm and the brush
>algae has never returned.
>
>In your case I would try a series of 30% changes then 30% changes
>every 2 weeks.
>
>
>
>
>
>==
>Jim Spencer
>Sayre, PA

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