Black Beard Algae taking over my cichlid tank

[Complexity]

I am having problems fighting black beard algae in my cichlid tank. I know how to control it in my planted tanks, but I'm at a loss of what to do for my cichlid tank. One of the main problems is that the rocks are too large for me to remove and manually clean so I'm having a hard time getting an upper hand on the problem.

This is my 90g tank. It currently has no live plants. It is overstocked with haps and peacocks which have been stable for a couple of years. I also have 3 BN plecos and about 7 petricola cats. Two Rena XP4 canisters run on the tank. Substrate is LPS.

The algae is so aggressive that if I bleach the fake plants and return them in the tank perfectly clean, they're covered in BBA in about a week.

I usually do 50% water changes every week; although, while finishing college I did let the tank go and sometimes skipped a week, sometimes even 2 weeks. I got away with this with planted tanks since the plants help take in the nitrates, but I think the combination of having no plants and having larger fish allowed the BBA to take over.

I've cleaned out both canisters (I usually don't clean both at the same time, but I was careful to preserve the bacteria). I just ordered phosphate removers and will increase water changes. I will also work to clean out the caves in the rocks.

If this was a planted tank, I'd use Excel and/or Hydrogen Peroxide to kill the BBA from the rocks, but I'm not sure if this is okay with a non-planted tank. Should I go ahead with this or is there anything else I should try?

[aquabee]

Do you have any natural buffers in the tank (holey rock, aragonite sand, crushed coral, etc)? If so, you can direct the peroxide using a syringe at the BBA and it'll then convert into CO2, which the buffers will quickly take care of. You should still be able to use peroxide just as you have in the past, provided you have a buffer to keep your pH a little on the alkaline side.

[SunnyHouTX]

Put Tropheus on that tank. I know, I'm of no real help.

B's plans sounds good though.

[nacra99]

No harm using excel in a non-planted tank... not that i know of anyway...

[Complexity]

No buffers in the tank. Just LPS, rocks, and artificial plants. I wouldn't mind the BBA so much if it didn't coat the plants so fast. Since the rocks are black, it doesn't really detract from them. But I think it also indicates that I have other problems going on in the tank given how fast the BBA covers the plants when i clean them.

Doesn't hydrogen peroxide break down to just oxygen? Never heard of it breaking down into CO2. Usually, when I've used hydrogen peroxide, I've turned off the filters and lights, spot treated with a syringe, waited 15 minutes, then turned on lights and filters. Then followed up with a 50% water change.

I guess I'll just start hitting it with hydrogen peroxide and see how it goes. I have a bunch of old excel that I may try, as well. If I can just get the upper hand on it, I think I can keep it knocked down.

[aquabee]

Doesn't hydrogen peroxide break down to just oxygen? Never heard of it breaking down into CO2. Usually, when I've used hydrogen peroxide, I've turned off the filters and lights, spot treated with a syringe, waited 15 minutes, then turned on lights and filters. Then followed up with a 50% water change.

Sorry Vicki, you're right, I meant to say that the reaction releases an H2, but I was wrong with that as well. It just converts to water and O2. I think you should safely be able to use hydrogen peroxide as you've been doing. I've been meaning to use it in my planted nano... I've got BBA covering my crypts and it's seriously annoying.

[Complexity]

No problem, aquabee. I get stuff mixed up sometimes, too. I haven't started treating the tank yet. Wish I could find long syringes!

[aquabee]

No problem, aquabee. I get stuff mixed up sometimes, too. I haven't started treating the tank yet. Wish I could find long syringes!

I know... I'm gonna try to find some smaller turkey baster type thingies at the grocery store tonight. I'm going to treat my planted nano with peroxide today cuz that BBA went crazy overnight! Covered my crypts and anubias but left the java fern alone. Weird.

[Complexity]

BBA really loves anubias and crypts. You can treat both with hydrogen peroxide. You might burn the leaves of the crypts, but they'll come right back so don't worry if that happens. The main concern would be to clear out the dead debris so it doesn't pollute the water.

[aquabee]

BBA really loves anubias and crypts. You can treat both with hydrogen peroxide. You might burn the leaves of the crypts, but they'll come right back so don't worry if that happens. The main concern would be to clear out the dead debris so it doesn't pollute the water.

Thanks!!

[davemonkey]

Vicki,

When I use peroxide to kill algae, I just dump-dose. 2-4mL per gallon and dump straight into the tank, give a day or two to show the effects. The only thing I've harmed in doing this (and only with the highest dose) is snails...and some thin-leaves plants.

My guess is that the fish load is more than the biological filter can handle. And now here I am telling you to dump-dose peroxide...which will kill a good bit of your bio-filter...hmmm. Do you have any cichild-hardy plants you could place in the tank, even temporarily? Large swords and large crypts will take up alot of the nutrient load. Anubias and JavaFerns are realyl hardy with cichlids...but probably too slow-growing to take up the bioload.

[Complexity]

Dave, I think I may give this a try. The whole tank method is probably my best shot given how rampant it is in the tank.

I think my main problem is that I have BBA in all my tanks and just keep spreading it from tank to tank through shared tools. I probably should try to kill it out of all my tanks at the same time. Even my 5g shrimp tank has it, and the bioload on that tank is nothing.

I never had BBA until I made the mistake of accepting plants with BBA on them. I had managed to get rid of all other algae so I didn't think killing out BBA would be any different. What a grave error that turned out to be. Once I got BBA in one tank, I have had it in all tanks ever since. I have cleaned it out and managed to keep it knocked down pretty well in most of my tanks, but I have never been completely free of it. I think the spores just keep getting passed from tank to tank, reinfecting any tank I clean out, and continuing the cycle. How I regret accepting those original plants with BBA.

[aquabee]

+1, Vicki. Same thing happened in my 8g planted. *totally sucks*

I read a lot online about the whole tank peroxide dosing. It seems to be safe and effective.

[Complexity]

Yeah, I'm going to do it on my 90g. I want to pull out the fake plants and hit them with bleach while the H2O2 goes through the tank.

I also noticed the BBA coming back into my 29g with the Pelvicachromis fry. I'm going to not treat that tank for now because I don't want to hurt the fry. I can pull out the anubias and treat it outside of the tank and I can spot treat a few areas, but I want to keep the H2O2 at a low range in that tank for now.

And this is how I can never seem to get it out of all my tanks at the same time. Seems there's always something I want to take special care of so I don't treat the tanks as aggressively as I could, and the BBA wins out.

[Complexity]

I've decided to start treating the tank with H2O2. I just put in 1 cup of it and am waiting 15 minutes before turning filters and lights on. I think I'll just keep doing this until I knock the BBA out. I think I'll go ahead and treat my other tanks, as well. If at all possible, I'm going to try to eradicate the BBA from all my tanks simultaneously. I'd really love to get rid of this stuff!