Diatoms? or something else?

[AbbeyRanda]

I have had this issue with a black/brown edging on all of my plants. it looks kind of like algae but I can't seem to find a picture that correlates. the closest I could find is brown diatoms. It's definitely not gooey/slimy.

the tank has been set up for about a year now, although for the first 10 months or so I was trying to grow plants with a coralife bulb in a standard, 20-inch striplight (it's a 16 gal tank). Recently I did a retrofit and switched up to a 36W CFL bulb (6700K). It has definitely improved the growth of my plants but seems to have done little to inhibit the growth of this blackish algae stuff. I use Flourish comprehensive, iron, trace and excel, it almost seemed like it got worse when I increased the dosage of excel... it started in on my new microsword when I did that.

Other info that may be helpful:
Laterite substrate with black coated gravel over it.
3 Otos and a nerite for algae control (none of them seem interested in it)

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance for the help!

I have attached pics...

[AbbeyRanda]

figured I'd bump this, hoping someone may have some insight.

[Cliff]

The stuff around the edges of your plants almost looks like black brush algae to me. At least, when it started to developed on some plants in my tank, it looked a lot like that.

I’m stumped on the other stuff

[Taurus]

I agree with Cliff on black brush algae. It's not diatoms.

[AbbeyRanda]

Hmmm... Ok, thanks for the input. I'll dig a little more to see what I can find out on the red stuff on my drift wood. It's starting to grow on my new driftwood too... :think:

[Trillianne]

Abbey,

I'm not certain on the type of algae, but I've gotten it as well before. (It could be BBA, but generally mine doesn't grow brushy and just looks like rusty dust all over)

We have well water with a high presence of phosphates from the tap although low Iron content. For me, I added a phosphate remover to my canister filter an that seemed to stop it from growing for several months. For clean up of decorations I use a soft "fish-only" toothbrush and scrub it under water (remember to de-chlorinate) outside of the tank when I do my weekly maintenance.

I can say I've seen some of it come back recently, but I do think its about time to replace the phosphate remover bag. (Package says 8-10 weeks replacement but I've had mine in there quite a bit longer).

Not sure if that helps much other than to point to something else to look at in your water parameters. :\

[Taurus]

Brush algae and red algae are the same thing.


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[Trillianne]

Those WERE very helpful links Taurus! Thank you.

[Taurus]

Welcome. :22:

[AbbeyRanda]

Yes, quite helpful! I had read the article before but dismissed BBA because it wasn't "brushy". Also, it seemed to get worse when I upped the excel dosage so I thought it couldn't be BBA. Though now it doesn't seem like it could be anything else.

as far as solutions what are my options?
--I'm not on well water, and the additions to my water (other than what is listed below) are Tetra AquaSafe conditioner and 1/2 tsp of baking soda once every other week/water change (sometimes I only add it once a month/every 4th water change) could these be making the problem worse?
--I'm running an HOB filter; is there any way to add a phosphate remover to that?
--I don't want to overstock my tank but can I put in an SAE to take care of it?

An update on how it looks: I went back to dosing 1/2 excel dose daily (as opposed to the full dose 2x per week) and indeed it seems to have gotten worse again! I also put my DIY co2 system back in.

[Taurus]

A 3% H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) solution is very effective, apply directly to the plants and dritwood with a syringe. If the BBA doesn't die with the first treatment wait a day and try again with a second treatment.

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[AbbeyRanda]

Woah! That seems intense. I'll certainly try it if it gets to a point where it's visually distracting, but so far the only person it bothers is me. It's not harmful to anything though, right?

[Cliff]

No BBA won't hurt anything. I've had a little in my tank for over a year now. I've got rid of most of it but there always is a little hanging around

I'm goin to give Taurus' suggestion a try myself and see how it goes

[AbbeyRanda]

Thanks again for the help on the mystery algae. It's good to know that I can do something about it if one day I decide I cant take it anymore!

[Taurus]

If the BBA doesn't bother you, I'd just leave it be. You can fall back on the H2O2 treatment if necessary.