American Flagfish (killifish) also eats BBA. They are from Florida , USA and in the US are pretty inexpensive. They are also very pretty with reds, blues and greens when grown. They also do well in community tanks as long as there are plants and scape to break up the views. I keep mine in a tank with Bristlenose plecos, Cory’s, and guppies. My guppies have fry regularly and I usually have around 10 or so survive with each spawn. Lots of plants for the babies to hide, also floater plants with dangling roots.

I never had bba in my tank for 3 years, until I recently purchased a red tiger lotus plant from a online seller and placed it in my tank. Then the bba started appearing in my tank.

Always good to hear tips on handling algae!

Another great video.. can’t thank you enough

Thank you for the book. You are truly amazing..your tips seriously help us.

You're a life saver. Thank you! Regards from Portugal!

I’ve been looking everywhere for help and finally you answered every single one of my questions.

Your video was short and sweet! Very well explained with good details. Thank you so much ! Best i’ve seen !

Thanks that was very clear on what to do with this BBA.

Your channel is so fantastic. Thanks for all of this beautifully presented information.

Thats cool you are willing to offer help if people cant figure it out. Nice video, I like how you stick to the root tabs.

Very detailed guide 👍🏻👍🏻 looking forward to staghorn algae

Absolutely great work. Helped me a lot although i have not encountered this yet. Definetly do more types of algae pls!

Good video, cheers mate - probably the most comprehensive and concise one i've seen. Much appreciated.

Really good overview. I appreciate your approach and delivery to these videos. Your tanks are fantastic, btw!

Spot on with the reasons. I am currently going through a battle right now with BBA in my first high tech tank. Yesterday I treated with Seachem Excel by reducing the water level and spraying onto affected areas. It has started to go purple and I thin’ is dying back. You mentioned not doing a water change during the CO2 period. I have not been doing that but will start - it makes sense.

Best summary about BBA, i have ever seen! Thanks 😀 Great channel!👍

Hey Mark, a really comprehensive vid on BBA mate. Quality!

Thank you so much for such an organized and informative video! Can you do hair algae or green brush algae for the next episode in the series? I've been managing it for a while and I have it under control but can't get it to completely disappear!

Omg I'm so happy I found you!! Where have you been all my life? I've been in the hobby for 30 yrs and never found anyone with such obvious, simple, easy to explain, logical algae explanations and fixes... I was looking for some extra help with my 2 of my very gravid kuhli loaches... I can't move them without overstressing them. But they won't mate even a large VERY heavily planted aquarium, I think due to all of the distractions and that a few parameters aren't closely mimicked to their natural environment. Anyway, in searching for answers I thankfully you! Having multiple played aquariums both low and high tech with many plants I have had far more than m share of algae. Most recently I used a lot of 3% peroxide to almost 100% eliminate BBA I both high and low tech aquariums. Hearing your iron reduction solution, and probably cleaning out fillets more frequently to help spread serious the co2 in my high tech tanks is a huge huge help for this USA, Oregonian. I did hear you mention using trace elements that include copper. I have collections of snails, shrimp and scaleless fish. Do you have any issues with that? I tend to COMPLETELY avoid anything worth copper for this reason. Any suggestions? And, when naming a brand name if there is an American equivalent would you please include that if you're able? Than you so much, again. I'll be passing closer attention to you and your plethora of highly useful information! ❤

Thanks for all the information. Best video about BBA I have watched so far. 👌

I did my first planted tank a month ago after watching you videos for one year. Thanks for the inspiration. Keep up the good work..🥰🥰

I like your videos. Keep up the great work.

Great tutorial on BBA!👍

Downloaded the eBook, hats off mate! One day all your hardwork will pay off❤

Great video Mark! I have not seen BBA before but now I know what to do if it appears, going to download the ebook now 👍

Well done good video. !!

Thanks great video. I want to add my problem solver that worked for me. I started to add the diy co2 that you made a previous video about I've got 2 set ups running in my 180ltr and added 2 siamese algae eater ( flying foxes) I did a big clean aswel. Its worked a treat 2 months later complete clear tank and looking so healthy.

Goeie video!

nice. helpful.

Thank you very much for the video. I just got a new aquarium and a black beard appeared. Now I will know how to deal with it 👍🏻

Best one 👍👍

Love your videos and all your scapes! Hello from Canada! Just wanted to mention that my otocinclus and black mollies eat the BBA!! Takes a while but they cleared it up for me.

Thank you 💗

Thank you friend !

tank is looking very nice!!

Thanks

Can you make a vid about hair algae and ways to stop it?

This series is superb keep it up👍❤️ Please make video about brown algae

very good video

I'm planning to build my first planted tank and I'm glad I found your channel. I've seen so many videos on aquascaping but your's has helped me learn so much more. Great work with the information and the video!

Talk About Pseudomugil ? Because I love them🙌

Great video! You're really informative. For me BBA was an issue when I had too much organic material.. especially on driftwood. Brushing the wood and the stones during the weekly maintenance will be really helpful when dealing with this type of algae. Maybe you could do a video on staghorn algae next time.. I think it's the second most ordinary type of algae in CO2 running aquariums.

Algae video fridays! Lol yea man BBA is the worst. Agree with all the causes, iron seems to be a crazy trigger for me.

Thank you! I noticed that when I didn't do water changes as frequent, my tank started getting taken over by blackbeard algae. Started spot treating with seachem flourish excel. We'll see how it goes in a few weeks!

Very nice. I been treating mine but I always ha e at least a little

I had some BBA on my spiderwood (heavily planted tank 4 months old at the time) and some diatom/hair algae. The BBA was beginning to spread to rocks and plants. I increased my ferts (Tropica Specialized) as I wasn''t using the full dose, added a circulation pump to increase flow for the CO2 bubbles, and dosed Excel in the water column every second day. I also bought a couple of Siamese Algae eaters. (My lights are only at 50% 6 hours per day as the tank is only 12 inches deep. At first it improved. Now, the plants are a little better due to SAE and Amanos, but the hardscape is covered with BBA. I will try the direct dose with a syringe. Peroxide on the Wood exposed out of water when the tank is drained and excel on the rocks near the bottom, being careful of dosage. I heard that Seiryu stone increasing PH and hardness can make it worse. Have you heard anything about that? I do a 50% water change weekly. Great video!

Cool, finally an informative video on the topic, giving potential reasons and perspectives ;-) Regarding CO2 dosing, I use to do it with KH / pH table.. but read that it is not necessary correct. One suggestion is to read pH before CO2 injection, probably at 2ppm CO2 natural equilibrium, then target 1 point pH lower to get in the 30ppm. Would you know / confirm / use it?

Very good video, in the next video you are gonna make about algae, I think you should talk about "brown algae" i would be very nice :D

I've battled BBA off and on for a while now. I eventually just tossed my contents and tank decor and cleaned thoroughly before refilling. Once the water was okay, I restocked fish and plants and within a couple months, the BBA was back. I used tap water filling our tank, but we are not on a treated water system, only spring water. I'm wondering now if it's not minerals in my water that are upping the chances of BBA in my tank. Love your videos and thank you for making them.

Please do BGA aka Cyanobacteria next

I found your channel a day ago, subbed, and already watched most of your videos. Always very informative and to-the-point, this one included. Thank you! I myself have a year-old aquarium and the only type of algae I'm still battling is green hair algae on the leaves of my plants. So I'll very much appreciate a similar video about this type of algae.

Rosy Barbs are excellent BBA eaters and look AMAZING with the long fins, but they can be fin nippers.

when i keep Gastromyzon ctenocephalus (borneo sucker), they seem to eat a lot more BBA than Clithon snail in my tank especially in flat surface, but take it with a grain of salt since most people also tell that this fish is not a good algae eater and different species can also have different algae diet

sure let me just ask my girlfriend to use her MAKE UP BRUSH to brush HYDROGEN PEROXIDE on my ALGAE lmao

Hi thank you for this great video ! I have a plant tank for over 8 months now with CO2 injection, and Yangon back canister filter, the plants were very healthy until three months back I started to see BBA on my Anubias, I used the 24hr Aquarist spot algae treatment and it went away. In a weeks time I noticed BBA on my stem plants Ludviga super red and its now spread to all. I have trimmed and thrown off the affected areas and it still continues to grow. Things that I have tried. 1. reduced photo period to 4 hrs with CO2 starting 1 hr before for 4 hrs 2. Have taped my lights with tape to reduce the intensity of light 3. Have stoped dosing 24rs Aquarist APT zero Fert. 4 Continue to do water changes 50% every week and siphon debris from siphon to keep the tank clean.5 Have changed the outlet pipe direction reduced and increased flow etc. But the BBA is still there. I have nerve snails and Siamese Algae eater, but BBA is still there. if I increase the CO2 the drop checker on the other end of the aquarium goes yellow that means its not the CO2 right ? What do I do now? . Should I gradually increase photo period and start dosing Fert gradually ? Please help

Black beard and staghorn algae are horrible... I had a lot of it and tbh i wasnt doing great maintenance and was using a DIY co2 setup with a crappy regulator. I honestly think its worse to use the DIY co2 for the quick boost in plant growth because of all the algae problems it can bring when its not well set up. I removed almost all the plants in the tank, cleaned the substrate quite well and theres still some BBA leftover on the hardscape and remaining plants. Gonna try spot dosing with the gluteraldehyde today, thanks for the tips man!

Cherry barb also eat that type og algea

I just scrub it off. For my plants i use a old scotch bright on the leaves in a passive motion to prevent tearing. Comes right off

Just want to share my personal experience with flow and BBA. I actually see that there’s a correlation between flow and BBA because the BBA in my tank seem to love growing on my CO2 diffuser pipe where there’s good flow (to flush the CO2 down instead of them floating straight up). My two cents

Right on time! i just noticed yesterday that i have a tiny spot of BBA in my aquarium. I always use Excel and works just awesome.

great video, is this safe for shrimp tanks?

I have a large tank, water from the fur was let into the aquarium, where it caused a current of water along the way, encountering obstacles. An interesting observation: when the BBA problem appeared, they developed exactly in the path of this water current, even 1.5 meters from the water inlet, yes!! BBAs like a stronger water current (probably your aquariums are too small to confirm this)

Mooi video Marc. Ik had nooit last van borstelalgen toen ik nog in China woonde, maar nu telkens weer. Ik ben nog uit aan het zoeken of er te veel ijzer in het kraanwater zit of dat ik te weinig licht heb zodat planten niet genoeg kunnen wedijveren. Jou mening is welkom.

Its the imbalance in my experience.After I setup a 4 floor river tank I introduced Rosy barbs who in their quest for food uprooted plants which were years folks from another tank until they finally gave up growing.During that period I did not had enough plants and algae started growing on hardscape.I managed to introduce new plants the Rosys did not uproot, but they took a while to grow roots before they started growing. As I had two powerful filters and two powerheads the flow was certainly not a problem

Hi Mark! Just a week b4 started Dark start method for my new aquascape. Precisely it's 9 days. Only my Sump Filter is ON and last night did some water top up. I had been on the watch, had been looking at white slime on the wood. Tonight saw BBA bloom on wood and Substrate too. Planing to clean up my sump filtering media and also water change. Your prompt advice would be highly appreciated!

The source of BBA is wood. I only get it with tanks with driftwood etc..

Talk about stag horn algae

A plague of green hair algae worked for me and also to stop adding micronutrients, probably the hairy green algae appeared because i also added beneficial bacteria and potassium, apparently the green algae began to consume the nutrients faster than the bba.

Help MJ. I have a 65 gal 20 yr old community, heavily planted tank. I always have BBA I've been using Excel Co2 for years. I have a pressurize Co2 system with a spray bar. The Ph is 6.7 - 7.02. I've tried all yours and others suggestion for years. Nothing seems to work except when I remove my plants and spray or brush Excel and or Hydrogen peroxide on them. That works the best but I hate doing that. In a couple of weeks the BBA reappears. I have never seem to eradicate the stuff. I have 350 gph canister filter, a back filter 250 gph and an underground filter 4 heads at 350 gph each. I only use the underground about once or twice a week for a few hours. I have 4 adult Angels and about 10-15 small fish. Mollies etc. I use to do 50% water change weekly. Didn't seem to help at all. I would apricate any advise.

Cover algea bloom (green water) please

Once again Mark, I find myself back at your videos finding answers to my aquatic problems. I dose easy carbo in my water column but noticed it wasn’t touching the bba. After watching this video I took a few afected items out and spot dosed them with excellent results. I’m now thinking of dosing Co2 from a fire extinguisher even after talking to you about home made Co2, but the aquarium is too big for it. This will be in my upgrade aquarium which I’m setting up in the next two weeks. Keep up the good work Mark, your channel is growing and your advice is really helping fellow aquarists.

This is really informative. How do I contact you for more help? I have been fighting with BBA since the setup of the tank.

Hi Mark, great videos. I have a 30 gallon tank that has a black sludge algae (doesn't look like bba) I keep removing it with a toothbrush but it comes back. I do regular water changes and dosing co2. Any ideas?

Thanks for a great video…. How much liquid Carbon Can you spray at the algaes pr day?

Great information thank you

hello I kindly asked, I have a 20LT nano aquarium with a 20Watt RGB kirichos lamp as I proceed with the light intensity, just set up for 3 weeks and I already see some diatoms. at the moment I use 70% of the light at 7 hours, I also have co2 in the tank and it is well planted, thanks and congratulations for your tanks are wonderful, and by the excellent suggestions greetings Angelo.

I have this in my tank I got 3 ottos and 3 days later alot had gone I was gob smacked I didn't expect so much to be gone have bristle nose plecos too used some 3% on the rest

I have really week lights, and a small issue with this bbva, but I have sun lights some part of the day, I think this is the extra light that causes the issue for me... just an FYI for anyone else who can't find the origin of the cause from what is mentioned here, maybe you also have direct sunlight on your tank and don't hink about how strong that light is

Would like to know how to make an underwater fall I've seen one on Facebook

I dosed seachem regularly, lowered the light and the bba died, diatoms came back though. Also seachem melted my Java moss

What is the best co2 diffuser in your view other than in line reactor

Complimenti per il Video.Volevo chiedere se dopo aver spento il filtro e dosato excel direttamente sulle alghe si deve fare un cambio di acqua.grazie

Great video an explanation MJ, An just at the right time for me as i can see BBA on some plants in my tank. I have been dosing easy carbo 2m directly onto plants with syringe in a 90ltr tank but i reckon theres 80ltr of water if you Bring into account substrate and rocks and plants. Should i up the dosage .? If so to what ? Do i dose every day ? Should i dose easy carbo every day if and when i get rid of Algae ? Thanks MJ

currently having this now.. on the reasons you listed, i think mine came from too much period of high lights and rotting leaves on the general back area and near the filter area.. my tank is a low tech one. i think it started on my amazon sword and circulated near the driftwood. thanks! quality content as always!

Great video. I have on the left side of my 20 gallon tall aquarium a hang on the back filter. The right side is where the co2 diffuser is. Should I suspend the filter for the duration of co2 injection to assure left side is getting co2?

Can you please help us how it works

How often we should use the liquid carbon uf we want to use?

Hi @MJAquascaping how long do you keep the filter off when treating with hydrogen peroxide ?

And what is the process to do that for how many days we have to do it

Thanks for this video. I just started a planted tank a week ago and I see what looks like the beginning of BBA on one of my Seiryu stone, but it's still early so I will keep an eye out and not panic. If it keeps growing can I just take the stone out and scrub it off with peroxide?

Will using liquid carbon affect guppies and red cherry shrimps in the tank?

Hi friend. im a follower of your channel. im having this algae, just before a water change and a planting session. I make very regular water change. what i noticed is that i stopped the filter for too long. maybe 2 or 3 hours. but now i dont know what to do. gray rocks turnes Brownish due to the algae. what advice can you give me please. regards from Dominican Repiblic

You said you turn off the filter when you apply liquid carbon. How long do you leave it off? When do you turn it back on after applying liquid carbon?

I have bba but everytime I do a water change I loose crypt leaves - so I have to wait for them to grow back again - will more frequent water changes prevent crypt plants from loosing leaves

My BBA is attach on my carpet. Would you give a certain amount of liq. Carbon to spray on BBA? my tank is only 5gal and the recommended dose on the description of my liq. Carbon is 1ml per 10gallon. Thankyou

Will the liquid carbon method be safe for shrimp?

Another informative great video! I have a tiny bit of green hair algae on the edges of my buce leaf! The amanos haven’t touched it yet and I have 6 in my 9 gallon fluval flex with 2 clithon snails! So my vote it for green hair algae! Thanks

Hi Mark! I'm new to CO2. When my lights turn off my CO2 also turns off. I learned that plants use oxygen at night, so should I turn on my air pump? Or will this make my small BBA issue worse? The fish do seem fine in the morning without the air pump. I just want to do what is best for my plants! Thanks :)

I think for me it's the fact that my water has high phosphates & I am lazy and do not clean my lily pipes. So I get BBA and the phosphates makes it BLOOM. Sigh. Surgery coming this week lol