Black Beard Algae BBA preventing and treatment

In most cases Black Beard Algae BBA grows on the edges of the leaves of plants with a slow growth rate, on rock, wood and even on the equipment.
Black Beard Algae BBA grows in clumps of about 0.5 cm.
Many aquarists consider that the main cause for Black Beard Algae BBA it is CO2 and give advice to increase the level of Co2 and maintaining around 30ppm.

From my point of view not the CO2 it is the cause of Black Beard Algae BBA, I think the aquarium it is not very well balanced and here are some situations that can generate Black Beard Algae BBA:
• too many fish in the aquarium
• filter is undersized compared to the amount of water in the aquarium
• clogged filter media, remember that you must rinse the filter media only with aquarium water, if you use tap water you will destroy all bacteria colonies.
Clean the filter media once every 4 months, also if you have wool in your filter please remove it and keep only 1 sponge and the rest filter media to be for biological filtration.
In most cases algae are a result of inefficient filtration system and before you buy any treatment against algae you must be sure you have an efficient filtration.
I am against using any water treatment against algae but many beginners are rushing to the store to buy the “miracle solution” against algae and after a while are disappointed because the “miracle solution” had no effect.

A successful recipe to eliminate Black Beard Algae BBA and the more you have on the list the better will be the result:
• Cycled aquarium, during the initial stages of the aquarium it is normal to have some algae.
• The filter capacity in accordance with the amount of water
• Water circulation
• Balanced aquarium, you must have a balance between LIGHT – CO2 – FERTILIZATION
• Few fish, I recommend 0,5cm fish per liter of water
• Large cleaning crew, Siamese Algae Eater (SAE) is generally considered to be a BBA eater. I recommend also Amano shrimps , an Amano shrimp to 5 liters of water, Amano shrimps are not eating BBA but but is an excellent algae eater
• Water change, do it every week because it is a very efficient method against algae
• Avoid overfeeding, in many cases algae are a direct result of overfeeding
• Lighting, keep the light on only 8 hours per day

If you have Black Beard Algae BBA on decorations you can kill it using Easy Carbo or Flourish Excel, with a syringe spread the solution over the Black Beard Algae and in few days it will melt becoming transparent.
Below you can see a rock infected with BBA and after I spread Easy Carbo over the algae it started to melt.