Black crud

my established planted tank has black crud accumulating on everything. plants, rocks, decorations, filter, heater etc.

it doesn't look like black beard algae. it's literally a hard black crust that is very hard to scrape off.

I have however tried several anti algae muti's, including something that's supposed to kill cyanobacteria too. Tank is lightly populated

 

Hi Anine ... maybe it is dark brown not black ?

https://blog.aquariuminfo.org/the-best-way-to-remove-brown-algae-from-the-aquarium/

Later Ferdie

 

does this look like brown algae? it seems to deteriorate the leaves of my anubias too
it's not fuzzy, so not black beard

 

It's probably cause the leaves to break up because it's blocking them up from breathing and getting light. Have you tried maybe hydrogen peroxide?
I have a similar thing on my anubias leaves, I know what I have is algae, but it isn't a fuzzy type. Almost like the kind that grows on the glass but a bit darker in colour. My snails seem to enjoy it

 

do I add the hydrogen peroxide straight to the tank? how much?

I was also thinking snails. which kind do you have?

 

I only have Malaysian trumpet snails, but I'm sure most of them would do a good job, except assassins ofc.
I can't remember exactly, I haven't used it in the tank itself before, but a lot of members have done it and said it's safe. I could be very wrong so maybe Google to make sure, but I think it's along the lines of 5ml per 10l. Please correct me if I'm wrong on that account

 

Did it like this:
Switched off filters and pumps.
Syringed the h202 on affected areas
Waited for 1 hour for the the H202 to turn into oxygen.
Did it for a 2nd time and waited an hour.
Then turned the filters back on.
Note you have to do a minimum of 50% wc in the same week.

Your fish will be ok if you have shrimp they will also be fine.

I will give you the correct amount of h202 to use when I eet home tonight. I wrote it down somewhere for future reference. I must just look for it.

 

Here we go, I followed these steps primarily because he used it on shrimp tanks and didn't want to take the risk of killing my own shrimp.

Just bare with him. He gives a lot of good advice.

 

Just an interesting page to keep close by

https://www.aquasabi.com/aquascaping-wiki_algae_algae-in-the-aquarium