Hey guys, I am planning on tanking my 55 gallon tank apart and re-scaping it one day this week. I am going to take out all the water and decorations and scrape the algae off the glass. My question lies in that the Marineland Penguin 350 as well as my heater have what I believe to be Black Brush Algae growth on it. The algae looks like little spores of black hairs which can only be removed from the glass with a razor. How can I remove this algae from the filter/heater so that when I re-design my tank the BBA does not carry over??? Thanks.

If you have a scraper, you can use it to scrape it off. A razor would work but of course it is sharp and you want to avoid scratching things up. The regular glass scrapers are dull enough not to bother things.

A PP (Potassium permanganate KMNO4) dip would be good too and then scrape it off. If you wanted to go the extra mile.

At least as far as I know, BBA does not spread from one thing to the other by contact or proximity. So no matter how good you clean it all, it can just as easily come back. Personally, I think it is a big mistake to completely strip the tank, if that was also your plan. I can see taking some stuff out and cleaning them. I used to do that with artificial items and would soak them in a light bleach solution. Went to natural items (driftwood, rock, live plants, etc) and that problem was reduced. You break all down and you'll need to start the cycle over.

I am moving so i will have to strip the tank anyway, plus I am going from a cichlid tank with crushed coral and used aquarium salt during water changes. i have read the salt is no good for plants. thats why i want to strip it down.

But on a side note, I am being told my Coralife T5 HO approx 100 watts for my 55gallon tank is too much. That doesn't make sense bc i thought 2wpg was standard. My goal is to run a low tech planted tank.

If you are going to strip the tank down, you can try the bleach solution that Ben suggested, or the PP solution that James suggested. I've also been told that Hygrogen Peroxide will do the job as well. (Use as a dip/short soak, then rinse.) Just the plain old 3% solution you get at the drug store will do. You don't have to mix it with water either.

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Thanks guys, but Holly JR & James...i know the three of you are all very knowledgable on planted aquariums so i am curious your thoughts on my lighting.....

Also there is a 10,000k and an actinic blue bulbs in there now bc thats what the fixture came with. But i do plan on buying a 67k and daylight bulbs in the future.