[hoppycalif]

Algae grow when there is enough light for them. I doubt that 20 watts of incandescent light on a 2.5 gallon tank is enough for algae to grow.

Algae tend to be triggered to grow by a spike in ammonia in the tank. So, a risky thing to try is adding a little water that has a drop, no more, of household ammonia in it (make sure there is no detergent or soap in the ammonia.) You would want to get far less than a drop of ammonia into the tank water - about 1/8 of a drop or less. The risk is that it might kill the occupants of the tank, if you add too much.

 

[hoppycalif]

You're welcome to some of my algae if you like...hell you can have the whole lot, if it keeps your Oto's happy! What's your address??!![smilie=u:[/QUOTE]

Do you guarantee live arrival?

 

[hoppycalif]

Once BBA gets a good start in the aquarium, where it is on a lot of plant leaves, and on hardscape, you just about have to remove the hardscape and kill the BBA by dipping it in a 5% bleach solution for a couple of minutes, plus, prune away all of the leaves with bad growth of BBA, and then use Excel to get rid of the tiny amount left in the tank. I have never had any success trying to use Excel to kill all of the BBA in a tank. Even when I kill that which is on leaves, the leaves are so damaged the BBA will always come back.