Would it be complete madness to add algae-infested plants to a new tank I'm starting up?

[kieran01pd2016]

I've been battling with some hair algae in my main tank for a while now and I was doing a big cull of the plants that I thought couldn't be saved.

It's mainly brazilian pennywort. Thing grows like a weed but the hair algae seem to LOVE to latch on to its roots

I got a cheapo 20L tank today for $10 that came with a filter and heater (definitely impulse buy) and was thinking about possible scapes - will probably be a shrimp/hospital/quarantine tank.

I've got all these off cuttings of brazilian pennywort that would just go down the bin... Would it be crazy to add some to the new tank just to see how it goes? Or would that possibly lead to me having to tear it down later on when my plan to save a few bucks backfires

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Fill up a big bowl with water, put in a generous dollop of hydrogen peroxide, and soak the plants in it for an hour or two. That will kill off the algae without harming the plants too badly.

 

[connorlindeman]

In theory, if your new aquarium has the proper balance, the algae will die off.

 

[MaloK]

You can also use a 5-10 percent bleach solution, for no more than five minutes, less if the plants are delicate species. After soaking, remove the plants from the bleach solution and rub the leaves gently to dislodge the algae.

Next submerge the plants in a bucket of clean, conditioned water, and allow them to soak for another 10 minutes or so. Rinse them well before returning them to the tank. It is possible that some plants may be lost via this method. But the survivors will be free of algae.

Controlling the amount of nutrients in the water layer and lightning are the first steps to effectively combat any kind of algae. The new tank should be relatively low in nutrients and should help.

 

[MuddyWaters]

I do the bleach- truly, I eyeball the amount, but I don't leave the plants in there more than 2 minutes. I recently bought plants and did not do the bleach dip prior to putting them in the tank. [sigh] Why does my laziness trump my good sense so much? I don't understand it.

Edited: meant to put 2 minutes, not 10 LOL.

 

[MaloK]

I always do that for the tanks that I want to be absolutely "Snail Free".

 

[StevenF]

do you see any noticeable growth of your plant in in a month? Algae does very well in water with very low nutrient levels. Levels that are too low for most plants to grow. So if your plants are to growing and the algae is you probably have a nutrient deficiency that is preventing plant growth. You might need to fertilizer the water..

 

[kieran01pd2016]

Thanks guys... I'm going to go with the bleach and see if that works. I honestly don't mind that much if some of it dies, after all, they were just off cuts from the original tank.

do you see any noticeable growth of your plant in in a month? Algae does very well in water with very low nutrient levels. Levels that are too low for most plants to grow. So if your plants are to growing and the algae is you probably have a nutrient deficiency that is preventing plant growth. You might need to fertilizer the water..

Plenty of growth even in a few weeks... The pennywort grows out of the tank if not trimmed and the pearl weed quickly becomes a forest. I'm currently doing almost weekly trimmings of both just to keep them under control haha

 

[Uberhoust]

You can also use a 5-10 percent bleach solution, for no more than five minutes, less if the plants are delicate species. After soaking, remove the plants from the bleach solution and rub the leaves gently to dislodge the algae.

A little caution here. I believe @MaloK is referring to household bleach being diluted 1 part bleach with 20 parts water. But household bleach is typically already only at 3 to 9 percent Sodium Hypochlorite. If you used full strength, 5% bleach, I believe you would destroy your plants.

Typically, you would want to dilute your household bleach with 20 parts of water. In my experience a two minute rinse (the general advice) in this concentration (approximately 0.25%) is tolerated by most plants but some struggle with this concentration for this time period. In particular I have found my Jungle Vals were heavily set back when treated for two minutes at this concentration, ie tissue damage that had to recover before the plant started to grow again. More sensitive plants you might want to treat with only a 1 minute rinse or less. You also have to rinse the plants in fresh water immediately after treatment.

I only treat plants if I don't know what they might be carrying, such as plants from a store. Or plants I transfer plants from a tank that has snails to a tank that I don't want snails in. Algae, in my opinion, is endemic and you are not going to gain anything by trying to remove it by chemical means.

 

[MaloK]

Yes, the solution used for 10% of Household bleach is 1/20 if 5% use 1/10.