Algae And Bleach

[BigIan]

Right i`ve had enough of my tank so this weekend i`m stripping it down and getting rid of all the algae...
What i want to know is if i mixed up a 20:1 bleach solution would it kill of the algae but leave the plants intact???

 

[Themuleous]

It might do, but I would be hesitant of using it to kill algae. Snails perhaps but if its strong enough to kill algae wont that mean its strong enough to kill plants too?

Sam

 

[BigIan]

Well i was hoping that as the cellular structure of a plant is much more complecks it should be able to cope with/recover from the bleach bath, where as the algae wont...

It`s either that or throw them all and start over again...

 

[jimbooo]

in theory algae is more resilient than plants so if it kills the algae then it would definatly kill the plants.

just my theory though, never tried this in practice.

why dont you transfer your tank to the bath (when the misses isn't in!!) and use just off the boil water to clean the tank. obviously with the plants out. remove and algae infested leaves from the plants as well. while your at it trim the roots down to 1.5 inches. this will encourage regrowth.

that should kill off the majority of algae, then when resetup the plants should be able to outcompete any remaining algae to get you back on track.

i have dont this once and it worked for me but you will need to have good light and co2 for the plants to make a significant impact on algae reduction.

 

[chr15_8]

ive dipped all my plants in a bleach bath (about 1:20) but to get rid of snails mainly from p@h which worked well i only dipped for about 20 each washed with freash water (in the bath)
then put into a seperate bucket with 3x the amount of chlorine removale for a few minites
washed under freash water again
then put in a new bucket of water with chlorine removale (new mix)
then put them into my tank

this didnt kill the plants but i havent tried will algea so i cant help with that

 

[BigIan]

remove and algae infested leaves from the plants

I wouldn`t have any plants, this is a huge problem.
Sod it i`ll give it a try if it dosent work i`ll flog the tank,

 

[jimbooo]

ahh i see,
good luck then mate.

 

[spankone]

milton tablets are good

 

[Themuleous]

I have tried the boiling water method Jim mentioned when I stripped my nano down the other day. To early to tell if it worked or not, but the tanks been running for a few weeks with 4hrs light and no problems so far, haven't added many plants yet though.

Sam