Bleaching Tank To Remove Hair Algae

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Ethan040

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Hi, i currently have black hair algae in one of my tanks, i will be throwing the stone out but its also on the tank, filter inlet/outlet pipes, heater.. its all over basically, can i bleach everything ? ive been told one part bleach nine parts water.

if i don't bleach the sand could there be spores or whatever in the sand? and what about the filter media ive got quite expensive eheim media which i don't really want to throw out and also what about the pipework and what not could it be in there? i just want it totally gone as it looks terrible.

Also its a malawi tank so no wood or plants.

Thanks, Ethan
 
Personally i think you should search for the cause otherwise you may be repeating this in 6 months time.

I HAD hair algae and changing my waterchange regime, flow distribution and adding ferts and carbon has delt with it now. There are odd bits left but i've beaten it.
 
I have/had hair algae probs since adding DIY co2, and upping my lights. I was expecting it!

I spot dosed with excel, and left my lights off for 2 days (conveniently when I went away for the weekend) came back and it was all dying off, turning red and just coming away in my hands when I rubbed the affected areas.

Generally the problem with algae is when the growth of plants in the tank are limited in some way. Light is the driving factor, so if your light is 'low' then generally won't have many problems, as the nutrients and co2 in the tank (from fishies) wont all be used up as there is more than enough available.

However, if the light is high, then the plants will need more and more nutrients and co2, so the supply that was in the tank will be used up much quicker.

Algae flourishes in conditions that plants cannot grow in, basically available light and low nutrient/co2.

Cut down on lighting, add some form of co2 and ferts, and the problem should sort itself out :)

Well that's my take on it anyway!!
 
Also its a malawi tank so no wood or plants.

I'd guess you'll just have to make sure there are no nutrients in the water. A full clean up of the visible stuff and regular water changes making sure there's no nitrate or phosphate in the water.
Don't worry too much about spores as you'll never escape them. Make sure yiu r filters are up to scratch too so ammonia I spends as little time in the water column as possible.

IMO
 

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