Can It Be Done?

[TheGodfather]

Hi everyone, haven't been on the forum for a while... I have a juwel 180 which has been set up for a year (everything is running fine), i then left the tank with my dad for a month while i was on holiday... During this time black hair algae has plagued my tank... My plants are covered in in, so is the structured background i put in the tank and generally the tank looks horrible!! Is it possible to get rid of this algae quickly or would it be better to buy new plants, take out the background and put in a new one??? The other question i have is that i have gravel in the tank and would it be possible to take out the gravel and put sand in???

 

[CAC]

If you have a magnet glass cleaning thing then have a go and see if it comes off when you try to clean if off, you could also try an (un-used/new) clothe to scrub it off.
As for the gravel/sand thing, its quite easy to do. Do you have a syphon tube/pipe? If so then use that to syphon the gravel out, and then replace with sand. Then theres no need to emptying the whole tank and fish

Mike

 

[PRW1988]

I'd say it's certainly possible to clean it, however it depends on how losely determend your definition of "quickly" is.

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

Do a "black-out" on the tank. Place a blanket over the tank and do not let any light in for 2 days. What ever you do, do not like any light shine through (that means no feeding the fish.) That should do the trick.

 

[PRW1988]

That won't clear it up 100% trust me, I tried the same trick (except a 3 day period) on my saltwater tank. An algea eating fish could help out a bit. Pick up some oto cats, then try the trick, it may work.

 

[DevUK]

Using a (clean) toothbrush should help to get it off the plants, but I found dosing Seachem Flourish Excel killed of most of my hair algae in the space of 2 weeks.