Topic says it all. I'm in a life or death struggle with algae in my
big tank. The two twentys are in fine shape. The cork tank is newly
set up, the honeymoon suite, now nursery, is also clean and brite.

The 55g, now that's another story. It's been going the longest, has
the highest fish load, the most plants, the most light, and the most
fuzzy hair algae I've ever seen. All the plants are (were) covered
with it now. Also, to add to the ugliness and unkempt look, I've got a
nice crop of blue green bacteria trying it's best to cover up my new
dwarf marsh grass.

I took two steps yesterday to combat both. On the one front, I
re-positioned my power head to provide more circluation. It had been
pointing down an UGF lift tube hole for RUGF. Now it pushes water
accross the entire front wall of the tank, providing a circular flow.

To take on the fuzz, I tried the bleach dip approach. I have java
fern, Amazon swords and Crypts that are afflicted. The newer plants
I've added show minimal signs. So, out come half the swords, the
larger cruyts and all the java fern. Into a bucket of 19:1 water to
bleach for 4 minutes. The algae was visibly affected, turning white
and quite dead looking. The plants seemed no worse for wear. After
the rinse, they are back in the tank and pearling O2.

Now a question: How to keep the stuff at bay? Here's the set up:

55g tank, 48L 20H 12W
pH 6.7 with C02 injection at 20ppm
KH 3deg
temp 79f
Nitrates between 5 and 20, fluctuate with the amount of KNO3 I add.
Potassium and Phosphorus added minimally per the dosing pages. I shoot
for the optimun amount. There are a couple of plant spikes (trace
elements) deep under the large plants.

I've got 5 ottos in there, and just added a couple of large amano
shrimp, but those critters aren't going to touch this fuzz stuff if it
comes back strong like this past week.
thanks for any hints, suggestions,
steve