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Experience with Thread/Hair Algae and Bleach Treatment
Greetings, Having fought a hair/thread algae problem for 2 years, I thought I would share my experience with others who might be contemplating dealing with this problem by a complete sanitazation/bleaching of their system. The tank in question is a 75 gal. all-glass tank with 128 / 192 watts of T-8 lighting w/ electronic ballasts. The tank ran with 128 watts for a couple years, and has recently been upgraded with two more T-8 32 watt bulbs. The lights are now staged to come on incrementally. DIY CO2 injection and a version of PMDD and Seachem traces were used. Water changes generally ran 12 gallons a week. KH/Alkalinity is maintained at 3dKh and CO2 at 18ppm. When the tank was first set-up, there were the usual growths of brown (diatoms) and green algae. These quickly subsided after the tank ran in for a while. Everything went swimmingly... until... I made the mistake of adding a plant from a retailer that had small patches of hair/thread algae growing on it. Within 2 months, the entire tank was covered with this stuff. The gravel, plants, rocks, heater, hoses, EVERYTHING! The only plant that didn't succumb to this stuff was Hornwort, and I can only conclude that it's rapid growth rate coupled with what appears to be a natural algaecide prevented it from being covered as well. Thomas Barr suggested the fert/water change routine that I was essentially already using - but it didn't help. The plants were growing great - I was throwing out buckets of plant material each week. But the algae would NOT subside. I was also picking out buckets of this smelly, stringy crap each week. It took hours to do a water change and cleanup. I got to the point I considered just draining the dam*&# thing. I tried numerous algae eating organisms - siamese algae eaters, ottos, plecos, and 3 different kinds of snails. Any and everything I could get - they wouldn't touch it or didn't make a dent in it. Finally, after two years, I figured it was time to upgrade the substrate and decided to give the whole mess the bleach treatment. This was 2 months ago. I tore down the tank and removed all fish and transferred them to a holding cell for two days. I bleached the tank, gravel and all appliances with a 10:1 bleach solution. The plants (which had AMAZING root systems!!) got a 3 minute dip in a 20:1 solution. I had used only gravel initially, and this time added a 50/50 mix of gravel and Profile. The Profile was too lightweight to hold plants in place on it's own, but the 50/50 mix is about perfect - easy to plant roots in, but heavy enough to hold everything in place. The only caveat is that too much disturbance of the substrate results in the gravel settling to the bottom, covered with the lighter weight Profile. After I felt confident that the fish had excreted any remains of the algae they may have inadvertently eaten, they were replaced into the "new" setup. Almost ALL plants lost their original leaves, but all have recovered and are showing new growth. I was especially disappointed at this occurrence because of a huge sword which was the centerpiece of the tank. It slowly melted into a skeleton of veins. But everything that was treated IS recovering. I cannot express what a joy it is not to have to deal with the thread algae! It has NOT reoccurred, and I am anxiously awaiting the total recovery/fill in of all the plants - Especially the large swords and the huge stands of crypts that melted almost immediately after bleaching. I will NEVER again add a plant to my tank without bleaching or at least a long quarantine - Just as I will not add new fish without a proper quarantine. Here is an incomplete list of plants and their reaction to bleaching: Bacopa - eventually melted - took a while Hornwort - grows so fast, who would notice... Various Crypts - melted immediately Various Swords - most older leaves melted slowly Rotala Indica/rotundifolia - showed no appreciable damage Two types of Anubias (nana and afzelii) - showed no appreciable damage Chain sword (tenellus) - most older leaves slowly melted Dwarf Hairgrass - no substantial damage FWIW, Greg G. |
#2
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Experience with Thread/Hair Algae and Bleach Treatment
Greg G. wrote in message ... Greetings, Having fought a hair/thread algae problem for 2 years, I thought I would share my experience with others who might be contemplating dealing with this problem by a complete sanitazation/bleaching of their system. The tank in question is a 75 gal. all-glass tank with 128 / 192 watts of T-8 lighting w/ electronic ballasts. The tank ran with 128 watts for a couple years, and has recently been upgraded with two more T-8 32 watt bulbs. The lights are now staged to come on incrementally. DIY CO2 injection and a version of PMDD and Seachem traces were used. Water changes generally ran 12 gallons a week. KH/Alkalinity is maintained at 3dKh and CO2 at 18ppm. When the tank was first set-up, there were the usual growths of brown (diatoms) and green algae. These quickly subsided after the tank ran in for a while. Everything went swimmingly... until... I made the mistake of adding a plant from a retailer that had small patches of hair/thread algae growing on it. Within 2 months, the entire tank was covered with this stuff. The gravel, plants, rocks, heater, hoses, EVERYTHING! The only plant that didn't succumb to this stuff was Hornwort, and I can only conclude that it's rapid growth rate coupled with what appears to be a natural algaecide prevented it from being covered as well. Thomas Barr suggested the fert/water change routine that I was essentially already using - but it didn't help. The plants were growing great - I was throwing out buckets of plant material each week. But the algae would NOT subside. I was also picking out buckets of this smelly, stringy crap each week. It took hours to do a water change and cleanup. I got to the point I considered just draining the dam*&# thing. I tried numerous algae eating organisms - siamese algae eaters, ottos, plecos, and 3 different kinds of snails. Any and everything I could get - they wouldn't touch it or didn't make a dent in it. Finally, after two years, I figured it was time to upgrade the substrate and decided to give the whole mess the bleach treatment. This was 2 months ago. I tore down the tank and removed all fish and transferred them to a holding cell for two days. I bleached the tank, gravel and all appliances with a 10:1 bleach solution. The plants (which had AMAZING root systems!!) got a 3 minute dip in a 20:1 solution. I had used only gravel initially, and this time added a 50/50 mix of gravel and Profile. The Profile was too lightweight to hold plants in place on it's own, but the 50/50 mix is about perfect - easy to plant roots in, but heavy enough to hold everything in place. The only caveat is that too much disturbance of the substrate results in the gravel settling to the bottom, covered with the lighter weight Profile. After I felt confident that the fish had excreted any remains of the algae they may have inadvertently eaten, they were replaced into the "new" setup. Almost ALL plants lost their original leaves, but all have recovered and are showing new growth. I was especially disappointed at this occurrence because of a huge sword which was the centerpiece of the tank. It slowly melted into a skeleton of veins. But everything that was treated IS recovering. I cannot express what a joy it is not to have to deal with the thread algae! It has NOT reoccurred, and I am anxiously awaiting the total recovery/fill in of all the plants - Especially the large swords and the huge stands of crypts that melted almost immediately after bleaching. I will NEVER again add a plant to my tank without bleaching or at least a long quarantine - Just as I will not add new fish without a proper quarantine. Here is an incomplete list of plants and their reaction to bleaching: Bacopa - eventually melted - took a while Hornwort - grows so fast, who would notice... Various Crypts - melted immediately Various Swords - most older leaves melted slowly Rotala Indica/rotundifolia - showed no appreciable damage Two types of Anubias (nana and afzelii) - showed no appreciable damage Chain sword (tenellus) - most older leaves slowly melted Dwarf Hairgrass - no substantial damage FWIW, Greg G. I agree with your course of action and have done the same myself in a smaller tank. If the cause of the algae is from an external source , ie: the plant you bought and you had a stable tank with no algae problems to begin with then IMHO bleaching is the way to go. If on the other hand the algae occurs due to a problem with your water, fert. dosing etc then obviously bleaching will give you the same result initially however the algae is likely to return until the problem is rectified. I gave my plants a dip in 20-1 bleach solution and lost very few. Rick |
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