Rewth
03-19-2008, 05:19 PM
i have a 10 gallon tank upstairs in my boy's room. 7 neon tetras, a hand full of cherry shrimp, a couple tiny ramshorn type snails, java moss, java fern and anubias.
recently it had a veritable explosion of black brush algae. the PH dropped around 6.0 if not a little lower, and that plus some extra light resulted in ideal conditions i think. the algae formed mostly on the edges of the anubias, which really sucks because i really like those plants, and they aren't exactly cheap. it was also all over a large resin pot decoration, the filter intake, heater, and small clumps on the walls of the tank itself.
after much reading online i came to the conclusion that the tank might be doomed. brush algae is a nightmare apparently. and my outbreak had gone on a little too long and was rather extensive. figured i was going to have to tear down a large portion of the tank in order to save it (if not the whole thing). i also figured that i might as well try to treat it before goingthrough the effort/cost of complete tear down.
first thing i did was remedy the lighting issue. shifted the tank a few feet so it wouldn't get direct light during the day. replaced one of the lightbulbs that was getting notably dimmer. and have made a conscious effort to limit the light to about 10 hours a day.
then, over the course of a week or so i raised the ph. apparently brush algae doesn't like higher ph as much. and the cherry shrimp certainly would appreciate getting things out of the acidic range anyway. first a 40% water chage. then i added a handful of seashells. completely removed the air stone (filter plus hte plants and i've got plenty of oxygen and surface transfer). then once a day i added a couple drops of bakingsoda/water solution. ph is now at a happy 7.2.
finally i manually removed all the growth o nthe walls ofhte tank. beacuse it was so well established it was fairly easy to pinch each bunch and simply pull it off. then i removed every leaf of javafern that had any growth. pulled the pot, the filter intake, larger stones and heater out, along with both anubias plants. while they were out i manually removed every bit of dark growth from the java moss. that SUCKED.
then i mixed up a bleach/water solution in a bucket. roughly 10 to 1. figured the anubias were doomed anyway, and they are pretty hardy plants so i ignored the suggestions to go 20 to 1 that i found online. dunked everything in. after about 4 miutes i pulled the anubias out, rinsedthem throughoughly and put them i nthe sun to dry. after 30 min i pulled out everything else and gave them the same treatement.
all the brush aglae had gone from a dark black to very light grey. almost white. however, it was still quite firmly attached to everything, and the bleach had weakened it such that i could no longer pull it off without simply breaking the little hairs off.
so a good rinse again, more drying to ensure all the bleach was gone and off to the tank they went.
a month later all the algae is gone. the shrimp and snails made quick work of the bleached remains, they were gone within three days. i have seen small starters of the algae try to reestablish, but they are quickly munched upon and disappear in a matter of hours, when i come back to deal with them myself. i'm quite pleased. i think it all worked.
oh... and the anubias, while slightly lighter in color now, are doing great. i've even seen a new leaf starting to form off the rhizome this morning.
recently it had a veritable explosion of black brush algae. the PH dropped around 6.0 if not a little lower, and that plus some extra light resulted in ideal conditions i think. the algae formed mostly on the edges of the anubias, which really sucks because i really like those plants, and they aren't exactly cheap. it was also all over a large resin pot decoration, the filter intake, heater, and small clumps on the walls of the tank itself.
after much reading online i came to the conclusion that the tank might be doomed. brush algae is a nightmare apparently. and my outbreak had gone on a little too long and was rather extensive. figured i was going to have to tear down a large portion of the tank in order to save it (if not the whole thing). i also figured that i might as well try to treat it before goingthrough the effort/cost of complete tear down.
first thing i did was remedy the lighting issue. shifted the tank a few feet so it wouldn't get direct light during the day. replaced one of the lightbulbs that was getting notably dimmer. and have made a conscious effort to limit the light to about 10 hours a day.
then, over the course of a week or so i raised the ph. apparently brush algae doesn't like higher ph as much. and the cherry shrimp certainly would appreciate getting things out of the acidic range anyway. first a 40% water chage. then i added a handful of seashells. completely removed the air stone (filter plus hte plants and i've got plenty of oxygen and surface transfer). then once a day i added a couple drops of bakingsoda/water solution. ph is now at a happy 7.2.
finally i manually removed all the growth o nthe walls ofhte tank. beacuse it was so well established it was fairly easy to pinch each bunch and simply pull it off. then i removed every leaf of javafern that had any growth. pulled the pot, the filter intake, larger stones and heater out, along with both anubias plants. while they were out i manually removed every bit of dark growth from the java moss. that SUCKED.
then i mixed up a bleach/water solution in a bucket. roughly 10 to 1. figured the anubias were doomed anyway, and they are pretty hardy plants so i ignored the suggestions to go 20 to 1 that i found online. dunked everything in. after about 4 miutes i pulled the anubias out, rinsedthem throughoughly and put them i nthe sun to dry. after 30 min i pulled out everything else and gave them the same treatement.
all the brush aglae had gone from a dark black to very light grey. almost white. however, it was still quite firmly attached to everything, and the bleach had weakened it such that i could no longer pull it off without simply breaking the little hairs off.
so a good rinse again, more drying to ensure all the bleach was gone and off to the tank they went.
a month later all the algae is gone. the shrimp and snails made quick work of the bleached remains, they were gone within three days. i have seen small starters of the algae try to reestablish, but they are quickly munched upon and disappear in a matter of hours, when i come back to deal with them myself. i'm quite pleased. i think it all worked.
oh... and the anubias, while slightly lighter in color now, are doing great. i've even seen a new leaf starting to form off the rhizome this morning.