Hair Alge / Blanket Weed

[sarge4000]

Morning all - looking for some help please.

I've got an Aqua Medic Perc 120 tank set up with Tropical fish.
The tank is not in direct sunlight (ever).

I have a hair alge / blanet weed problem that just wont go away. If I "garden" on a Saturday, by the following Saturday it's back to as it was. It's so bad that something has to be done, or the tank is going!

I've had this before and at that time performed a complete dismantle and clean. Scrubbing all items in the tank. This worked and for several months there was no alge, but now it's back. I've used chems, and at first they too help reduce the growth, but it's as though the weed is used to them as now there is no effect from dosing.


So here's the plan (hope your sitting down):

1. Remove the fish to a spare tank.
2. Remove and bin all filter material, gravel, plant and wood.
3. Add a strong bleach/water mix to the tank in an attempt to kill off all spores of the dreaded alge.
4. Keep the pumps working to move the water around.
5. Empty the tank
6. Refill with clean water
7. Check pH
8. Repeat steps 5, 6 & 7 (several times) until back to normal
9. Repeat again just to be sure
10. Rebuild tank and cycle
11. Live happily ever after with "her who must be obeyed"


Questions:
Am I mad?

Will the bleach kill the alge?

Will the bleach remain in the tank (even after the water changes), making it unhabitable?

Will the bleach mix have any detrimental effect on the silican sealant? (don't fancy 400ltrs over the floor)


Any advice gratefully received.


Thanks

Ian

 

[KittyKat]

You are completely and utterly bonkers!

The bleach will probably kill it. It won't harm the silicone. Dechlorinate with that thick, blue dechlorinator from Tetra (I think), it will be purple if there is any bleach left in the tank, blue if there is none.

The problem is very likely to come back unless you heavily plant the tank. Post your full stats here and all other tank information and we can try to find the cause..

 

[sarge4000]

Thanks for that.
Is there a route you would advise other than the nuclear option proposed?

 

[KittyKat]

Yes, the one which involves removing the cause

 

[Uriel]

Is the tank planted. A tank i purchased with some oscars had a bad hair algea problem I planted it with some frogbits(which got eaten) and some pond weed (elodea densa) and the problem was gone in short order. I have also dosed seachem flourish excel to stop hair algea and this is also effective.

 

[sarge4000]

There are plants in there, but not many in such a big tank.
However the situation seems to be worse when plants are added.

To explain - when I went for the first major clean I left only gravel and wood in a for good while (months). No issue.

Planted - and 2-3 months later it's back.

The alge seems to congrgate around the plants.

 

[Uriel]

Is it black hair algea ?

 

[myrtle]

Ihave a planted tank and after a 'bargain' buy of crypts on ebay introduced green hair algae. At one point the tank was full of the stuff, swaying beautifully in the current! Anyway, after manually removing as much as possible I started double dosing liquid carbon (easycarbo/excel) and now after 2 months there is a wee bit in some moss but other than that it has disappeared. That is what I would do first as it doesn't involve breaking down the tank!

 

[KittyKat]

I would try that as well, possibly adding water lettuce as the plant of choice.

 

[sarge4000]

Thanks all.
May I ask, is hair algea/blanket weed present at all times or is it introduced to the tank?

Uriel - The algea is green (small pic attached).

Myrtle - is the "easycarbo/excel" a permanent cure or will I need to continue dosing this after it clears up?

 

[myrtle]

Happy New Year!
That's the same stuff I had. I can't say if it will clear it permanently, more than likely it will come back eventually if you stop dosing. I'm not sure if it is always there waiting in the wings so to speak but technically it would have to be introduced as it wouldn't be in your tap water. The bogwood could be removed and scrubbed (I poyred boiling water over mine and let it dry right out before putting it back in the tank. I removed as much of the stuff as I could by winding it around an old toothbrush and pulling it out and removed the worst affected leaves before starting to dose and it definitely cleared it up (except for a wee bit in some moss which the shrimp love as it traps food for them).