The "One-Two Punch" Whole Tank Algae Treatment - Planted Tank

And a few mild spots of algae on the substrate won't matter much? Man that sounds painful to me

 

Hmmm, I can't justify keeping R3000 worth of substrate sitting in the garage for a "what if" I guess it's peroxide all the way. Stand back cows!

 

So because I was in a hurry and didn't calculate my required dose, I arrived home with a 100ml bottle of peroxide, volume 10. (that's the 3%).
Wave maker on max.
Filter off.
Chucked in the whole 100ml. (for my tank I needed 240ml according to the original post by JP)
Waited 15 minutes.
Did a 50% water change.
Added 40ml Excel via syringe with wave maker off and waited 5 minutes.
Started wave maker and filter again.

Then, 3 days later I could see no browning or anything at all, except that some 75% of my superhuman spirogyra was GONE!

5 days later (which would be last night) I did the following, manual removal, and the same process again, also did the HALF dose (the 100ml instead of the required 240ml). Let's see what happens. Everyone happy. Cow safe at half dose it would seem. Which is nice. I was willing to sack any occupants in the quest to finish this satan spawn spirogyra.

Thanks JP, and everyone else who commented on this thread! Very useful, and very effective. In my mind, it just didn't feel right putting that sort of stuff into a tank, but damn it works

 

Checked just now, 99% of spirogyra gone! wow... That was a proper cleaning

 

@BugMan

 

I know this was a long time ago but if 1 tbsp= +-15ml then 4 tbsp= +- 60ml per 10 gallon or did I miss something?

 

In my case it's going to be a mammoth task to remove all my bottom dwellers,
I've dosed 200ml in my 65 gallon followed by scape, the BBA laughed at me, I will be trying 400ml today.
Failing this I will attempt spot dosing with power heads and filters off during wc, Iv'e done it before, it works, just a mission to get to every
little piece.

 

Okay so I don't like to admit to being wrong but for the sake of anyone considering H2O2 as a treatment for algae, stick to 30ml per 10 gallon,
I lost my Ancistrus and 4 neons, fortunately none of my Cory species were affected, also best to stick to 15mins treatment.

 

Does this work on all algae? I have algae forming on my rocks and wood.

 

I have tested this method and it works really well on both black beard algae and stag horn algae! I'm sure it will work on green hair algae as well.

 

Thanks bugman. I currently use Excel / Scape liquid carbon (spot dosing) daily to keep BBA at bay. BUT seeing as I have recurrance I need to resolve the source (unstable CO2).

I don't currently have any CO2 injection. Originality I used the liquid carbon to try and stabilize CO2. BUT I would like to get rid of the liquid carbon altogether (from reading and valued forum advice I believe liquid carbon to be of little use).

How do I stabilize CO2 in a non CO2 tank?

 

That is a very good question that i will need to research before i can answer you. You can however start by shorting you light period and making sure that you plants have the right nutrients to live off.

Personally I found scape to not have the algicidal properties that Excel has.

I agree if you have a heavily planted tank, but the liquid carbon is still very useful in low tech setups if you dose it diligently. And even in high tech setups it helps a lot. I know that @jakkalsbothma doses Excel in his 120P and that tank is set up with all the high tech equipment you can think of...