Bleaching a Tank

[NatakuTseng]

Well I finally broke down and just went to do this right. I've been struggling with black hair algea for several weeks now, it seemed to be going into remission and then a few days ago there was an exposion and everything had it on it. So the tank got torn down, fish relocated, plants into a 5gallon bucket, and the tank got 2 gallons of bleach (40gal tank) I stirred up all the sand, the hair algea that was on the driftwood and glass is now dead. I also just did a 6minute bleach dip with all the plants in the tank, figured it already had the bleach in it, why not just dip them in the tank(20:1 ratio of water to bleach). I Just examined the plants, and rinsed them all off very thourghly, and what hair algea was there, is no longer on them. The swords seem to have held up fairly well, but the aponogetons are looking horrible now, as well as the sagitara and val, which probably will lose all of their leaves. The a. nana looks great, little bit of a yellow ish burn on some of the leaves, but there was a ton of hair algea on that, and the plant is totally clean now. I am going to get de-cholorinator today, and put that in the tank, change out all the water, and add fresh water (all of the equipment that I use in the tank has been in the tank getting a bleach soak as well). I plan on starting to set the tank back up tommorow. With the sand, after I add the dechlorinator, just to be safe should I stir it all up, to make sure that its all been disturbed and exposed to the dechlorinator? And also the peice of diftwood in there, should I be worried about it having sucked up the bleach, and retaining it, or will the dechlorinator take care of that?

[djlen]

Make sure you are thorough in getting rid of all traces of bleach within the tank and on all surfaces of everything before re-introducing the fish.
From the sounds of it, you have probably killed off your bio-filtration and all traces of your bacteria colony. Basically, you will have to start from scratch, just like a brand new tank.
Dechlorinator will neutralize the bleach, but it needs to contact all the surfaces to do it.
Also, 6 mins. is much longer for dipping than is necessary and you will probably notice some damage to many of your delicate plants and possibly even Anubia. A 2 min. dip will kill any bacteria on any surface......longer just deteriorates the plants.
Use the Dechlorinizer liberally.

Len

[NatakuTseng]

Here's what I plan on doing with the tank, I added a dose of dechlorinator, letting it sit for a while. Then I am going to drain the tank, fill it back up, and add another dose of dechlorinator. I also realize my bacteria is dead, and I have other tanks that my fish can live in till the tank gets re-established. I basically wanted a fresh start and make darn sure that hair algea was deader than a door nail. I was going to use Bio-Spira, but our LFS has to make a $500 minimum order to get it, so thats not gonna happen. I'll just have to seed the tank again. Which isn't a big deal, my thing is I Just don't want that stuff back in there. The fish won't be going back into the tank for at least a month, the plants will be another story. I rinsed the plants very good, which are now in a 5gal bucket, I added totally fresh water to the bucket, and added dechlorinator to the bucket just to make sure. Being as skeptical as I am, how will I know for sure if that stuff has worked, I'm using the Tropical Science complete care.

[Tempest]

You *bought* hair algae? :D

It's really hard to keep a nicely growing planted tank going without spending time with your hands in the tank. My fish seem to be pretty accustomed to it.. Many of them slide up to my hand getting a few nibbles in and I have to watch out with the gravel tube because they don't particularly want to stay out of the way. So much for fear huh?

[Starry]

Originally posted by Tempest
You *bought* hair algae? :D

It's really hard to keep a nicely growing planted tank going without spending time with your hands in the tank. My fish seem to be pretty accustomed to it.. Many of them slide up to my hand getting a few nibbles in and I have to watch out with the gravel tube because they don't particularly want to stay out of the way. So much for fear huh?

I hear ya. My platies think I'm there specifically to amuse them. They constantly nibble on my hands and frolick around me when I'm doing my weekly maintenance. I try to shoo them away, but even that doesn't help. They're not intimidated by the net either. Every time someone enters the room, they all charge and don't stop hugging the front wall till the person leaves. I think it's much better to get your fish used to having you around than to scare the living daylights out of them at every water change.
Sorry that was off topic :)