Algae spores

[cbster]

Do algae spores live inside the filter? I ask this question because I am planning on pulling all the plants out of my tank and bleach everything but if I do all that and there is algae in the filter it will just come back. I don't plan on putting the plants back in and have a fish only tank but I don't want the BBA to come back.

 

[wataugachicken]

algal spores pretty much live everywhere. the only way to prevent it/cut down on it is with correct tank maintenance. a certain amount of lighting, don't overfeed, clean the gravel regularly, maybe add more plants. plants will use up excess nutrients in the water before the algae can get to them, thereby starving it.
put a container of water in a window and let it sit there for a couple weeks - algae will grow in it. there's no way to completely eradicate it permanently, and chemicals are a bad idea.

 

[djlen]

Greg -
Don't worry about the spores in the filter. There's no way you'll get all of them.
Just pull and bleach plants/filter tubes/heaters/decorations that are affected. In your case I would not pull everything at once or you're liable to freak your Discus.
But you do want to do it all on the same day.
If it was my tank, with the huge investment in fish you have, I would order a large bottle of Excel from Big Al's and wait till it gets there before doing anything. Just do small clean ups till then.
Then start dosing it immediately after your tank cleaning and you will see possibly a very moderate return of BBA, but over a couple of weeks it will recede if you're persistent with dosing the Excel. This of course, is in conjunction with pushing your CO2 up to 30ppm.
Clean, get the plants growing and the BBA will recede. Excel works. And after the BBA is gone you will only need a periodic dosing of it to keep it under control. IME, over time I have not see a return at all after gradually decreasing the dosages over a period of 6 Mons. or so.
There is no reason why you can't clean up this problem and still have a nicely planted tank. The picture on your site is beautiful. I'd hate to see you give up on the plants. And they will come through the bleaching process fine if you use a 25:1 ratio when dipping them. That ratio will also kill BBA on inanimate objects.

Len