Black Hair Algae!!! help

CaliLifeStyle said:
Cut the leaves with algae and soak your decor in a 25% bleach solution. Rinse it thoroughly afterwards.
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that's too strong; the standard ratio is 1:19, your recommending 1:4 which may result in major loss of leaves

i've just used this method myself

i dipped the plants in the 1:19 solution for 5 minutes in one bucket then put them in another 10l bucket with 5 caps of prime to kill the algae and dechlorinate the plant before adding back to the tank

i did this during a water change and while the levels were low i sprayed the surfaces with a 1:2 solution of excel before adding the water back in

however what you really need to do is identify the root cause of why the bba outbreak happened in the first place - normally its inconsistent or lack of CO2; for me its CO2 as my cannister ran out and it took me a week to realise!
 
I agree that the algae will only go away for good when you ID the cause. Otherwise it'll keep coming back.

Some common reasons for algae are:
1. overstocking/too high nitrates
2. too few plants
3. too few nutrients (try using ferts)
4. light intensity too low
5. lights on too long
6. tank getting too much natural daylight.
7. low CO2

I have my algae to a minimum now that I've 1. added more plants, 2. started dosing Flourish Excel, and 3. started covering the tank after lights out (to keep the natural light out).

Good luck!
 
nickmcmechan said:
that's too strong; the standard ratio is 1:19, your recommending 1:4 which may result in major loss of leaves
Click to expand...

I think the original poster meant to dip the decor in the 1:4 solution, not the plants.

I also use a 1:20 ratio for dipping plants. Haven't killed one yet.
 
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