While I know this method worked for myself and quite a few other folks, it's always interesting to see if it works for other folks.
My issue is not so much how to get rid of it.
Rather, how to induce it in the first place.
Unlike most aquarium, I do not know how to do that with GDA.
I can inoculate a tank and sometimes get an infestation, but not always.
By doing this, we can learn a lot more about an alga, and stop it before it can grow in our tanks. An ounce of Prevention is worth far more than a pound of Cure.
The main issue is that folks allow the GDA to start to slough off(you can see it do this). It goes into another spore stage and you likely will never see it again.
If you keep wiping, it never makes it to this stages and keeps growing vegetatively rather than going to the next sexual cycle.
This phase in it's life cycle is particularly tough, some on the other hand, are not and do not bother us at all.
The big problem with this method: takes awhile and the tank looks bad you do the final wipe. The other method is simply keep wiping the glass and running a micron filter(say a HOT magnum with a pleated cartiage, a diatom, or other similar filters with lots of current)
If you leave the algae alone for 2-3 weeks, then scrub good, add Excel, do a 60-80% water change, then run the filter right after, then scrub again and couple of more times, and/or do water changes, this should gibve you about a 90-100% effective cure rate.
Lot of work, but the plants like water changes and adding ferts back also.
So you get nice plant health as well and the water is really clear.
Regards,
Tom Barr
