sterilizing duckweed

ChicoRaton

ChicoRaton

Se?or Member
Jun 5, 2004
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Idaho, USA
www.hazy8.com
I have a ~1 acre pond that is loaded with duckweed. If I take a bunch of ut from the pond and put it in a weak bleach solution, then rinse in water with a 5x dose of dechlorinator, will it be safe for my aquarium? also, how strong should I make the bleach and how long should I soak it? are there any other ways to remove bacteria and/or parasites without killing it?

Thanks.
 
umm, the bleach will kill your duckweed very fast. I wouldn't put it in bleach at all. It is probably not too safe to bring duckweed in for the wild and introduce it into your tank. (but I've done it) if you want to kill the parasites and things that might be in it, medicate it (very lightly) with a parasite and fungus medication. Make sure it is plant safe though! I had an old pro show me this trick and it has never failed for me. (at least I don't think it has) good luck
 
Ah. thanks. I had heard of people dipping plants in weak bleach solution before, is duckweed the exception?
 
25:1 bleach solution for 1 min. Stir it around as it will want to stay on the surface or take a fish net and capture it in that and dip it.
Have two containers of fresh water ready before dipping. One with just plain tap water and one with 5X tap water conditioner in it. Net the duckweed and dip it into the fresh water for a minute or so and then into the 5X solution.
Be sure and dip the entire net into the 5X as well before using in the aquarium.

Len
 
duckweed would be an exception. because of their very delicate structure they would die. (notice their very waxy texture on the leaves and fine roots) most plants can be put into a 1:25 (I've also heard, but never used 1:30) water to bleach mixture.
 
I've never been able to kill the duckweed in my tanks--bleach dips as djlen described are perfectly safe. Heck, I've had the stuff dry out completely for one entire day, get submerged, and re-hydrate just fine.
 
djlen, thanks for the detailed procedure. I think I'll go get some right now and do the bleach procedure. If it does die, I'll just net and siphon it out of the aquarium, but if not all the better. IME duckweed is pretty tough.. just this morning I found one piece floating on top of my 55 gal... no clue how it got there, there's not any if my other tank either, just the one mysteriously appearing piece in the 55... weird:p
 
Fun experiment not to try at home:

add 20 ml bleach to test tube.
add 10 ml dechlorinator to test tube
inhale

lol I wanted to see what would happen and I found out :P it gets really hot and emits a very noxious sulfur smelling gas... yech.

thanks again for the advice guys.
 
Originally posted by ChicoRaton
Fun experiment not to try at home:

add 20 ml bleach to test tube.
add 10 ml dechlorinator to test tube
inhale

lol I wanted to see what would happen and I found out :P it gets really hot and emits a very noxious sulfur smelling gas... yech.

thanks again for the advice guys.
Click to expand...
why would you want to do that?
 
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