Secret against algae

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Yeah big brown bottle, like 1$
What are the effects on the water, algae is has the same needs as live plants, so if they don't die what about java moss?
And shrimps are senstitive to water chems, will this effect them?

Just wondering about this stuff, if tea won't do the job this month, next month I'll try the Hydrogen
 
I'm not sure, but I think algae is ?single-cellular? and is more vulnerable than ?multi-cellular? plants. When exposed to light/air, hydrogen peroxide breaks down into water and oxygen (h2o and o2) so it ends up being harmless. That said, don't bathe everything in peroxide, as it still is an oxidizer.

Fun fact: Once I accidently mixed bleach with a little hydrogen peroxide, and it bubbled like crazy. At first I was scared, but when I looked it up, the only thing being released was oxygen, and I think it turned the bleach into some salt, so I'm wondering if this is another way to dechlorinate water?
 
Peroxide is not totally safe ....

I experimented with bleach, Excel & peroxide ... basically found that any Excel sensitive plants (those without stomata - eg hornwort, vals) dies with bleach or H2O2.

The net is also full of cautionary tales of people losing fish with overdose of H2O2 (or even the "recommended" dose). The problem with H2O2 is that its effect is dependent on the amount of organic compounds in the water. The cleaner the water, the more toxic H2O2 is. So one recommendation is to start low & gradually increase H2O2 dose until you see algae or fish death ..... I can't tell you what dose that is ... as I don't want to experiment with my fishies!
 
I tried h2o2 and poured a whole bottle (no fish) into some java fern and cladophora into a 10 gallon and left it outside.. Sadly, the java fern died but the algae survived ><. Lol, not what I expected. Cladophora is freaking ridiculous
 
This topic can be closed.

Tank is fully infested with BBA/BGA or w/e it is... I tried blackouts and many things, I have 3x more CO2 then needed for my tank. It gets worse. Now I'm selling it.

Thx again all
 
So the tea didn't work, huh? You are selling the tank? Don't give up!
 
If you're selling the tank: Don't give up!

If you're selling the algae: I'm going to need the name of your buyer. I have some he can have too. :D
 
I'm not sure if you've tried this scaly approach yet, but have you thought about getting an algae-eater fish (even just temporarily) to see if it would chow down on the stuff?

I see your tank is only 14 gal, but with diligent water changes you could probably get away with putting in a small group (1M:2F) or (1M:3F) of Black Mollies and see what they think of the stuff. I know they keep my tank spotless.

And just think - even if they completely pig out on black algae - it's not like it's going to change their color. :D

Edit: Apparently Rosy Barbs are also natural Black-Algae-Predators, however I'm not sure how well their temperament would work with the community fish you currently have.
 
Well, I'll keep the tank for 1 month, and I'm on a vacation job so at the end of the month I'll buy some algae eaters, if it doesn't reduce then I'm gettin rid of it :p
 
Sounds like a plan.

I was looking at a few more algae threads (because I'm bored at work and it's never a bad idea to learn more about combating algae) - and it looks like the most common predator for the more hard-to-kill algae are "True Siamese Algae Eaters".

The biggest pitfall of trying to buy SAEs, however, it that several similar species are passed off as "SAEs" - even if they have little to no appetite for algae.
 
Sounds like a plan.

I was looking at a few more algae threads (because I'm bored at work and it's never a bad idea to learn more about combating algae) - and it looks like the most common predator for the more hard-to-kill algae are "True Siamese Algae Eaters".

The biggest pitfall of trying to buy SAEs, however, it that several similar species are passed off as "SAEs" - even if they have little to no appetite for algae.

I've seen those in my LFS, is there a way to see if it's a fake or real one?? But I'm afraid they'll outgrow my tank.
 
Identifying the Siamese Algae Eater

Here's a link with some quick pictures showing the differences. To me, it looks like the easiest way to tell if it's a true SAE is if there is no darker color on the top of the fish.

All 4 of the "fakers" on that link appear to have at least some form of darker brownish coloration above their "black line", while the SAE appears to be solid silver everywhere except the black line.

EDIT: Here's the fish profile link from Foster/Smith: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=830+888+1086&pcatid=1086
 
SM and HN1 have some True SAE's for sale, check out their thread in the classifieds section. Not sure if they are still available or not but they looked nice a plump.
 
I also recommend algae eating fish/inhabitants... SAE's are great and I highly recommend Otos (short for Otocinclus), they are smaller than SAE's. Otos are mentioned in this link, along with SAE's and other great algae eaters:

Aquarium Algae Eaters

Good luck!
 
Thanks for the information!! :D I'll try to get otos, aslong as those eat BBA/BGA!! And don't outgrow my tank.
 
Otos won't eat thread algae or BGA or BBA. They do well with fuzz, green dust algae, and diatoms.

Shrimp- thread algae
Nerites- green spot/green fuzz
otos-fuzz/diatoms
sae-thread/hair
plecos- bba
american flagfish- almost everything but aren't very efficient.
 
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