Re: BBA

["Giancarlo Podio" <gp at isaconsulting_com>]

The article itself indicates the damage the peroxide does to the plants, I
guess it's easier than tearing down a tank if conditions are that bad but it
sure is drastic, massive pruning at this stage would probably make more
sense. It's good to know however for cleaning decorations outside the tank,
I have a large piece of driftwood with moss, ferns and anubias attached to
it which makes it difficult to clean, next time it's out of the tank I'm
going to try to attack what's left of the BBA on it just for curiosity
making sure it does not come into contact with the plants. Would the algae
require prolonged exposure to the peroxide or would an initial squirt be
sufficient? I would need to place the item back in the tank before the
plants dried.

Tom your post regarding non CO2 tanks was spot on, I've never had algae
problems in my lower lit tanks which don't receive anything other than some
occasional leftover tabs and fish food. All I do is feed the fish and do a
30-50% water change every two weeks, no algae and slow but good plant
growth. Curiously the plants are all trimmings from my higher lit tank which
often carry some hair algae and BBA on the leaves, the hair algae appears to
grow very slowly in the lower lit tanks, slow enough to not be a problem,
while the BBA doesn't seem to grow at all and just disappears on it's own as
the effected leaves are cut or die off as the plant grows.

Giancarlo Podio

----- Original Message -----

  a.. To: <Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com>
  b.. Subject: Re: BBA
  c.. From: Thomas Barr <tcbiii at earthlink_net>
  d.. Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 12:29:22 -0500
  e.. In-reply-to: <200203112048.g2BKm2I26055 at acme_actwin.com>
  f.. User-agent: Microsoft-Outlook-Express-Macintosh-Edition/5.02.2022

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Peroxide et al.
Why not trim the algae FIRST, then if any is left or on leaves you are not
willing to trim(they do grow back BTW), peroxide it?
Seems like that would make far more sense to remove what's there first
before any treatment is done to improve what ever treatment plan you have in
mind.

I've never had to bleach or peroxide any tank to fix the plant algae
problem. Trimming and scrub alone works for the plants. Bleach/peroxide
works good for equipment, but I think it does harm the plants more than
folks think while not killing the tissue, it sure seems to slow the plants
down.

Regards,
Tom Barr