[APD] A cheaper effective way to kill Green water/cladophora andothers

["Thomas Barr" <tcbiii at earthlink_net>]

I had a person that wanted to kill green water that kept coming back but
had no funds for a Diatom filter/UV etc, had high light PC's. 
Daphnia were out(fish eat them), water changes did not work, blackout would
work .....for about a week.

So I tried another approach and use for Copper sulfate.

Say like Copper safe(Mardel labs). The point is to kill what's there in the
water, then correct conditions and not have the reoccurance.
But we first have to killl what's there already.
Many understand how __tenacious__ green water/Cladophora is/are. 

But _if_ removing the plants is not out of the question, placing them in a
bucket for a 3-5 days, then this should work for any algae/snails/inverts
left in the tank. 
Add 1/2 dose for the ich treatment. Wait 3-5 days.
Do 2 x 80-90% water changes. This will remove virtually all of the Copper,
any left overs will be used by the plants(plants need a small amount of
copper), roughly 1.5% to 1% of the orginal concentrration,(1ppm of Cu
diluted by 90= 0.1ppm => diluted again by 90=> 0.01%) you can do another
water change to be safe but I think this is low enough to not cause any
issues with plants/critters. 
This is also a good chance to remove any excess detritus, adjust the
substrate slopes etc, redesign things. 

Rinse plants every couple of days with tap water while in the bucket, rinse
very well before returning the plants to the tank. 

Some might find this more acceptable than paying 80$ or more for a
UV/Diatom etc. 
It'll kill most algae spores, any algae on equipment etc. 
If you do a dip in bleach, peroxide, alum/lime etc after the treatment with
the plants, this should really clean out a tank well.
Some folks spend a lot of time pick algae off gravel/driftwood/equipment
etc, this is a pretty good method since many times if algae has become an
issue, you need to preen and prune the plants anyway, so you are going tom
remove/uproot them often anyhow.

It's easier than complete tank tear downs etc and it's safer than bleach
etc on bacteria/fish(don't need to remove them) etc.

Also, the change to the plants in the bucket with mild Chlorine/less
light/pH/Temp shock will hurt the algae on the plants also, you can put the
bucket in a dark place like a blackout also.

So if you have pulled some hair out over green water, Cladophora etc, you
may try this.
Be careful upon returning the plants back, pick them clean and make sure to
correct the problems you had prior in the tank.  

Many folks have troubles with Cladophora so this might help them also but I
have not tried it on it yet. Cladophora does not attach to plants really,
but gets entangled very well.
As always, read precautions on the product before adding it. Copper will
kill the shrimp/snails also. 
FWIW, You likely could use a milder dose of copper to get good results than
1/2 dosages for ich.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


  


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