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Re: bleach treatment



>From: "Michael A. Bateman" <spine at stlnet_com>

>Start with healthy plants?  Bleach treated plants can hardly be considered
>healthy.  It has taken weeks for plants to recover after I've bleached
>them; even after shorter, weaker bleach treatments.

I've used the bleach treatment sucessfully and have nothing against it,
however, I must admit that the last time I used it, it was not good at all
for the plants. I measured the bleach very carefully, as ususal, and used
the timer so there were no accidents. I had a bucket of fresh water with
chlorine remover in it right beside the bleach bucket. I only bleached the
fussier type of plants for one minute and the hardier ones for 2 minutes
but this time it seemed to hit them very hard. The only plant that didn't
suffer was the red ludwigia. All other times the plants have shown very
little, if any, distress from this. I'm wondering could the algae have
weakened them so they were more affected? Could the conditions in the tank
have made them more vulnerable -- such as warmer water, harder water, more
CO2 or etc.? It's a puzzle. (And no, I did not make a mistake with the
bleach -- one part bleach to 19 parts water, as usual.)

Olga
in not raining (for the moment) Vancouver