# removal of algae of plants w/o killing plants



## gr8nguyen1

ok i have a dilemma, i started a npt about a month ago which was a disaster. i had severe algae problems from the get go. i did a lot of research and i found out i made many mistakes that led to my downfall. so now arming mysefl with new knowledge that i got from rereading diane walstads book and from reading all the threads on this website. i am ready to attempt another npt. my first of many questions is. i want to transplant some the the plants from the old tank in the new one. how do i get rid of the algae covering the plants without killing the plants itself. i mean i wouldn't want to transfer plants full of algae to a new tank bc then that tank will be invaded and i'm back to square one.


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## Zapins

You will never be able to have a tank that is 100% free of algae. Even if you dip and bleach everything in a new tank, algae spores float in on the wind and will grow. Algae really only grows when conditions are correct for it.

When a soil tank is set up a lot of nutrients are released into the water column, so try doing several very large water changes to reduce the nutrient concentrations and just wait it out. Sometimes there will be a 1-2 month algae period, and sometimes there will be no algae at all. Soil is a great way to go, but usually there is algae (horrible algae) in the beginning that subsides and goes away for good after the break in period.

Don't break down your tank just yet or you will have to go through the break in period all over again. Let us know some details about your tank and I'm sure we can help you shorten the amount of time the algae persists.


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## Philosophos

My reaction would be to hit the tank with ferts (careful about how fast if you're doing food as ferts) and excel; glut the plants as best you can. Get your existing tank as close to algae free as possible. After that, when you've got nice growth and dieing algae, do your transfer. If you've got algae now, it won't go away on those plants unless you've got a very good improvement of conditions. I tend to chop off anything that gets algae on it, and avoid transport; moving usually doesn't help.

-Philosophos


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## Avi

After many years of running a planted tank I had an unfortunate and complicated "CO2" event that wound up resulting in a terrinle algae problem. I had real problems with hair algae and an algae that I believe is called blue green algae and actually a form of cyanobacteria. In any event, this led me to redo my tank and at that time started using dry ferts in an EI dosing routine. I replanted many of the plants in the tank and they looked downlight nasty with the algae seemingly still thriving. New plants that I put in at that time also began to suffer. This killed a good portion of the plants in the tank, but I was told in these forums to keep doing exactly what I was doing with only shortening the photo-period of my lights because I do have rather intense lighting. This ultimately paid off because after just about 2-weeks, there was new growth from the plants including ones that were covered with the blue green stuff. Once that started, the new growth has been beautiful and the algae abated completely. I cut the new growth off, discarded the algae-covered stems that were rooted and replaced them with the new growth,

I've been reading threads here that address algae removal because I find the idea intesting, though I no longer have the algae problem and someone had posted this page that you might find interesting....I havent done it but there seems to be a lot about this idea in the forums:

http://www.guppies.com/forums/showthread.php/bba-thread-hair-21075.html?t=21075&highlight=bba


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## dwalstad

gr8nguyen1 said:


> how do i get rid of the algae covering the plants without killing the plants itself.


You can try the chlorox treatment (my book, p. 158 ). Whether it kills only the algae and not the plants depends on how long the treatment is and how tough/fibrous the plants are. If you use plants treated by this method and they look they're dying in the new tank, take them out. You really haven't lost anything by giving your old plants a chance. Better than throwing them out!

That said, be sure to plant plenty of non-treated, non-algae covered plants.

Sounds like you're trying hard. I wish you well.


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## gr8nguyen1

since it was my first npt i was pretty much learning as i go. i made a series of mistakes some my fault some not. the plants i ordered from aquariumplants.com arrived 6 days, even though i paid for 2 day delivery. talk about getting screwed over. so the tank was set up with some of my old palnts. when the plants that i ordered finally arrived. i planted them but it kicked up so much soil that i had to add more top gravel to prevent the soil from seeping into the tank. this caused the soil to be 2 inches deep with the top gravel to be another 2 inches. i then used RO water because the tap water here i pretty high. that migt've caused some nutrient deficiency. bc the most of the plants weren't growing too good. the amazon swords had brownish, yellowish leaves with hole in them. the ludwigia and bacopa moneri were dying. i kept the lights on to long. basically the only thing thriving were the tiger lotus and water sprite and a lot of algae. 
so i did some researched and posted a lot of questions to find some answers. thank you to all who have taken their time to answer my questions. it was a big help. hopefully things will be better this time around now that i am armed with more knowledge about NPT


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## gr8nguyen1

also in Datagurus's thread on the step by step instructions on setting up a low tech tank. she stated that the top gravel layer should be 1-2mm size. i plan on cory catfish. a lot of them since they are my favorites. i find that a gravel size of < 1 mm would be good for them since its fine and won't erode their barbels. would using fine gravel this small be ok. or should i buy some gravel around 1-2mm as suggested by betty( dataguru ) on her post?


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## dwalstad

1 mm gravel should be fine. 

Please don't set up an NPT until you have a nice selection of healthy plants-- in hand. 

Use tapwater, not R.O. water. R.O. water has no nutrients. The lack of calcium in R.O. water is particularly dangerous for plants (my book, p. 114). I'm not surprised that your plants fared so poorly.

You've done a fairly good analysis of what went wrong. Hats off to your perseverance! :hail:


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## gr8nguyen1

thanks for the kind words mrs. walstad, its nice to get advice from the expert herself i have slated the start date for my second attempt at a NPT for this coming thursday. everything is ready. i'm just waiting for the plants i bought to arrive they should arrive on thursday so i'm going to start that night. the tank is already set up there is about 1.5" of organic choice potting soil. this time i am able to use Dataguru's step by step instructions. i'm only going to lay about 1-1.5" of top gravel. i decided to buy a bunch of new plants. i kept some of the old plants that werent too infected by algae. but most i had to throw away bc the infestation was too much. i think its going to be better this time just bc i am more knowledgeable this time around and i was fortunate to have the experience of failing the previous attempt. i'm really excited. your book is so revolutionary. it totally goes against everything i've been taught about fish tanks. but your theories make a lot of sense.
oh by the way.. i'm having a hard time planting the ludwigia repens and ludwigia palustrus. it seems that everytime i plant them the stems eventually rot away and the plants just float to the surface. whats your advice on them keeping the stems alive?


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## wkndracer

*i'm having a hard time planting the ludwigia repens and ludwigia palustrus. it seems that everytime i plant them the stems eventually rot away and the plants just float to the surface. whats your advice on them keeping the stems alive?*

Same problem in my tank with Reopens and I think its caused by the new soil settling in. This all happened while I was experiencing a lot of substrate gassing. I kept trimming the bottoms and replanting. After about 1 1/2 months some are staying put and growing.

Glad your trying again


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## dianainOH

I'm having a brown algae (diatom???) problems in both of the NPTs that I set up this spring. It knocks off of the plants easily, but then settles right back on them. Will this eventually go away?? Is there anything I can do?? Water parameters and fish in both tanks are great, and my fast growing plants are doing fine, but I lose leaves on my broad leafed and slower growing plants due to coverage by the brown gunk. I followed the guidelines in Ms. Walstad's book for setup. I used Miracle Grow Organic Choice Garden Soil (couldn't find the potting soil), amended w/bone meal, topped w/gravel. A little under 2wpg in both tanks, one supplemented by sunlight. Full load of fish in both the 55 and 29.The water is a little 'tea-ish' but definitely not green. Any advice would be welcome. Thanks!


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## Zapins

Diatoms aren't algae, they can move around and eat debris in the tank, they also don't like higher light and tend to show up in new or tanks that are in need of a water change. Diatoms usually go away on their own within a few weeks, but you can do water changes often, raise the lights or buy otto cats, they are about the only fish I know of that actually eat this stuff. But rely more heavily on water changes and time to solve it rather then the fish.


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## dwalstad

dianainOH said:


> I'm having a brown algae (diatom???) problems in both of the NPTs that I set up this spring. It knocks off of the plants easily, but then settles right back on them. Will this eventually go away?? Is there anything I can do?? Water parameters and fish in both tanks are great, and my fast growing plants are doing fine, but I lose leaves on my broad leafed and slower growing plants due to coverage by the brown gunk. I followed the guidelines in Ms. Walstad's book for setup. I used Miracle Grow Organic Choice Garden Soil (couldn't find the potting soil), amended w/bone meal, topped w/gravel. A little under 2wpg in both tanks, one supplemented by sunlight. Full load of fish in both the 55 and 29.The water is a little 'tea-ish' but definitely not green. Any advice would be welcome. Thanks!


I get a little diatom growth in two of my tanks (the 50 gal has no algae, but its been set up now for over a year). I scrape the algae off the glass when I'm cleaning the two tanks every couple weeks to keep it under control.

For your problem, it may get better with time. Snails, Chinese algae eaters, and Plecostomas love eating this algae.


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## mudboots

Getting back to the original post, I collected three Echinodours berteroi in "The Wild" that were in a shallow that was drying up. They were covered in algae and algal goo in general. I gently agitated them with my fingertips in a 1:40 solution of bleach water (1 Tblspn bleach to 2.5 cups water) for about 2 or 3 minutes and then rinsed thoroughly in tap water, letting them soak in some clean water for a few minutes to get the chlorine out of their system a little. They seem to be doing well after 4 days in the NPT with no algal growth.

The fact that most of the leaves at collection time were emergent might have helped, since they are a little tougher than the more tender submergent vegetation.


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## mudboots

Regarding the posted reply on July 8 about soaking Ech. ber. in bleach water - Emergent leaves (which are now submerged) have since become chlorotic and necrotic, but are being replaced by healthy submergent leaves. Plants seem to be doing well.

I tried this same bleach-water solution on some other plants from "The Wild" that same evening and have noticed no effect yet. These were collected just for kicks, and include one piece of Ludwigia peploides, two stems of Hydrilla verticillata (which is illegal to possess in this state by the way, so it will be immediately destroyed), and three stems of Ceratophyllum echinatum (I think).


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## mudboots

mudboots said:


> Regarding the posted reply on July 8 about soaking Ech. ber. in bleach water - Emergent leaves (which are now submerged) have since become chlorotic and necrotic, but are being replaced by healthy submergent leaves. Plants seem to be doing well.
> 
> I tried this same bleach-water solution on some other plants from "The Wild" that same evening and have noticed no effect yet. These were collected just for kicks, and include one piece of Ludwigia peploides, two stems of Hydrilla verticillata (which is illegal to possess in this state by the way, so it will be immediately destroyed), and three stems of Ceratophyllum echinatum (I think).


The Ludwigia stem has grown 4 inches since its bleach bath; the Hydrilla and Ceratophyllum pretty much died (just a small piece of Ceratophyllum coming back, floating at the top).


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