# anybody dont the Alum dip?



## Hopethisworks... (Mar 24, 2011)

Has anybody done the Alum dip such as on the aquariumplants.com website? Aluminum sulfate and 2-3 hours..? Is it better to dip your plants or just put them in a qt tank? Or just rinse them and put them in your tank? I dont know what kind of bugs or disease you can infest your tank with. I know algae and snails... but other than that?


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

never heard of the alum dip :/ if it was that great and advertised on aquariumplants, i'm sure a lot more people would be using that as their main method. 
either buy pest free plants or just use a bleach dip (21:1) water to bleach for 1-1.5 minutes 
there is also this other dip that's effective, something that sounds like pomegrante or something like that.
i wouldn't use a qt tank and rinsing will only do a little to help.


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi Hopethisworks,

I do an Alum dip, and I find it effective for the occasional pest, but I don't think it has any effect on snail eggs. I use a quarantine tank, every new plant/stem spends 2-3 weeks in it before going into one of my larger tanks. I am glad I do that, because I just found a large batch of Pond Snail babies. Glad they are in the quarantine tank and not one of my larger ones.


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## Hopethisworks... (Mar 24, 2011)

ya I think I agree with the qt tank. do u still use ferts and everything in your qt? substrates and lights and the whole kitten kabootle? Alum dip is on aquariumplants..so r the others.


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi Hopethisworks,

Yes the tank has average lighting, simple filter, substrate, but no CO2 (currently), and I use ferts and do water changes. I don't have any fish or inverts in the tank in case I decide to use copper sulfate to kill snails outbreaks.


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

apparently the alum dip is popular, should have googled it first.
i'd be more worried about the weird things that get passed around like planaria, worms, etc. 
and if you want a qt tank, consider making a natural qt tank that has predators to take care of pests. maybe a bare bottom tank with some fish that'll eat worms and assassin snails to take care of snails and planaria.


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