# Kill of cladophora with tablesalt?



## Raven_ (Dec 5, 2005)

Can cladophora survive a couple of days in water with a *very* high salt content?

Salt would be much easier to clean out from a large aquarium then bleach.
Regards
Raven


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

Bleach isn't that hard to clean out of even a very large tank. Just do a few rinses with a quart or two of water. Siphon the water out from a gallon milk bottle held above the tank and squirt it along the top so that it washes right up to the rim and then rinses the sides. Then siphon what you can out of the bottom of the tank and mop up the rest with a clean sponge. Repeat once or twice, and you have got essentially all of it out. Any traces of bleach left behind will not be nearly as much as you would get adding chlorinated tap water. Traces of bleach will be eliminated by adding some soluble organic matter to the water in the tank. An effective way to do this is to take a piece or two of dry cat food or dog food and let it decompose in about two cups of water for two days. At the start, add a little mulm from another tank or a dash* of soil from your backyard to introduce lots of bacteria. After two days, add some of this to the water in the tank. This soluble organic matter produced by the bacteria will tie up chlorine as well as heavy metals, such as copper. 

Salt should kill Cladophora too, but it should be as concentrated as possible. For a large tank, around 100 gallons, you would need something like 10 pounds of salt. It should be rinsed out carefully, too. Bleach is cheaper. Put a quart of liquid bleach in 100 gallons, mix, and cover the tank and let it sit for a few days, and you will have killed all the Cladophora for sure. 

* A dash (1/8 teaspoon) is more than a pinch (1/16 teaspoon), and is way more than a smidgeon (1/32 teaspoon)


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## Raven_ (Dec 5, 2005)

HeyPK said:


> Bleach isn't that hard to clean out of even a very large tank. Just do a few rinses with a quart or two of water.


I have found that bleach tends to stick to some surfaces and that a simple rinse isnt enough.


> Any traces of bleach left behind will not be nearly as much as you would get adding chlorinated tap water.


The amount of chlorine in my tapwater during normal operation is very close to 0 since other methods primarily is used to clean and sterilize the water.

Bleach is also hard to come by, more or less all stores have stopped selling it because its an enviromental hazard.


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