A few years back a friend gave me some plants from his tank and I set them up in a 55 gallon with lights, CO2, etc. But as is often the case, the plants contained hitchhikers, in this case several hard to kill types of thread algae as well as a bit of beard algae. The fish in this aquarium were Endler's Livebearers, some Siamese Algae Eaters some Ancistrus and some Corys. Soon after the algae appeared, duckweed followed. Thus began a long and unsuccessful attempt to rid the tank of these pests. Next came the Malaysian Trumpet Snails. This did not seem like a problem at first since the tank did not contain egg-layers that we being bred, however the number of MTS became almost unbelievable. The SAEs were removed as they were getting too large, but I started finding the Endler's mangled and their numbers were dropping rapidly. My best guess is the snails were attacking and overwhelming them at night. Now reduced to 10 females and one male I decided to break down the entire tank.
The Endler's were placed in a 20 gallon with 4 tbs. salt and a bag of crushed coral along with one Cory. The other fish went into other tanks. The plants were removed, most were discarded, they were all duplicates now anyway. The tank was drained and the gravel removed to be dried and sun baked before any future reuse.
The tank and all the equipment had to be sterilized, I wanted none of this difficult algae to survive. The two large sponge filters were dropped into a 5 gallon bucket 3/4 full of water and a cup of plain bleach was added. The tubing was covered in the beard algae, it was discarded. The filter soaked overnight. Meanwhile I scrubbed the tank with a kitchen brush (not the one I use in the kitchen, lol) over every square inch, the tank was partially filled and drained several times until there was only water left inside it, no sand, no debris. Then the tank was filled all the way to the top with water touching the plastic rim and about two cups of bleach was added.
I let it sit for about six hours, then drained it washed the sides down and drained it again. It was partially refilled and about 10x the recommended dose of aquarium chlorine remover was added. The filters, now clean, were rinsed then soaked in a bucket also containing water and chlorine remover. New airlines were attached and hooked to the pump. The tank was filled to the tip once again.
Gravel: I had had rather expensive fluorite gravel in the tank, but decided that this probably would not be primarily a planted tank again. So "regular" gravel would suffice. I had a bag of Quickcrete pea gravel that I had been using for horticulture and it seemed like a good cheap solution for new gravel. The particles ranged in size from dust and sand to about 3/4 inch and it has a nice golden color. Because of the varying particle sizes in this gravel, you could sift it and get any size in between if you have use for the rest of it.
Here's where I hope I can give people a tip. You can save huge amounts of time and water rinsing your gravel: Go down to Lowe's or a garden shop and buy a Water-Lily basket. they are about 12 x 12 x 8" deep and have a fine mesh. Fill it half way with gravel, set in on something open like a plastic milk crate and you can take a hose under full pressure and force all the dust and sand through leaving the gravel. I did a 50 pound bag in 15 minutes and used a lot less water then the old "overflowing bucket" method. The gravel was added to the tank to about 1.5 inches deep. There were hardly any suspended particles in the water, this method is very through at removing them.
Next I went to a tank whose outside filter had not been cleaned in a while and took the sponge out and wrung it out in a bucket of RO water it was black and nasty, but perfect! The entire bucket was dumped into the tank. Several gold Guppies were added from another tank, but cycling at this point is not all that necessary since a huge bacteria load was added and picked up by the two in-tank sponge filters. After checking several times over the course of several hours, the Guppies are fine, the tank is almost clear and there is a fine layer of silt on the bottom. This should kick-start the bacteria bed in the gravel as well as in the filters.
The few plants (several small red tiger lotus and some Amazon Swords) that I kept from the tank were sterilized with 1 part bleach to 20 parts water, then rinsed and soaked in R.O. water with chlorine remover. I don't want any chance of the algae returning. In fact the plants may go in quarantine, just in case.
Don't be afraid to use bleach in cleaning aquaria, I have done it several times without problem. However DO remember to rinse all parts of the tank completely several times THEN be sure to add lots of chlorine neutralizer and test your water by using some cheap Guppies or feeder fish, just in case.
Hopefully that's the last I'll see of the dreaded algae.
The Endler's were placed in a 20 gallon with 4 tbs. salt and a bag of crushed coral along with one Cory. The other fish went into other tanks. The plants were removed, most were discarded, they were all duplicates now anyway. The tank was drained and the gravel removed to be dried and sun baked before any future reuse.
The tank and all the equipment had to be sterilized, I wanted none of this difficult algae to survive. The two large sponge filters were dropped into a 5 gallon bucket 3/4 full of water and a cup of plain bleach was added. The tubing was covered in the beard algae, it was discarded. The filter soaked overnight. Meanwhile I scrubbed the tank with a kitchen brush (not the one I use in the kitchen, lol) over every square inch, the tank was partially filled and drained several times until there was only water left inside it, no sand, no debris. Then the tank was filled all the way to the top with water touching the plastic rim and about two cups of bleach was added.
I let it sit for about six hours, then drained it washed the sides down and drained it again. It was partially refilled and about 10x the recommended dose of aquarium chlorine remover was added. The filters, now clean, were rinsed then soaked in a bucket also containing water and chlorine remover. New airlines were attached and hooked to the pump. The tank was filled to the tip once again.
Gravel: I had had rather expensive fluorite gravel in the tank, but decided that this probably would not be primarily a planted tank again. So "regular" gravel would suffice. I had a bag of Quickcrete pea gravel that I had been using for horticulture and it seemed like a good cheap solution for new gravel. The particles ranged in size from dust and sand to about 3/4 inch and it has a nice golden color. Because of the varying particle sizes in this gravel, you could sift it and get any size in between if you have use for the rest of it.
Here's where I hope I can give people a tip. You can save huge amounts of time and water rinsing your gravel: Go down to Lowe's or a garden shop and buy a Water-Lily basket. they are about 12 x 12 x 8" deep and have a fine mesh. Fill it half way with gravel, set in on something open like a plastic milk crate and you can take a hose under full pressure and force all the dust and sand through leaving the gravel. I did a 50 pound bag in 15 minutes and used a lot less water then the old "overflowing bucket" method. The gravel was added to the tank to about 1.5 inches deep. There were hardly any suspended particles in the water, this method is very through at removing them.
Next I went to a tank whose outside filter had not been cleaned in a while and took the sponge out and wrung it out in a bucket of RO water it was black and nasty, but perfect! The entire bucket was dumped into the tank. Several gold Guppies were added from another tank, but cycling at this point is not all that necessary since a huge bacteria load was added and picked up by the two in-tank sponge filters. After checking several times over the course of several hours, the Guppies are fine, the tank is almost clear and there is a fine layer of silt on the bottom. This should kick-start the bacteria bed in the gravel as well as in the filters.
The few plants (several small red tiger lotus and some Amazon Swords) that I kept from the tank were sterilized with 1 part bleach to 20 parts water, then rinsed and soaked in R.O. water with chlorine remover. I don't want any chance of the algae returning. In fact the plants may go in quarantine, just in case.
Don't be afraid to use bleach in cleaning aquaria, I have done it several times without problem. However DO remember to rinse all parts of the tank completely several times THEN be sure to add lots of chlorine neutralizer and test your water by using some cheap Guppies or feeder fish, just in case.
Hopefully that's the last I'll see of the dreaded algae.
