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Cleaning algae off bogwood


paekakboyz

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Hi all,

I've just been rearranging the tank and pulled out two large pieces of bogwood that have some black beard algae on them. At this point I've left them out in the sun to kill it off (hopefully). The pieces are too big to boil but I was thinking of pouring boiling water over them and then giving them a good scrub... what are the chances this will work?

has anyone dealt with a similar situation? I'm about to redo the aquascape and am really keen to knock the BBA on the head!

thanks

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Hi all,

I've just been rearranging the tank and pulled out two large pieces of bogwood that have some black beard algae on them. At this point I've left them out in the sun to kill it off (hopefully). The pieces are too big to boil but I was thinking of pouring boiling water over them and then giving them a good scrub... what are the chances this will work?

has anyone dealt with a similar situation? I'm about to redo the aquascape and am really keen to knock the BBA on the head!

thanks

I had a major BBA outbreak in my tank. When I moved house I took the opportunity to remove all the plants and throw them away, scrub the tank thoroughly, boil the filter media, scrub the filters and run them overnight with hot salt water. I also treated the wood.

Wood treatment: The bits that were small enough, I boiled and microwaved!

The bits that were too big to boil, I put them in the bath and poured boiling water over them. I then added huge amounts of salt and left them soaking in the bath overnight. I also scrubbed the wood with a wire brush to manually remove any algae I could see.

And guess what? ... The algae came back within a month. :cry:

When it returned, I used double-dose Flourish Excel, squirted directly onto the algae. It grew faster than I could treat it.

Eventually I bought three Siamese Algae Eaters (sold at Hollywood Fish Farm as Black line Flying Foxes). The algae is now under control! :hail:

SAEs are now the only method I recommend for control of BBA - because they are the only thing that worked for me in my own personal experience. Your experience may be different, but I know I spent a lot of time and effort on cleaning and scrubbing (then getting new plants, getting filters re-established etc) and eventually the little SAEs saved my bacon. Long may it last! :bounce:

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:o Doh!

Just what I didn't want to hear!! :lol:

The good thing is that the outbreak isn't really bad, up till now I've been able to pluck bits and pieces off - I'll try as many options as I can (sun, scrubbing, boiling water etc) and see what happens. Fingers crossed as I don't really want to add Siamese Algae Eaters to the tank.

Sheesh that is an awful lot of work to wipe out the BBA!! must be one of the toughest algaes to knock off!

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I have heard of people using peroxide or similar on BBA. It can be squirted directly on the algae from a syringe actually IN the tank, but obviously on the wood out of the tank would be less worrying...

DO a google, I know i have seen this, with before and after photos, and it is very effective.

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I have heard of people using peroxide or similar on BBA. It can be squirted directly on the algae from a syringe actually IN the tank, but obviously on the wood out of the tank would be less worrying...

DO a google, I know i have seen this, with before and after photos, and it is very effective.

Speaking of syringes, where can I get them from without looking like a drug addict?

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