# Bleaching aquasoil



## dr.tran (Oct 8, 2007)

Im thinking of bleaching one of my tanks because the spirogyra is too strong for me. I've been trying to fight it for almost a year and Im just about to give up. 

Im just gonna pour bleach right into it but how about the aquasoil? Do you think the bleach is going to affect the aquasoil chemically? Like for the nutrients and the long lasting effects. 

Has anyone bleached their aquasoil before?


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## dr.tran (Oct 8, 2007)

Anyone?


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

No. Don't use much. Search the forum for dosing. Then do major water changes with 3x Prime dosing to remove chlorine.


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## Marc (Oct 13, 2004)

3X dose of excel! no need to bleach.


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## dr.tran (Oct 8, 2007)

Marc said:


> 3X dose of excel! no need to bleach.


For spirogyra I'm done fighting it so its gonna be total nuke time. 

As long as it doesn't change the nutrients in aquasoil, then I will bleach everything.


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## Minsc (Jul 9, 2006)

Total lack of light for a number of days killed the stuff for me. Killed most of the plants also, but now I'm free of it in my main tank

I've always heard not to use bleach on wood, as it will absorb and leach, and I'm imagining the same to be true of aquasoil as well. May or may not be true, but something to think about.


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## dr.tran (Oct 8, 2007)

Minsc said:


> Total lack of light for a number of days killed the stuff for me. Killed most of the plants also, but now I'm free of it in my main tank
> 
> I've always heard not to use bleach on wood, as it will absorb and leach, and I'm imagining the same to be true of aquasoil as well. May or may not be true, but something to think about.



Hey Minsc! Haven't seen you for a very long time. Believe it or not, but I tried a black out for about 2 weeks and used a UV. I thought it was gone but then about 3 weeks after I turned on the lights, it was back again. Its seriously becoming a full blown nightmare.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

maybe the real problem is you have too much light.

I would think bleach would alter the nutrients in the soil since bleach is a powerful oxidizer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleach


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## Minsc (Jul 9, 2006)

Yeah, I'm still around a little bit
Spiro really stinks, no doubt about it. Tom Barr had some mention of it doing poorly in lower light levels, maybe something to try. I hope you can beat it, it really is nasty stuff!


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

mistergreen said:


> maybe the real problem is you have too much light.
> 
> I would think bleach would alter the nutrients in the soil since bleach is a powerful oxidizer.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleach


On second thought, Bleach COULD cause problems with the Aquasoil, condisering its CEC. I am not sure with will do much to the nutrients, but I am not sure how hard it will be to get the bleach out of the soil.


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## boink (Nov 27, 2006)

Give hydrogen peroxide a go first?


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

mistergreen said:


> maybe the real problem is you have too much light.
> 
> I would think bleach would alter the nutrients in the soil since bleach is a powerful oxidizer.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleach


+1, find the root, not the algae killer approach

This tank was covered.
Not no more.....












Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## dr.tran (Oct 8, 2007)

In the past I tried to dose H2O2 to kill it, but many times it grows back while the other plants die.

At the moment its a 65 watt over a 29 gal tank for 7 and a half hours. Co2, and standard EI dosing. I just can't seem to get rid of it.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

65Watts of t5ho?
that's pretty powerful stuff.


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## dr.tran (Oct 8, 2007)

mistergreen said:


> 65Watts of t5ho?
> that's pretty powerful stuff.


Just checked and its a 55 wat power compact GE bulb. 

So thats a 1.89 watts per gallon. On the low end if you consider the height.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

wpg rule does not apply to anything smaller than t-8 bulbs.


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## dr.tran (Oct 8, 2007)

As that may be true, I still believe it has merit as it gives a fair idea. A 55 watt on a 29 gal tank is fair. Not a sun but not too dim either. At the photoperiod and wattage I have, I don't think I should have as much spirogyra. 

Believe me I tried everything. H202 and blackouts. It just seems to come back after a little while. Im just gonna try to get some clean plants in another tank by h2o2 and picking out the smallest cleanest bits. Then when I can have a Noah's ark of that thank, I'll just dry everything out since we don't know for sure if bleach can effect the nutrient levels of aquasoil. 

I guess I have to take plan B


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## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

I have higher light in the same size tank and didn't have any major problems for a long time. I had different issues where my plants would melt at the root base so I was pretty sure it was the substrate. I was ready to redo so I didn't care if it wasn't the cause.

I rinsed my Flourite really, really, really, well. I let it dry out as well when I was done. It had so much crap in it, I was very suprised. Anyway, my tank had none of the issues it had before. I would recommend that, no bleach, just rinse a bunch. 

I have recently found flow to really help with stubburn algae problems as well. You may want to try that too. I went totally overkill and added 2 HOB filters to my existing Ehiem 2215 and in 4 days, most everything except on the substrate is gone. I was gone for 3 days of that so it may have been more quickly. I accidently reintroduced it to this tank a few weeks ago so it wasn't that bad, but had issues for awhile.


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## dr.tran (Oct 8, 2007)

Thanks talont.

I do have great flow and I used powerheads to make sure there are no dead spots. But what happens is that the spirogrya gets sucked in and spreads it all over the tank. There was a time when I had so much that it actually stopped the powerhead.

I finally got it beat so far. 2 weeks of 2ml per gal of h2o2 non stop. Turned off the lights and filters for 20 minutes. And used a UV sterilizer. 

So far its gone but I am going to step it up to 3ml per gal to make sure. But many my plants are paying the price.

As to the original cause, I still am not sure. I think this particular strain is very plant like and the only way to prevent it is to not have it in the first place. This one just refuses to die. Full EI dosing, lots of co2 via misting and my drop checker is yellow, and its low light. 55 wats of pc over a 29 gal should not cause any algae blooms. 

Man all I can say is that finally the nightmare is coming to an end.


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## ldk59 (Jan 30, 2009)

I would not attempt to bleach Aquasoil, even with a diluted mixture...

If you are serious about nuking the tank, just replace the the old soil with new AS.

Better to spend a couple extra bucks and be sure of the end result...

JMHO....

Larry


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