Furry black algae plague

[jlam86]

Hi everyone,

A few months ago, I switched over from regular gravel to Eco complete substrate. After doing that, I had a huge black algae explosion within hours. I gather that is due to the sudden burst of nutrients. Anyhow, it is all over my driftwood, plants, and heater. Should I just move all the livestock out and clean the tank of all the black algae and start all over again?

I don't mind doing this, but would I like to know how i can prevent them from coming back again.

Also, should I throw all my plants out?

Thanks!

[neven]

the public enemy thread gives a variety of things you can try.

I would remove the heater and dunk it in a bleach solution, any hard decor (rock) without plants, i would recommend the bleach aswell. Driftwood without plants you can remove and spray with pure metricide, let it sit for 10 minutes then rinse it in a bucket of water. anything with plants on it, you'll need to follow metricide spot treatment process and trim away as many leaves as possible without jeopardizing plant health. Also getting siamese algae eaters may help you out.

Finally, get some more co2 in the tank or raise your lights a bit and see if growth of the algae stops