Hello,
This is an extremely poor assumption. All the algecides that are currently on the shelves of pond shops and LFS also damage plants. It's simply that the plants are have a bit more sophisticated physiology as well as larger food reserves, so it means that they are damaged and not killed outright, however these products incur the same type of damage to plants. After you stop using the products the algae simply returns if the root cause of algae has not been resolved. If the root cause has not been addressed and if the plants are damaged by the toxin, then the algae, who are much quicker to recuperate, attack the weakend plant causing more problems that there was before. This opera is played out all the time because people believe what these companies say. Unfortunately, this is all about marketing and not about truth. For example:
Phosphorus is the limiting nutrient in algae blooms
This is so untrue that it is absurd. Phosphorous happens to be the limiting nutrient for plants, not for algae. Algae do not care about the PO4 levels in your tank, and in fact, when PO4 is limiting, one of the most popular algal species immediately attack, GSA.
One cannot limit or starve algae out of existence without first anihilating the plants. The situation is completely the opposite of what is stated in the quote. If it were true, then adding unlimiting quantities of PO4 should cause algal blooms, right? Well here is a tank which is maintained with
Unlimited levels of PO4. Yet algae is zero in this tank. Therefore the statement cannot possibly be true. If you then continue to follow the path of nutrient limitation (which has proven to be a false assumption in the planted tank) and if you continually invoke a policy of toxicity, you are doomed to failure.
Cheers,