Well that Chinese product I mentioned in the post is supposedly "natural" if you read the back label. Might be worth digging for the biologists and chemists out there.
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Algaecides (not Glutaraldehyde)
- Thread starter Simon Cole
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Simon Cole
Member
That's cool. I've just go no idea what is in it. It is even more funny where in mentions "unique genetic engineering technology". Please could you ask them whether they bought back something from the past, like in Jurassic Park, or was it more hybridised like in the movie Splice, or perhaps they enhanced a existing living organism like in the film Alien Covenant. But I am guessing that they simply bioengineered existing plant-life, so a bit more like The Day of the Triffids. Just so long as a load of people in white biohazard suits don't turn up on my lawn with placards spray-painting biohazard symbols on my front door. I think the safest thing to do if we don't know would be to blast it into space like in the movie "Life" (does it translate as Calvin?).
Yes, pretty fuming explanation that label I must admit. What I gathered from the retailer, since the manufacturer is some obscur entity, is that the product is basically bacteria. Which one, no idea. I could go digging some more see what I get as an answer but I'm confident I'll either get nothing or some further fuming explanations. All I know is that it killed quite a few of my otocinclus although I did under-dose. Hang tight, I will ask them just for the fun.
Simon Cole
Member
alnitak
Member
Garuf
Member
I was about to comment h2o2 isn’t safe, exactly… I nuked a shrimp tank once many moons back before I knew better and lost the best part of 100 of the idiot things who swam right into the area being spot dosed and then kicked it.
Simon Cole
Member
Garuf
Member
This is firing something in the back of my head that there were some papers calling allelopthy in aquariums bunk? I thought it was a barr report but Google says no.
Simon Cole
Member
Have a look at this thread linked in the first post and scroll up. There was substantial evidence cited.
Garuf
Member
Going back to the dosing of the tank as a whole to kill algae, a local to me swears by making a black water cocktail with oak leaves and fluvin+ From salty shrimp and dosing while the filter is off and allowing to settle before turning it back on to kill soft green algaes. Haven’t tried it myself, smelled like serpent oil.
Also a thought on why leaves don’t have algae, is it perhaps the biofilm that forms is decomposing the surface faster than algae can form?
Also a thought on why leaves don’t have algae, is it perhaps the biofilm that forms is decomposing the surface faster than algae can form?
Andy Pierce
Member
Doesn't count as 'organic' or 'alleopathy' but I'm pretty happy with EI dosing high phosphate: phosphate with EI - higher than 3 ppm?
The most common algaecide in US is API Algaefix, used extensively by pond owners and small number of aquarists to combat algae. Glut is used commercially as a biocide for cooling towers and medical equipment sterilization. Seachem markets Glut as liquid carbon to disguise that it is actually an algaecide. H2O2 is a general antiseptic, and is effective in treating many algae principally by spot treatment.
There is nothing wrong using algaecides for algae control, provided that it is used at the right dosage to prevent collateral damage to plants, fish and invert. Any over dosage of chemicals can be detrimental, so there is no safe chemical, only unsafe dosage. Barr recommends dosing Glut and spot treat with H2O2 routinely in water change. Barr uses Algaefix to combat thread algae (spirogyra and Clado) as neither H2O2 nor Glut is effective. I have used all three chemicals and found that Glut is most effective against BBA but not much else, and Algaefix is effective against thread algae but not BBA, GDA or GSA so the two compliment each other. Alagaefix will kill shrimp, but Glut is perfectly safe for invert even at 2 to 3 times over dosage. I have never used Algexit as it is not sold in US and can't comment on it.
There is nothing wrong using algaecides for algae control, provided that it is used at the right dosage to prevent collateral damage to plants, fish and invert. Any over dosage of chemicals can be detrimental, so there is no safe chemical, only unsafe dosage. Barr recommends dosing Glut and spot treat with H2O2 routinely in water change. Barr uses Algaefix to combat thread algae (spirogyra and Clado) as neither H2O2 nor Glut is effective. I have used all three chemicals and found that Glut is most effective against BBA but not much else, and Algaefix is effective against thread algae but not BBA, GDA or GSA so the two compliment each other. Alagaefix will kill shrimp, but Glut is perfectly safe for invert even at 2 to 3 times over dosage. I have never used Algexit as it is not sold in US and can't comment on it.
mort
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- 15 Nov 2015
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We built a willow bed to filter a koi pond and had the willow so they held their roots in the water column and not into a substrate. The roots were the only part of the willow that didn't have algal growth by the end of the year (they did catch some algae but it wasnt attached).
I didn't push it much longer considering what I was getting as answers.
This is what the ingredients are
I'll leave it to that.
There are claims that Aspirin can improve plant health and growth. Aspirin contains salicylic acid that is derived from willow bark. It has been a common practice to dose Aspirin to cut flowers and house plants . If Aspirin has the same ingredient and effects as Algexit, it would be a lot cheaper to use Aspirin. The question is to figure out the right dosage.
5 Aspirin Uses In the Garden for Most Productive & Healthy Plants
Aspirin tablets can be used for growing healthy and productive plants, and it really WORKS. Here're some of the best ASPIRIN uses in the garden!
balconygardenweb.com
mort
Member
- Joined
- 15 Nov 2015
- Messages
- 2,417
There are claims that Aspirin can improve plant health and growth. Aspirin contains salicylic acid that is derived from willow bark. It has been a common practice to dose Aspirin to cut flowers and house plants . If Aspirin has the same ingredient and effects as Algexit, it would be a lot cheaper to use Aspirin. The question is to figure out the right dosage.
5 Aspirin Uses In the Garden for Most Productive & Healthy Plants
Aspirin tablets can be used for growing healthy and productive plants, and it really WORKS. Here're some of the best ASPIRIN uses in the garden!
We made aspirin from willow in a chemistry experiment and the lab tech took it for his wife who was a florist. I've no idea if it is of any benefit and I've actually heard that willow actually inhibits the growth of other plants before but never looked into it very deeply.
Hi @Simon Cole & Everyone,
Well, I missed my self-inflicted deadline! But, that's because I found so much material to read and absorb. In Ecology of the Planted Aquarium (Third Edition)*, I discovered an allelochemical with the name of Tellimagrandin II, which is to be found in Myriophyllum spicatum (Eurasian Water Milfoil). Diana Walstad dedicates a whole chapter (III) to allelopathy and it makes for very interesting reading. It left me thinking that here was an answer to controlling algae. And, then, I discovered the following article/paper:
It seems that allelopathic compounds are worthy of further investigation. But, I think it's necessary to first focus attention on the root causes of algae in the aquarium ecosystem. And, Number 1 Priority (for me, at least) is minimizing dissolved organic matter (DOM).
* by Diana Walstad
JPC
Simon Cole
Member
@jaypeecee Thank you for looking into this.
Ole Pedersen was making the point that aquarists won't easily achieve natural allelopathy due to the water change regime. But what really gets me is how affordable and simple an algaecide could be. Tellimagrandin II (TGII) is found in cloves. Plant extracts really aren't that difficult to set up on a dosing timer, or they might be able to chuck in a bag of dried plant matter, or add it to the filter, or simply add a few cloves, who knows. It could be a lot easier than fighting algae manually. I'm quite a bit bolstered by a lot of these opportunities. Very grateful you spotted them and posted them.
Ole Pedersen was making the point that aquarists won't easily achieve natural allelopathy due to the water change regime. But what really gets me is how affordable and simple an algaecide could be. Tellimagrandin II (TGII) is found in cloves. Plant extracts really aren't that difficult to set up on a dosing timer, or they might be able to chuck in a bag of dried plant matter, or add it to the filter, or simply add a few cloves, who knows. It could be a lot easier than fighting algae manually. I'm quite a bit bolstered by a lot of these opportunities. Very grateful you spotted them and posted them.
Garuf
Member
I’m thinking out loud here, but would I have two thoughts.
Thought A), running a permanent algaecide seems like a bandage to mask many ills.
Thought 2) would running a permanent algaecide not be detrimental to biofilm formation and a negative for the carbon/sugars/organics cycling and therefor not really very good for overall tank health?
Hi @Simon Cole
One of the benefits of being retired is that I have time to delve into the science behind our hobby. Although my background is in the Physical Sciences, I'm thoroughly enjoying my exploration of the Life Sciences. It's exciting stuff!
JPC