Rico wrote:
I need to eliminate the algae in my tank. I have been able to cut back
the lighting and to control the stuff on the glass. However, black
beard algae is growing on my gravel. I tried removing the affected
pieces but it comes back. BTW, I have a UV sterilizer. Can I remove
all the plants (if they died its ok) and treat the tank with an
algaecide? Then after everything dies, I could run my diatom filter
with charcoal to remove the algaecide residual. Then re-plant.

If you have a lot of plants, restore your lighting, fertilize well, and
start using CO2 or Flourish Excel. The plants should outgrow it. As
"feral boy" (???) said, siamese algae eaters will keep it under control.
http://www.aquatic-gardeners.org/cyprinid.html

Copper is the treatment of last resort for brush algae, and 5% bleach
and scrubbing will remove it from equipment. Normal algaecides don't do
a thing since it's a red alga.

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