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I have a pot on the stove, and two trays in the oven, and they all stink.

I am trying to kill black algae spores and anything else that happens to be lurking in there, including a bunch of burrowing snails which shouldn't still be there, but you never know with them things


So which method do you think would be most effective?

At the moment, practically anyway, I'm leaning towards hboiling, because I can get a lot done at once and move it around. The baking should be better if it was a dry heat, but the sand is still quite wet and it seems to be making little difference and everything is lumped up together.

Does anyone know the maximum temperature tolerance for black algae?

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

I would go down to the local Op shop and buy an old large saucepan and boil it on a BBQ outdoors and keep stiring all the time for at least 10-15 minutes.

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The bad news is some of this group survive temperatures up to 64c! Thats as in actually live and reproduce in that temperature, so presumably you have to at least double it to kill them from a short heat exposure.

Chlorine is supposed to kill them better than just about anything else. Having said that, boiling water does the trick for me. You know youve killed it when it turns red and a bit transparent to white at the tips of the fluff. Usually takes a couple of hours.

1 hour and still going. On the double burner on the stove, so it is probably veeeery hot. I have nothing to measure it with though.

I spotted a bit of green fluff, so we are still boiling away

There are two trays in the oven at 200*C, might boil them afterwards too.



For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

What unit to determine heat are we using here?

64 C is far from hot as it corresponds to 147 fahrenheit! Boiling coresponds to 212 fahrenheit. In general, 'wet' heat is always better to sterilize meaning boiling in water. Scientific sterilization and eradication of organisms is achieved by a process called "autoclaving' which uses vacuum and steam at a temperature of 121 C, fifteen minutes under such conditions are enough to kill almost everything. Water in an open pot can not reach such a high temperature, if you have a 'pressure cooker' use this one. However, you should be fine by boiling for 30 minutes.

Hope this helps

Unfortunately we arent sterilising surgical steel here, were sterilising wood, a porous surface, full of cracks and fissures, that has a fibrous structure and its own thermodynamic, in places it will probably be several inches thick and very dense, it may also have different structural layers, so it might take longer than 15 minutes.

Water will provide access to 'fissures'.... and wood was not even mentioned in the original post

eek ! youre so right, it was sand, my bad, apologies. Callas usually going on about her wood

While on this topic, What about wood? I have a large peice of DW to large to boil. What Temp and how long to bake it? It was previously used in a reptile cage.

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Hey Jim, yeah...I was going to ask the same question about the river rocks I collected while hiking the New River in West Virginia yesterday...

I ought to boil those eh?

After 4 hours of rapid boiling with the lid on (just a large boiler, no pressure cooker unfortunately), the algae was still green. Not green like overcooked beans green, but the bright green "I'm still kickin" green. I guess I shouldn't be stunned considering its resistance to bleach. White should mean dead dammit!

So I'm opting for 5 hours at 200*C in the oven, in the hopes that if the heat doesn't kill it, the drying process will. If it lives after this, I guess it deserves to survive


For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

What about nuking it with salinity? I figure you mix up a brine solution, that should dessicate most, if not all, of the algae.

That being said, I don't know if black algae can form cysts or not that might protect them from environmental harshness. Someone more knowledgeable than I needs to comment on that fact.

Joe Potato


Edit: Barring that, go get yourself some pool chlorine -- usually calcium hypochlorite. In the states we get it up to around 68% cal hypo, which is considerably (to put it lightly) stronger than the 4ish % sodium hypo in bleach. Mix about a tablespoon or two of that stuff in two gallons of water and the chlorine in that bucket would be through the roof -- more than enough to kill anything. For algae control in pools over here, I tell people 1 oz for every thousand gallons of water; I don't think you'd have a problem killing it. Just be sure to rinse it for a long, long, long time.

If this fails, I think I might try that CO2 thing and just try to suffocate it. I've already dumped two trayfuls back into the tank, and if it is there it should spring up within 2 weeks, judging by past behaviour.

So far it has been bleached, and now baked, and then put into icy water while roasting hot. Seriously, if Its not dead we may have found the thing that survives right along with the cockroaches!

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Callatya:

I am a bit confused, maybe I missed something but why do you think that algae killed by heating should turn white?

catdancer, I have to imagine that if the algae is dead from the heat, the heat would break down all the pigments inside the algal cell as well. As far as I know, photosynthetic pigments are not all that heat-tolerant.

Joe Potato

not correct,

just think about your traditional pea soup for a layman comparison: you can boil them for a very very long time and the color is what?

Very true. I stand corrected.

Joe Potato

nonono, sorry. I do believe that after 4 hours boiling that noting should still be that vibrant a green, but I was expecting it just to dull, not to bleach out. I would have even settled for some loss of integrity, but it was still quite neat and tidy. It still *looked* alive, and with the trouble I've gone to this time, I can't risk it.

Its tricked me once, so I really don't trust it.

The comment on white was from the bleaching. The first time I tried this (stupidly thinking that thinning it and changing the conditions would be enough to eradicate it, so I only did the visible stuff) the nasty stuff turned white, and I honestly thought that it was dead. Alas, not so. 2 weeks later and it had revived itself and was back to being bushy and black.

This time I have blitzed everything. I soaked all the doodads in bleach until it was white, then clear, then fell off (a lot of bleach over about 2 weeks, it is incredible how determined this stuff is). Then I dried it. Then I bleached it, and now it is dried and waiting in a bag in the garage. I think it is dead, but I'm still not convinced.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Wood you buy from a store specifically for fish rarely has to be sterilized. The only reasons for boiling and soaking is to make it sink faster and release tannins before putting it in so the tank doesn't turn dark. Technically you can just throw the stuff in. Which is actually what I usually do since I don't care about tannins or watching the stuff float around for awhile.

Now if your getting wood from the outdoors it may not ever be 100% sterile. Boiling gets rid of most stuff but there are still a few algaes, this thread is an example, that will occasionally survive and every now and then you even get a pest or 2 that survives and multiples in your tank. Along with the fact wood from outside can carry pollutants I don't really suggest it for most circumstances.

I might also mention that those burrowing snails have also survived my numerous and prolonged chemical attacks. There are still a few scooting around in the bottom of a bucket, and that has had oodles of bleach in it.

So, end of the earth, it'll be the cockroaches, the algae, and burrowing snails.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett