Reusing Fluval Stratum For Dry Start

[Ogpulchra]

I'm worried that any bits of plant matter or algae that I can't get out of the substrate will get funky and ruin the process. The hair algae was pretty bad, so there might be a fair bit of it. Is that a valid concern?

[HardeepTheLondoner]

A valid concern? Yes. Treatable? Yes. You could either go the Peroxide route, or chuck some Amano’s in after the dry start, IF you do get hair algae again.

 

I wouldn’t sweat it. Start!

[Ogpulchra]

Thank you for the advice. I'm not too worried about what happens after I flood the tank. I'm more worried about any leftover algae rotting and contaminating the dry start. I wasn't sure if my earlier post made sense. 

[HardeepTheLondoner]

Mold would be a bigger issue than algae, but I don’t think you’d be attempting this unless you knew what you were doing. You’ve got the go-ahead from me!

[Ogpulchra]

Sorry, I tend to write things in a really confusing way. Haha I meant that I'm worried that if I'm not able to get all of the hair algae out of the substrate that it will mold and/or grow harmful bacteria once it is in the dry start environment. I gave up on a tank that I made a bunch of mistakes with. It grew hair algae like crazy and the stuff is really hard to get off of the stratum. Sorry, I can't use my words today. I guess I'll just try it since any problems should show up pretty quickly. Thank you again!