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Regrowth of algae after drying out

Cor

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3 Nov 2015
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The Netherlands
for example: if you have algae overgrown piece of driftwood, and you let dry it out outside the tank, is it possible that algae be reactivated when placed back in the water?
(thinking of cryptobiosis)

TIA, Cor
 
I've had this with hair algae on driftwood, goes all crispy and almost grey, scraped most of it off,. Any small bits I left did seem to come back to life, when back in the tank. But, I dont think I left it to dry out enough, was only a couple of days.
 
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I have the same experience. Bought some old pieces of used wood. Full of algae. So I cleaned it and let it unused for nearly a month. Also kept it in a cool and dry environment.
When used it in een new set-up the algae popped-up very fast on the wood. Not anywhere in the tank itself, only on the pieces of used wood.o_O
So looking for some scientific explanation for this.
 
Sounds like it wasnt just me, being impatient! One thing I meant to try was putting in the freezer. Maybe the algae is like roaches though, could survive a nuclear blast!
 
The spores may not necessarily originated from the drift wood. They may already be present in your tank water waiting for the right surface, the drift wood, to sprout and grow on as the wood may still be leaking organics.
 
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