Review on Ultralife Blue Green Slime Stain Eliminator by Kristen Jeanguenat

I use this thing a lot. I've bought these three packs multiple times and each time they've worked for about a week or so and then the BGA came back. I blamed many things: lighting, water levels, CO2, etc. But it wasn't until I tested everything that I realized what was going on. Adding a small amount of this substance to the water you use for water changes will cause your GH (water hardness) to rise to a SKY ROCKET! If you add a small scoop (provided) to a glass of reverse osmosis water (ideally 0ppm GH) I have seen the GH rise from 50ppm to over 5000ppm. This is no joke. Without exaggeration. After testing, many of my readings were over 5000 PPM. It looks like this thing is mostly made up of concentrated calcium and magnesium salts! This thing kills cyanobacteria due to water hardness by shocking the bacteria hoping it doesn't infect your fish/plant/crustaceans etc. Thats how it works. Most cyanobacteria solutions work with antibacterial agents to kill them, but this material electrocutes the bacteria. Now you have to ask yourself whether it is better to kill the BGAs (Cyanobacteria) with antibacterial drugs or shock them to death. ? I agree, shock him to death. By using antibacterial drugs you kill off the weaker strains of BGA and only allow the strongest strands to survive and eventually build a BGA superculture in your aquarium. However, neither of these options is ideal. Both antibacterial agents and growth hormone inducing agents are ultimately harmful to your aquarium. Most tropical fish and plants do not appreciate high GH levels and/or cannot thrive in a high GH environment. Some will even die if GH levels are too high. Therefore, like most algaecides, this material is intended for limited use. Not even a week. More than once a month. Maybe once a year depending on your conditions? If you use this stuff once a week or once a month, you really need to solve the BASIC PROBLEM. In my experience, the main problem was extremely low nitrate levels, caused by cleaning my canister filters too often (about once a month) instead of the more typical rate of about every three months. I've tried too hard to keep my aquarium pristine and obviously too much effort is bad for aquariums too. Dosing potassium nitrate in the right amounts can help correct this. So let's go. Like most things in aquariums. It's fine in small amounts, but don't rely on it as it will ultimately harm your fish and plants. The goal is to achieve a balance in your aquarium: planting/density, fish/fertilizer load, light intensity and CO2 levels. These four things must be in balance to create the mythological "algae-free aquarium". This product will not help you with that, but it can help you in case of sudden BGA bloom.