killing algae on live rock

[paul692]

can you put a piece of live rock in a bucket and cover it with a lid in some saltwater. how long would it take to kill the algae, mostly hair algae. i have a nutrient problem that i am in the process of controlling. not worried about losing bacteria , i have live sand and plenty of live rock.i can't clean this off the rock it is to thick and dense. any body ever try this? thanks

 

[burdundi]

Paul,

It is a process called "cooking rock." It takes about 6-8 weeks. You need to put the rock in a container with a lid and maybe a heater. Do a 100% water change once a week.

Here is a thread on RC with more info.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1095826&highlight=cooking+rock">http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1095826&highlight=cooking+rock</a>

Hope that helps,

-Andy

 

[vettesarebest]

Might want to put a power head in there as well.

 

[jessezm]

Or you could put it in a buddy's tank who has tangs and angels and rabbitfish and watch it dissappear overnight... That algae would not last two hours in a few tanks I've seen...

 

[xyzpdq0121]

Ya cooking takes a few weeks and might or might now work. to let you know how hard this stuff is to kill, I had about 50 lbs of LR that sat out dry after being scrubed... It sat dry for 6 years. When I put it back in saltwater, Poof Bryposia (hair Algae) was back... Get your chemestry in line and maybe a sally lightfoot crab or a few emerald crabs in there to munch it down!

 

[jaandgc]

If all else fells, you could always bleach the rock then let it sit in a bucket of f/w for a week or so. Of coarse it would not be live rock anymore, but it would reseed and become live again in short order after being placed back in the main tank.

 

[budsreef]

As a new guy, one of the several problems I am battling in my 24G AP is hair algae. I have a couple of rocks that its a real problem on and unfortunately I have my zenias on the same rocks so doing drastic things to them aren't an option. I have to pluck it out about every other day. I put in two emerald crabs and I have yet to see them eat the hair algae, they just keep going over the bare rocks picking off things too small for me to see and they keep throwing my mshroom frag around the tank even after I super-glued it down.

Of course now that my tank is empty letting the new silicone cure I long for the days of having to battle hair algae. Hmmm..... while I'm waiting this might be a good time to send a thank you note to the guy that got me into this!

 

[paul692]

thanks for all the info i have a sea hare it can't eat all i have.i like the idea of a hand torch being a former plumber i never thougt of that. great idea i will get my nutrient problem solved then i'll try that.

 

[jefft]

Get some large Mexican Turbo Snails. I had hair algae everywhere a few weeks ago. Now I'm trading off a couple of them and thinking about putting a few algae sheets in the tank so the other ones won' starve.

 

[paul692]

i had 2 emerald crabs and some mexican turbo snails they couldn't eat it fast enough.somebody told me to get a sea hare and it would be like a vacumn cleaner on the rocks ,had him 4 months now he didn't do it either.he is big fat ,ugly and i rarely seem him at day hours. when the lights go out i will see him climbing on the rocks.doesn't seem to be eating a whole lot but he moves all over the place at night.during the day he buries in the sand.i have a tunze 6060 blowing directly on the rock still get algae. i like the torch idea. i going to up my ph slowly to about 8.8 with more kalk and increase my salinity to about25. i'm going to clean 1 piece then put it back in the tank and see if i can get corraline algae to grow on it faster than the algae can and yes my dkh is 10 ca is 420 holds good at these numbers but i get fluctuations in my ph all the time because i forget to fill up my kent aquadoser jug 2.5 gal.

 

[rgzfly]

Try chem-marin's stop hair algae. I've tried some of their products and they worked great. Haven't had to deal with hair algae though. What little I had I pulled out and its gone.
Richard