Look what I did to my poor tank... LOL!

[Myka]

So...some of you may have noticed that I've been a little bit *ahem* annoyed with some algae growth in my little reef. I have Dictyota, Padina, Sargassum, three types of Valonia (bubble), Lobophora, Halimenia, and Caulacanthus ustulatus.

Here's some algae pics...

Lobophora:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k43/Myka82/Aquariums/IMG_0008.jpg

2 types of Valonia:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k43/Myka82/Aquariums/IMG_0009.jpg

Caulacanthus ustulatus:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k43/Myka82/Aquariums/IMG_0013.jpg

So I pulled all my live rocks just leaving the Caribsea Reef Rock (crap) in there to prop my corals up on, and put all the live rocks into a Rubbermaid tub in the dark with a powerhead and heater in hopes that the algaes will all die in the next 3-6 weeks. :D

This is what I pulled off all the rocks before putting them in the "cook" tub:
Algae salad anyone?
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k43/Myka82/Aquariums/IMG_0039.jpg

And here's a FTS before:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k43/Myka82/Aquariums/Dec072-1.jpg

FTS after (lol):
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k43/Myka82/Aquariums/IMG_0042.jpg

Aw...poor corals. Not all of them are "out". Some are still pretty ****ed at me. Haha! they'll get over it. I created that mound on the left to put my Monti's close to the lights.

[fkshiu]

Remember if you are truly going to "cook" your rocks you have to give them a good swish/blast every so often and change all of the water - the more you do this the better. Have patience, it may well take more than 6 weeks!

[Skimmerking]

i have some of the first one in some of my rocks

[Myka]

Remember if you are truly going to "cook" your rocks you have to give them a good swish/blast every so often and change all of the water - the more you do this the better. Have patience, it may well take more than 6 weeks!

Yes, I do plan on this. I have about 8 or so gallons covering the rocks with an MJ1200 blasting them with some good circulation. I'll do weekly 100% waterchanges. I'm hoping it won't take more than 3 weeks, but I'm prepared to go longer...ANYTHING to get rid of this crap!

I heard that cranking the heater up as high as it will go will help the "cooking" process, but I'm too scared to do it. LOL.

i have some of the first one in some of my rocks

That is Lobophora, and it is a pain in the @$$. It's hard to get off the rocks. I used to think it was kinda cool. HAHAHAHAHAHA! Not anymore...die stupid Lobophora die!

[Myka]

Grrr...now I need to screw around with my flow again!! lol

[Myka]

Today marks 8 weeks the rocks have been cooking. I haven't been doing as many waterchanges as I wanted to do or planned to do! I've only changed it three times. I'm going to take a look and possibly put them back in today...

[Skimmerking]

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k43/Myka82/Aquariums/IMG_0008.jpg

so what gets rid of this stuff I have some on my rocks

[Myka]

so what gets rid of this stuff I have some on my rocks

I'm hoping this cooking thing will do the trick...I didn't find that anything got rid of the stuff. The Lobophora seemed to be the biggest pain in the butt for me.

[Myka]

So this is two days ago:

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k43/Myka82/SWTankFeb2420082.jpg

I removed ALL the rock in this photo. It's all Caribsea Reef Rock...crap, if you ask me. I transfered all the "real" live rock that has been cooking for 7 weeks to the tank. I also plainted the back black, but it still needs another coat. My GSP is still mad (it takes a few days for this coral to come out when I pee him off real good lol). I think I may need to move my Lobo and my Duncan around to better places. I also still have to put powerheads back in, as there are none in there right now, so UBER polyp extension on the LPS! HAHA! This is how it looks about 5 minutes ago:

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k43/Myka82/SWTankFeb252008.jpg

[DanG]

Out of curiosity, why the dislike for the caribsea reef rock?

[Myka]

Out of curiosity, why the dislike for the caribsea reef rock?

It's heavy, not very porous, and ugly shapes. It is actually fossilized coral, not actual dead coral (like "real" live rock) if I remember correctly, so it is more like quarry rock than live rock.

[sharuq1]

Loving the archway in the aquascape :)

[Myka]

Loving the archway in the aquascape :)

Thanks! I was trying to have as few rocks touching the sand as possible. I got away with only 4 rocks in the sand! :D