Algae'd and confused

[spaceweazal]

Hi everyone,

I've been out of the hobby for a few years now and am starting back up. Apparently the patch doesn't work for Reef addiction.

Anyway, long story short. When I got out of the hobby I gave all my LR and corals to my brother who had just started a tank. Well it didn't go very well for him and the hair algae and purple shrooms took over his tank killing off some corals I gave him. I believe the only one remaining is the old leather coral. Well he's gotten totally fed up and is giving me his 70 G tank with sump and skimmer. I just purchased a Tek 8-54W bulb hood for over it.

Now I've had a 60 G set up here with just water cycling for now. He's sending a bunch of my LR back to me tomorrow. Now what do you think is the best way to get rid of this algae covering this rock. I've been given different methods to use and am confused. One says put the LR in a dark, well circulated, oxygenated tupperware bin for a few weeks then take the rock out and brush it off, then put back in for a couple more weeks. No light. Of course water changes along the way.

The other way thats been told to me is to put the LR in the tank with the lights on, of course with good circ, and water changes.

Now I won't be able to get to the coast to pick up the tank and sump for at least a couple of weeks unless maybe I can squeeze it in next weekend.

So with all that what do you think? The light way or the dark way?

Thanks in advance

[MikeInToronto]

Which ever way you choose, you want to limit the nutrient level in the tank. This will mean constantly cleaning the rock and removing as much algae and organic material as possible.

If it were me, I'd go dark. I'd put the rock in a bin, keep the lights off, and change the water regularly. I'd scrub the rock and repeat. I may even do this for a couple of months depending on how bad it is. A little hair algae is no big deal; I have a 1 cm square sitting in my tank that doesn't grow (but my tank is also very nutrient-poor).

[cuz]

+1 for blacking it out!!
if your in no rush at all why cheat on the first step!!

[bvlester]

Hay anyone around this area have a sea hare he can use for a week or two. lights out with sea hare would be the best way, I did this only because of a faulty power timer that was wired backward on the inside so on was off and off was on. They just put the wire on the wrong output connection a bit of solder and it was fixed. Thats me two cents and a plea for help with your problem. A sea hare get right down to the root of the problem. Put rock in the tank you have cycling and just leave the light off. ambient light is ok just not direct light.

Bill

[spaceweazal]

Ok, just got off the phone with my bro. The algae is bad but not as bad as I thought. Apparently the shrooms are worse, they're so bad that they're growing on the stem of the leather coral. Poor old fella, he's had a tough enough life without having to battle the invasion of the purple shrooms. Guess I'll see how bad things are when the rock gets here.

It was funny he said he was cleaning the tank a while back and his little clown actually bit him hard enough to make him bleed. Wish I could have seen that one.

[no_bs]

I'd just get a sea hare. He'll have it cleaned up in no time.