[reeferaddict]

Before I amalgamated my livestock between my 2 tanks my 72g had hair algae to beat the band... and I mean it was getting to be a green forest! I removed the rock from my 72 and used a rubbermaid as a scrubbing container. I scrubbed all the algae off with a toothbrush and shook the rock around suspended in water. The detritus that got knocked out was unreal! I also used a powerhead to blow all the detritus out of the deep holes. I did this until I could get no more out of each rock - this can take some doing. It was amazing how PURPLE the rock underneath was... anyways, when I was finished, I let the rock sit in a rubbermaid with clean circulating water for a week and gave a final rinse, (virtually nothing came off), and plunked it in my 135. So far I have had no more hair algae, (now that nitrates are under control), and all the coralline algae survived. Keep in mind that my 72 had about 80 lbs of rock that I added to about 150 that I had in my 135 and the two systems shared a common sump. If you are cycling from new I see no reason that this method wouldn't work...