okay now what?

fishhunter8 · #1 01-05-2010, 06:42 PM

Bare with me here,
Newbie...
I have about 60lbs of live rock in a temporary 90g tank. All the chemical levels appear to be good, got some nice zoos and mushrooms growing on it as well as a coral I have yet to identify. Because this is just a temporary tank until the new one is set up with a sump and what not I do not want to put a bunch of fish in this one only to have to move them. For lack of a better word the "curing tank" is hooked up with skimmer, heater, pumps/powerheads, and a filter. There are also lights on it.
My problem is there is a slight outbreak of hair algae just starting. My question is, what can I put in the tank that is not truly expensive to help the system along an hopefully help the hair algae? Inverts? Fish?
I don't know what to do now and don't want to put something in the tank only to have it die

Any ideas on this matter?
Thanks

Reefer Rob · #2 01-05-2010, 06:54 PM

How nice are the corals on the rock? Nice enough to put up with hair algae in your tank... likely for ever?

This is a great opportunity to "cook" your rock in the dark for a couple of months, and say goodbye to the hair algae for good.

Dealing with hair algae in an established tank is not fun, and not everyone is successful. Especially with new rock.

fishhunter8 · #3 01-05-2010, 06:58 PM

Dumb question alert!
If it is in the dark for that long won't it kill everything...? I will no longer have live rock but more like just rock?

Reefer Rob · #4 01-05-2010, 07:05 PM

Google "cooking live rock"

Bottom line for me is: I wouldn't put a rock with hair algae on it in my tank. Battling hair algae is likely the #1 reason people quite this hobby in the first year!

Griffin · #5 01-05-2010, 07:22 PM

Get a Seahare - i had a tank outbreak once in a 110g - bought this little guy from a fellow reefer who named him Dozer and man he went to town on this stuff - cleaned it up for good and it never came back. Keep in mind though once the food is gone you will have to find another home for him

ScubaSteve · #6 01-05-2010, 08:06 PM

If you don't have anything too important in there right now, pull the rocks out and scrub the **** out of them, rinse them well and put them back. Worked for me. DO NOT SCRUB IN THE TANK!!!

eternitybc · #7 01-05-2010, 08:06 PM

We added some red reef hermits to our tank when hair algae broke out, they were really good at keeping in check (and fun to watch too!). We paid about 3.50 each for them?

Our tank is 55 gallon, not sure how many you'd need depending on size ... hopefully you'll keep them in your new tank, too, when you switch over

Also, check your phosphate levels - phosphate and too much light both contribute to algae issues.

#8 01-05-2010, 08:12 PM

I'll tell you what you can do get some hermit crabs, urchin and snails. You can also shorten the light cycle, you can even turn the lights off for 2-3 days and black out the glass for that matter the coral will be ok for a short duration black out. They should be good for more than 1 week. If the hair algae is just starting you should be able to nip it in the bit now.
So after 2-3 days lights out you need to pluck off any algae you can see or you can use boiling water and a turkey baster pull out the rock with HA and do spot hot watering it will kill the algae and anything the hot water touches so where the corals are don't do this method. But any where else is ok as you will keep the rock alive and get rid of the HA. When basting the rock tilt it so the water runs off in the most direct way this is to keep as much of the rock alive as possible and do it over a container or some thing not the tank, it works and you will get rid of the HA.
I did this to the rocks in my kids tank to get ride of a different type of algae and it worked really good I was able to save all the feather dusters even the hard tub ones. also when you do start turning on the lights again have some cheato in the tank as it will eat up the phosphates quicker than hair algae.
Once you start turning the lights back on keep it on a shorten light cycle for quite awhile it will help let the urchin and crabs and snails do there job. The urchin does the best job only eats algae and it picks it off so it is down to the bare rock they may eat some of the coralline algae but that will grow back.
One thing once the algae is gone move the urchin to a different tank or give him away or he will keep eating the coralline algae and he will eat it faster than it will grow.
You can keep all animals above as permanent residents in your tank if you like they are all good cleanup crew.

Bill

Ron99 · #9 01-05-2010, 10:56 PM

If it is only a bit of hair algae you may still be having some nitrates etc. leaching out of the rocks. I had the same problem when I started my 75. Got some scarlet reef hermits and an emerald crab and between those and picking off some myself the problem went away in a week or two.