Can cleanup crew deal with this?

[sentinel]

Waiting for a cleanup crew to arrive from the states I have this situation to deal with. Can the cleanup crew handle this or should I tear up the LR and scrape the hairy algae with a metal brush before introducing snails and crabs?This has grown from a shade of green to this in 3 weeks.It is overcoming the corals.I have a lawnmower blenny, a sailfin tang and a yellow eye tang trying to help with this mess, but everyday it looks worse.

:help:

 

[sentinel]

In case you wonder, water parameters are good. Salinity 1.0235,ph 8.2, ammonia,nitrites and nitrates at 0, temp 77-78, phosphates at 0,Calcium 480,I have a skimmer, a denitrator, a chiller, (2) 1200 maxijets,and I feed frozen brineshrimp once a day.LR used to have green algae before and I turned out lights for 5 months and everything died(so I thought)

. I guess its recycling but this much green algae in so little time is amazing. I do 10 gallons water change every 2 weeks with coralife salt(changing to Instant Ocean salt after some research. Lighting is 2 96 watts double actinic on for 12 hours and 2 175 watts 14k metal halides on for 6 hours a day to create a sunrise and sunset effect. I use RO/DI for the water changes and replenishing PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :notsure:

 

[michaeltx]

hair algae grows really quick and when it gets so long NOTHING will eat it!!!
you say your phosphates are 0 and that is probably not right you probably have them but they are locked up in the algae.
What is your source water and have you tested it to see what it has before you add it to the tank.? next thing is how old are the lights on the tank?
The est and most eefect way is get a good clean up crew and take each rock and scrub each rock off completely and get as much off as you can cause if its long they wont toch it. and if your source water is adding phosphate into the tank changing your source water will help alotl
Mike

 

[copernicus45]

Check the TDS reading of your RO/DI water, when have you changed your filters last?

 

[sentinel]

Michael TX thanks for your response. If I did what you suggest, after dismantling the whole setup, which by the way,I have never liked, can i add new cured LR to the existing one and break a few large pieces into smaller rocks that are easier to reposition and redo the setup without killing the livestock on the aquarium?Never tried this and want to be sure.The LR willl be scrubbed on a 5 gallon recipient and solied water will be discarded and replenished with RO/DIfrom my RO unit.Should I also remove all fish from the aquarium so as not to harm them when repositioning the LR?Your input will be very much apreciated as well as other forum members who have experience with this kind of project. Thanks to all in advance.

 

[sentinel]

Originally Posted by Copernicus45
Check the TDS reading of your RO/DI water, when have you changed your filters last?
Whats TDS? Filters were cleaned like 2 weeks ago and looked allright, the membrane will be changed. How much water shall I lpass through the new membrane before reusing it for water changes?

 

[michaeltx]

If it were me and you are wanting to get some more LR I would get a QT tank for the inhabitants that you have now and QT them while you redo the tank.
I would get the new rock ahead of time and cure it so its ready to go so when you start its going to be as short as possible. How much LR are you planning on getting?
Next thing would be to take the inhabitants out of the main tank to the QT tank and take out the rock. do a 50% or so water change and make sure you get all the hair algae out that might escape off the rocks when you move them out.
I would then refill the tank and add teh LR that has finished curing. and kick the cycle with a pinch of food or something to to be sure the new tank cycles * if the rock is cured it wont take as long as the first cycle plus your sand will help reduce the cycle time*
Next comes the fun part and that removeing the hair algae from the original rocks. Pull off all the long stuff that you can scrub it do this several times over a period of time. worst case scenerio if it keeps coming back and you cant get ride of it. I have went as far as bleaching the rock. not a good idea if it can be helped though. just dont place any rock that has any sign of hair algae or it will regrow.
mike

 

[sentinel]

Michael, I can get fully cured Live Rock from my supplier,I was thinking on adding like 40 pounds,also planning on using a new and unused metal barbecue brush to clean the existing algae infected LR on a separate container ,discard the soiled water, and rebuilding the minireef in a single day.If I do all the cleanup in a separate container do I still have to do that big of a water change?Anyway, if I did this all in one day, will it be safe to add the fish right away to the aquarium? LR will be thoroughly cleaned and washed prior to re-adding it to the aquarium and a micron filter will be used to try to get rid of any algae spores floating around.Again, is it possible to do all this in a single session?Thanks again for responding so quickly.

 

[michaeltx]

yeah you can the main thing you want to try to avoid is reinfecting the tank. I suggest the 50% water change but it wot effect the water as far as a new cycle because the bacteria is in rock and sand not the water column. it will give you a clean good start when you reset back up. you can do less though thats completely up to you. the filter will also help. I would however leave the old rock where you can pull it out of that again if you need to. its very possible even with a ton of cleaning that it could come back again.
mike

 

[sentinel]

If the algae back and a cleanup crew was in da house( I dont have any right now besides the fish), will the snails and crabs take care of the new growth?If no new growth was present, will the cleanup crew die off?

 

[michaeltx]

the clean up crew will eat other things in the tank including other types of algae. as far as will they eat it thats a different story There are a lot of things that will suposedly eat hair algae but most I found were iffy if they actually did.
Mike

 

[sentinel]

Thanks again for your quick response.Will try to post pics of the whole saga.Any other advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

[stanlalee]

there is no clean up crew thats gonna take care of that. some rabbit fish (not neccessarily the foxface) are known for chomping down undesirable hair algae that other herbivores wont eat aggressively. Your probably going to have to remove that manually (with a good scrubbing brush and saltwater rinsing) and do a major water change or two. If and when it appears again you should do the large water changes until you can determine the root of the problem (which I have no clue).

 

[quaos]

I wouldn't redo the tank. I would certainly at least piece out the top rocks and scrub them free and put them back in. You should leave the lights on for 6 hours a day for a while. Your coral will be fine. When you do your water change get a big hose and siphon the hair algae. It will "vacuum" it off the rock. As far as a clean-up crew, get a sally light foot crab. I had this same problem. Scrubbing and siphoning worked to control it but the sally light foot crab had it clear in a week. She was amazing. I hope it works out. I would try and get it under control till the clean up crew arrives and see if they can clear it up.