Cleaning Live Rock

[bcollett]

Hi,
I've been fighting an algae problem. I'm a total newbie to this hobbie and I've been trying to do my best. I found out that my nitrates were much higher than what my test kit was Indicating. I learned this when i switched brands. My nitrate level was over 100ppm, I think that this is primarily do to small water changes. When my old test kit was showing me readings between 10 and 20ppm i didn't feel it was necessary to do 20+ gallon changes. Well, since the discovery of high nitrate levels, I've been doing weekly changes of 20-30gals ro/di water with Reef Crystals salt and Kent Pro dKH to adjust my pH.
My biggest question is about the hair algae on my LR. I have about 175lbs of it in my DT and its constantly growing hair. So aside from water changes. I've tried to minimize my feedings, to 1 every other day, and i have shortened my photo perirod with my lights to about 8 hours a day instead of 10-12. and i have actually turned my actinics off all together.
By pulling my LR out of the tank and scrubbing off the hair, Am i doing a lot of damage to the nitrifying bacteria that live in/on the rock?
I usually go to the kitchen sink and scrub the hair off then quickly rinse with luke warm water then i dunk the rock in a bucket of aquarium water before putting it back in the tank.
My hair algae has been slowing down since i started doing the massive water changes. i've also increased the flow in my tank 20 fold at least.
Thanks

 

[lighteningthes]

If you have a fish only tank shut the lights off for 2-3 days. That did the trick for my hair. Just curious, you say you are adding a ph increaser and you are using ro/di water for your mix. From what everyone tells me you don't need to do that, however I see my pH around 8.0 even with fresh water from my RO/DI unit and Instant Ocean.

 

[bcollett]

My pH is usually close to where it want it after adding the salt. But its usually 8.0 and i like to try to keep it between 8.2-8.4 and i keep my SG at about 1.024-25 or so. My tank has basically been a FOWLR type tank but i do have one small frag of torch coral. in there. I'll see if i can keep the lights off all together for a day at a time to slow the algae down...

 

[lighteningthes]

I don't know much about corals, I do know after the lights out trick it never came back!!

 

[crypt keeper]

dude throw some Turbo snails in there. They will cut it down like a weed whacker. How new is your tank? dont take out your rock. Cut back on the lights. Do larger water changes and add 3 large turbo snails. Give it a few weeks. I had that issue in my nano. Those bad boys took care of it?

 

[deejeff442]

+1 on the snails i have 25 small ones on 225 lbs of rock and it sparkles.
also check phosphates,get a phosphate reactor from two little fishes maybe a $80 set up with the pump.
mostly everyone on here has one.

 

[bcollett]

I have 3 very large Turbo snails and i bought about 50 small Nassarius snails and 20 white legged, 20 red legged, and 20 blue legged hermits. They all kicked butt at first. but eventually they stopped eating the algae. many started to die off. My count now is difficult to say, but i can see maybe 30 nassarius snails and the 3 turbos are mowing everything down still, and maybe at very best 20 hermits, but thats an optimistic number. Phosphates dont register anymore. I was up around 1.0 when i got my test kit, I use a fluval 405 to run phos-ban and nitrate sponge in, or whatever else i might be needing at the time. I think that the largest problem is the nitrate levels. But as i've been doing my huge water changes and the levels been dropping drastically, i've been seeing a reduction in the algae. I'm still just worried about killing off a bunch of the nitrifying bacteria when i scrubbed the hair off. I'm trying to stay on top of it before it gets massively out of hand.

 

[deejeff442]

thats a huge cuc for a 90 gallon.
once the algea is gone they will die off.
need to find a small cuc that will always have debris and algea to eat.

 

[sj2494]

i have a aqua clear 50 that i use to basicaly power wash my rock twice a month due to sand getting on the rock this keeps the good bactiria in the tank and gives your filter a chance to pick it up
also sally light foots kick ass for cleaning LR i have 2 sallys and 10 hermit crabs and 1 salafin blennie and my rock always looks good

 

[crypt keeper]

they all died cause they took care of the algae. skim back on the cuc. people get a little algae freak out. Algae isnt all bad. some fishes and cuc eat it and need it for living in our tanks. Take abot 2/3 your cuc back to the store or sell it. Then you will have no issues. Go get 3 more bigger turbo snails. Give it two weeks.
Try two emerald crabs as well. they mow down hair alage.
Also have you thought about a skimmer? Keep up with the water changes. Stop taking the rock out of the water. You just have to find a balance. It will all work out. Go get the turbos. Let them do their thing.

 

[bcollett]

I do have a skimmer running, its a recirculating type rated for 225g or so. The overall number of the cleanup crew is knocked down to maybe a dozen hermits, maybe 20 Nassarius snails and 3 big turbos, I think I'll get a couple more turbos this weekend. Oh and i added a red Mithrax, maybe I'll get a green Emerald this weekend as well. I've had my lights off for 2 days now and it seems to have helped but i can't leave the lights off any longer with my torch coral in there. I recently added some ricordea, zoa's and an encrusting gorgonian. Do you think a Yellow Tang will help eat up all the algae?
Thanks for all the advice so far everyone.

 

[crypt keeper]

I had a serious hair algae issue in my nano. It was taking over. I was pulling it out daily by hand off the rocks. I added 2 turbo snails 1 large and 1 smaller. I put the snails directly where the algae was. They were like lawn mowers. They would eat. Stop sleep. Wake up and continue on. It took about a month, but axed it all down. Everytime you pull the rock out you cause some die off.
What is your fish list? How much do you feed a day? How many pounds of rock of rock do you have?

 

[bcollett]

90lbs of sand,
Approx 200 lbs, of LR
Fluval 405 canister with Nitrate sponge and Carbon (had phosban in it for a while) it in Serviced every couple weeks.
20 Gal sump/refugium setup with some Cheato in it (small wad, just bought it)
return pump from sump rated at 650gph, pushing water through about 6' of tubing.
3 Koralia 3's rated for 850gph each and one 200gph PH for flow in the tank.
recirculating type skimmer. Current USA i think might be the brand. Flowing about 200gph through it
All overflow from tank goes through 100 mircon filter bag before entering sump. Cleaned out every couple days
Water changes lately average 20 gallons per week. sometimes as much as 35, using Reef Crystals salt, and RO water. Mixing to an SG of 1.025
Livestock:
3 Bar Goby,
1 Madarin Goby
2 Purple Firefish
1 Ocellaris Clown
1 Yellow Wrasse
10-20 Assorted Hermit Crabs Blue, Red, White legged
3 large Turbo Snails.
1 Lettuce Nudibranch
maybe 2 dozen Nassarius Snails
2 Peppermint Shrimp
1 Coral Banded Shrimp.
a couple corals:
1 Torch coral,
Ricordea, 6-7 polyps total,
small frag of Encrusting Gorgonian
couple dozen Zoanthinds.
All my tank specs as of tonights tests...
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10ppm
pH 8.2
SG 1.024
Temp 79°
Phosphate Looked like 0 (I'm color blind its tough to tell) if not 0 then possibly .25ppm
Calcium 440ppm
dkH 10
Silica a shade between 0 and .25ppm
Magnesium somewhere above 1300ppm (tough test to perform!)
Lighting:
2x250w MH with 4x65w PC Actinics. Fixture on Legs raised about 4-5 inches above water surface.
Regular Photo-cycle: Actinics on for 10 hours, MH on for 8
To cut down on the Algae I've been trying 8 hours of MH only actinics have remained off. (seems to be helping)
As for feedings, I usually feed either Frozen Rotifers, or the Marine Cuisine. Both are packaged in small cubes, I feed a Cube every other day.
I hope i didn't forget anything....
Oh, Copper is 0ppm also, not that copper would matter for my algae though.

 

[crypt keeper]

get an emerald crab and 3 more turbos. Get bigger ones. Place them exactly where the algae is worse. They will mow it down. You have to give it time. It will all work out.

 

[bcollett]

Oh yeah hahah. I just added a Red Mithrax Crab on Wednesday. Hardly see it but its there. The Turbos i have are HUGE. but I'm going to my LFS today so we'll see if there are any more turbos. I'm also planning on buying a Yellow Tang if they have one.

 

[crypt keeper]

any progress on the turbos?

 

[bcollett]

There was only one turbo left at the store. I bought it and brought it home. I was told that more should be on the way. They usually get new shipments in on Thursdays. I had a long talk with the store owner and he suggested the possibility of switching to a slightly more coarse substrate. Anyone had any personal experiences that would back this up. I'm using the sugar sized aragonite. My sand bed is about 2-3 inches deep in most places right now.

 

[crypt keeper]

No. If you add that much new sand you will more than likely cause your tank to go into a cycle again and lose everything. You can introduce it slowly a little a time but bigger sand can house waste and not let your system filter it properly. This will cause your water parems. to be messed up anyway. How long has the tank been up and running? I cant seem to find this answer in any of your posts by skimming through them again.
Also i noticed you have a sump with cheato. I also saw you have your overflow being filtered before entering your sump. Dont do that. You want your cheato to get as much waste or I should say food to help break it down naturally and then it will grow and do what it is ment to do.
Do you have a hang on the back overflow or a built in?

 

[bcollett]

I put all my LR in the tank and it cycled back in September. I didn't stock any live stock until October or maybe November. I'll pull the filter sock out and see if that helps the cheato. I'm trying to come up with the money to put together a 40 gallon sump right now too. My overflow is homemade out of PVC, HOB style. I've been playing with different designs to find the best way to skim from the surface and pull from lower down in the water as well.

 

[70gallonhex]

I had a hair grass algae problem not long ago, I added a yellow tang thinking he would eat it. He only picks at the back of the glass a little. I bought a lawnmower blenny and he is eating it up! I also added more snails and bought another emerald crab, they help. Also blue hermit crabs.