dead live rock

[chrisrench]

Ok, here's the deal. I was having a problem with hair algae and I fought it and fought it. Finally one day I was pissed, so I took all the live rock out, cleaned it with the water hose outside and let it sit in the sun a few hours before I put it back. Yeah, I know, that was stupid, and I knew that when I started, call it temporary insanity. This is my problem now though, the hair algae is back worse than ever, I do have high nitrates, and high phosphates, and I"m working on correcting that, but I think I've killed the live rock. Can I re-cure it? I've got about 100lbs. Can I Throw it in a bucket of saltwater with some pumps, then buy another 20 lbs of live rock and let it recure the stuff I already have???? I need help. I'm at my wits end with this hair algae.

 

[a&m aggie 04']

over time when mixed with "live rock" the rock will regain its life. But first you need to get rid of that hair algae problem...what methods are you using to lowing your phosphates and trates??
Mark

 

[footbag]

The hair algae will likely come back and get worse before it dissapears. I would re-cycle the tank with the live rock in it before trying anything else. This will take a lot of time, and you will likely see cyano, diatoms and of course hair algae. But after a few months, you should see an improvement.
As said above it will gain back its life, but you will need to find a method for controlling your nutrients. If your using tap, then that may be your problem. You need frequesnt water changes. What kind of substrate? Skimmer? Etc...

 

[chrisrench]

I've installed a RO/DI unit for all replenishment water. I don't overfeed. The only thing I did was replaced my light. I had 4- 40watt bulbs in a 114 gallon tank. I now use 4-110 watt VHO lights. The bulbs are new. I've been thinking about just going back to the cheap lights because I didn't have a huge algae problem then. To get rid of the hair algae now, I have just been doing plenty of water changes. I was thinking about buying some new live rock, taking my old rock out and mixing it all together in a seperate tub for a month and see what happens. I currently have about 150 lbs of live sand in there too. I also recently purchased a huge sackful of macro algae and I have that in the sump/regugium trying to eat up some phosphates, but even that doesn't seem to be working.

 

[n.o.c.]

I had a major problem with hair alge when I fist started my tank. But I started a reefugium and in a month the hair alge started dying off. 2 months it was completely gone. If you cant get your phosphates to 0 you will always have alge outbrakes. High nitrates will be hard to get rid of. In my reefugium I have a space at the botom of about 1 inch where there is open space and above that is 6 inches of gravel. This open space at the botom alows for denitifing bacteria to grow down there and eat up the nitrates. YOu should also be using high power lights on your reefugium. THere are things you can buy that are suposed to lower phosphates and nitrates but I am not sure how well they work. I would sugest keeping your phosphates and nitrates to a 0 level or you will be suffering.