green hair algea

[biph]

I recent purchases some live rock from a local store,full of tubeworms,feathers,all sorts of little critters,,,my problem is it had a little green hair algea on it ,i didnt think nothing about it,but now it has spread every where ill take out every piece of rock and scrub it lightly,change 25-30% of the water but it comes back in 3-5 days just as bad,,,is there anything i can do to get rid of this with out harming my fish or invertibrates???Thanks...

 

[david s]

there are 2 things to watch. the green hair algie feed on nitrates and phospates test for both if you are not useing ro/di water check water before topoff if you are put a phospate spounge in your sump for a few days and do a partail water change with ro/di water.
what also worked for me was a lawnmower blenny and turbo snails and crabs all eat hair algie

 

[biph]

hate sound dumb but what ir ro/di water?distilled water?thanks for the help

 

[tankstolove]

No question is dumb! You were right the di stands for distill and the ro stands for reverse osmosis. It is a filter that all serious aquariusts should have with out exception, in many opinions.
Your not going to like what I have to say about the hair algea cure. But I'm going to say it because it has cured many hair algea breakouts in the 16 years of doing this.
For seriously bad conditions. Removed the rock that can be removed place them in a pale of water the same temp and salinity as the aquarium. Brush them clean store them in a fresh pale of seawater for the next step. for the rock that cant be removed scrub the hair algae off with a stiff wire brush, while sucking the spots simataniously with a syphoning hose. Before replacing the scrubbed rock. Scrub it with some white vinegar, rinse well with seawater and place back into your aquarium. The vinagear lessens any calcium phosphate that originally adheared to the rock surface. This labor intensive method is very successful. However some phosphate is still coating some of the rock so the algae will grow back in those spots and may have to be repeated. However every time the algae will become less and less. If you feel that your rock is worth it, do the work.
Keep in mind purchasing an ro/di system will eliminate the source of the excessive phosphate/nitrate. If you don't then the problem will now continue to come up. It will cost you about 350.00 for a good filter. Don't go cheap, although 350.00 is pretty cheep, I paid 1499.00 for mine, though I'm impatient and didn't want to wait for the slow filter to give me water. So I went commercial filter. Ask how many gallons per hour the filter will give you, this makes a huge difference in time management in my opinion.
Good luck, good question. SEE LIFE... "It's a beautiful world!"

 

[biph]

i have a uv sterilizer,,,will that help or hurt??it came with the setup i bought a few years back,but never installed it,,thanks for the help,,i glad places like this exist,,,thanks again

 

[biph]

oh,,,will the vinegar kill any of my feathers,,one of the rocks is loaded with feathers..thanks

 

[tankstolove]

A UV will always help your water quality. Unless in an establishing system, and then only through the nitration cycle.
The "white vinager" will not hurt any of your inhabitants, given it is rinsed well with salt water. I was concerned with that as well, 13 years ago when I did it for the first time in my aquarium. This technique isn't a procedure I made myself, it's a well known working cure for your problem. It is the same as with bleaching decorative corals in fish only systems as long as rinsed well. It will not harm the inhabitants. (using de-clorinzer as well). To ease your mind alittle.
Again look keep in mind while you are doing this that you need an ro/di to eliminate the cause.
GOOD LUCK!

 

[biph]

thanks for the help,,ive been looking into prices of the ro systems,,they seem high until i figure how much i could lose...thanks for your time.....