Hair Algae starting over!

wwfstyle

wwfstyle

Member
After fighting the hair algae for about 4 months now I have decided that I'm going to start over again with my LR! I have about 120# of LR and I was wondering on what I could do to kill the algae and reuse the LR later on. This stuff has killed ALL my corals and is driving me crazy! I was thinking of placing all the LR in several buckets in the dark with no water movement for like 3 weeks. Keep them in the dark too. Think this will work? I'm willing to even use bleach water to kill the LR if it will kill that stupid algae. I can always have the rock come back to life later on I guess. What do you think I should do? My wife wants my to take the LR to the LFS and trade for new LR but I think that I might only get about 60 to 70% of the value if I'm lucky. Any input will be greatly appreciated and TY for the replies.
 
fbm

fbm

Active Member
I would not use bleach, chlorine is bad for fish. But you can boil all of your live rock and that will kill everything as well. A while back somebody on this site told me to boil some old lr for 6 minutes. And what I ended up doing is putting the rock in there and bringing it to a boil and once boiling allowing it to boil for 6 minutes. That should kill everything.
Since your LR is living maybe bring out the rock and rinse it with saltwater and try to get some of your critters before you boil it.
 
sylvius

sylvius

Member
I'm not sure if this is correct, but I have been told that hair algae will be killed by fresh water (the explode from the osmotic pressure), so if you just empty the tank, fill it with fresh water for a little while and then add the salt, the hair algae should be taken care of.
 
fbm

fbm

Active Member
Won't that also kill all the beneficial bacteria in the tank already as well?
 
wwfstyle

wwfstyle

Member
I have a lawn mower blenny but its not doing a good enough job. My LFS will hold my fish and star fish till my tank is ready to go. So far I like the boiling water part, but with 120# of LR and my biggest peice is like 22 23# and I have 2 of those. I might just break them up when I start over.
 
wwfstyle

wwfstyle

Member
OK !! I just got back from Wal-Mart and purchased 2 10 gal trash cans and a few wire brushes. Question is can I use a pressure washer while scrubbing the hair algae? Also when placed in the trash cans do I try to keep the salt level the same? Also keep all lights off the LR till it's done? I was going to keep the LR in the trash cans for like 3 weeks. That sound like a resenable time? I just dont wanna go through this ever again.
 
fbm

fbm

Active Member
Bad news is it can always come back if the conditions are right. I don't see any problem with pressure washing it as long as you use water only and not some cleaner with it. Maybe your grandparents or someone would have an old pressure cooker, you can put hughe pieces of rock in there and boil them. Or for that matter you could even bake them. Put them in the oven and set the temperature at about 225 and let them back for an hour or so. Anything above 160 will kill all living organisms that we know about. I have never tried the oven but I don't see why it won't work. Maybe I am crazy I don't know.
 
N

nereef

Guest
yikes.
there is no need to bleach, bake, boil, pressure wash, or freshwater dip the live rock. this will kill anything that is on or in the rock, making the rock into expensive lace rock. not only that, but the dieoff on/in the rock will will always leach nitrates into your system if it used again.
you can scrub the rock without adverse effects if it is done correctly. do it in a tub of tank water(not freshwater) and scrub the rock with a stiff brush, just like what is done when you cure live rock. this will remove the hair algae without the horrible consequences that other methods being discussed will lead to.
 
emg

emg

New Member
wow....I have a couple of hermits and a turbo snail that have been mowing down the hair algae in my tank like no tomorrow ! The rock had the algae on it when I bought it and it's been dying off on it's own after 2 weeks in the tank.
 
symon

symon

Member
I would not boil your lr, take out all of your fish and such, Turn off the lights and allow the tank to sit for a few months! Continue to do you water changes as usual . give that a few weeks and see how things look! Yes it's going to take time for the hair alge to die off like that, but you can get in there and rip off as much as possible, do not leave it in the tank!
Good luck I know this can be a real PIA!
 
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