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View Full Version : Base rock - phosphates - hair algea?


alve
02/07/2008, 11:03 AM
I bought 50lbs of Marco rock and had it in a trash can for several weeks in my garage with a heater and powerhead and did frequent water changes. Two weeks ago I added it to my DT and now the Marco rock is full with green hair algae, over an inch long. My live rock has none on it, it just grows all over the base rock and on the plastic overflows.
I read somewhere here on RC that the Marco rock will release phosphates for several months. Do I just wait and hope the hair algea dissapears over time?
My tank is a 156g Oceanic. I am running a Two Little Fishies Phosban Reactor 150 and have a refugium going with Chaeto that is growing like crazy and a Euroreef RS250 skimmer. I turned down my lighting to having MH on for only 4hrs a day.
If I use a filter sock can I brush of the hair algea while the rock is in the tank? When I did a waterchange I took some rock out already and brushed them off in a bucket of old tank water and rinsed them well. Almost all of it came off but it starts growing back.
I have 0 readings for Phosphate and Nitrate with my test kits but that is because of the algae consuming it.

alve
02/07/2008, 09:22 PM
Anyone?

Some more info: Tank has been set up about three weeks ago. Everything from my 7yr old 100g was transfered to this one with a new sand bed (seeded with a couple cups of old sand from my old tank) and the Marco rock. The new sand was mostly dry aragonite and two bags of "live" sand.

I have good flow, 2 Tunze's 6101 on a controller and a Maxijet 1200, I rinse thawed frozen food before feeding, I am not overfeeding, have a refugium with Chaeto and a Phosban Reactor and never had hair algea before.
I think it is hair algea because it is very fine, green, about an inch long and growing all over my Marco Rock and plastic overflows. It does not seem to mind high flow at all. My live rock has nothing at all on there, very clean.

Should I just wait and see if it goes away? Can I brush it off with a toothbrush in the tank while using a filtersock in my sump to catch some of it?

carb850
02/07/2008, 09:37 PM
I don't know how you should handle it, I'm sure someone here with more experience will pop in. But, to add what little I can...

I recently read that hair algae grows easier on the clean rock surface than it does alive rock. So, it may not be a sign of your rock releasing anything.

I purchased some Marco over the summer. I cooked it for about 4 weeks, waited until it quit shedding so much. Now, I too have a hair algae problem but I don't think it is because of the Dry Fiji Rock.

alve
02/07/2008, 09:47 PM
Randy on the Chemistry Forum also said that the the algea grows easier on clean rock surface then on live rock with coraline.

I start wondering if it has anything to do with the new sand bed I put in when I moved my 100g over to the 156g. I used dry aragonite and two bags of "live" sand. I never had to deal with hair algea in the 6+ years I had the 100g up and running.

I am so tempted to brush it off in the tank while running a filter sock. It comes off pretty easy but i am not sure if I would make things worse when it flows around the tank. Some of the rock I can take out but not all of it. The rock that I brushed off outside the tank looks so much better but it slowly starts growing back.

carb850
02/07/2008, 09:52 PM
I would NOT brush it off in the tank. See what Melev has to say about stray hair algae

http://www.melevsreef.com/gha.html


I would either cut your light back and see if it just is a cycle or remove the rock from the tank and brush it off that way. Right now, I'm riding mine out.

alve
02/07/2008, 10:00 PM
I have tried to pull it off but it is so slippery and barely anything comes off. After about 20minutes doing this on one rock I could not really see a difference. I will take them out again next time I do a water change and scrub them off in a bucket of old tank water and rinse them in another bucket before putting them back.
I somehow hope that if I could get them down as much as possible that my chaeto and phosban reactor could get the overhand and slow down the growth.
I am already down to 4hrs a day with my MH.

carb850
02/07/2008, 10:28 PM
Every article I read says you must find the source of the phosphates. Do you have fish in it currently? Might have something to do with your feedings. Using RO Water? Running new bulbs?

I have tried several things on mine and it has slowed but not gone away. I'm working on a theory that I have a phosphate loaded rock. My current setup is a 40B with 18 lbs of Live Unavia and 25 lbs of Marco. One piece of the Unavia looked much different than the rest of the rock. It was the first rock to grow the green hair. So, today I removed it from the tank to see if that makes any impact. That does not help your situation but just showing how I'm trying to track down mine problem.

alve
02/07/2008, 10:42 PM
I have 2 clown fish and 6 green chromis. I feed only half a cube of food a day (some of it gets fed to my 6yr old orange tube anemone).

I use RO/DI water with new filters. When I moved everything over from my 100g I upgrade my lights to 2x250W MH and 4 T5's.
I don't think running different lights could be the cause because they algae grows on the new Marco rock and not on my existing live rock? On the other hand, maybe my existing "old" live rock leaches phosphates and makes the algae grow because of the different lighting... I never read anything about live rock getting bad after a certain amount of years since I never had hair algae before.

I have spend hours and hours over the last week reading every post I could about hair algae and I can't figure out where it comes from. I have been doing everything that has been mentioned unless bumping up magnesium (I don't have a test kit yet but will be ordering one). I did not do that yet because it must have something to do with something new in the tank and the only thing that is new compared with my 100g is the Marco rock and sand bed. I had hoped that once I brushed off some of the rocks it would not come back but it is starting to grow back.

carb850, I hope it will work out for you with taking out that one piece of rock.

The Saltman
02/07/2008, 11:21 PM
It sounds to me like your marco rock has a lot of build up phosphates in it and is leaching phosphates. Cooking your rock is the best way to rid this buildup. You will be surprised at the amount of crud that is buildup inside the dried rock that serves as a fuel source for the algae.

Aquarist007
02/07/2008, 11:33 PM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11792795#post11792795 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by The Saltman
It sounds to me like your marco rock has a lot of build up phosphates in it and is leaching phosphates. Cooking your rock is the best way to rid this buildup. You will be surprised at the amount of crud that is buildup inside the dried rock that serves as a fuel source for the algae.

so are some water changes;)

schoch79
02/07/2008, 11:46 PM
I guess you still have to find the source of the problem but what about stepping up your clean up crew? I'm curious to see how this turns out because I'm doing something similar with a new tank setup. I think if I have problems like that I will try a more aggressive clean up crew.

theguy24
02/07/2008, 11:53 PM
i had rge same problem with some of my rock. after i fliped it over so the hair was shaded ut dudent come back. i would not do it to all you base rock if your tank is not big say 100g causeofall the dead hair you will soon have