Live Rock with Hair Algae Question

[Stormvillefish]

I bought about 45 lbs of nice live rock covered with coralline algae and not so nice hair algae. Put it in a 15 gallon tank I had laying around with sw, heater and powerhead and left in the dark for a week. Took the rock out plucked off some hair algae, scrubbed it a little and put it back in the 15 gallon tank. Two weeks later ... 95% of the hair algae is gone ... plan on doing a water change and let it sit for another two weeks. Question ... the guy I bought it from had his tank running for two years and didn't have a hair algae problem til he moved into his new house ... even though he has an RO/DI unit he said it had to be the water. Now will this rock be safe for me to use? Will the hair algae come back? Anything I can do in addition to what I'm doing so the hair algae won't come back? Any input is appreciated. Thanks.

[buccard]

I wonder if the move stirred up the sandbed creating a nutrient issue? Seems like a possibility, he could be feeding you a line out of a used car salesmans book too. Sometimes our egos can get in the way of reality...

If you have a healthy tank and good balance I would think you should be ok...

What I am about to tell you is my experience and I am not suggesting you do this without getting more feedback or opinions but: My live rock came with sooo many bad hitchhkers I got fed up and dipped all the rock in an iodine solution and a fresh water dip...I was having some cyano and algae issues at the time and the dip not only knocked off a ton of bad hitchhikers the rock never looked better...no more algae...I did have a mini cycle after that dip...might be something to look into.

good luck

[jenglish]

It is possible if he actually kept his tank in not so great condition that they have absorbed a lot of phosphate which is leaching out and feeding the HA growth. You might consider cooking it.