Removed my rocks for 3 months, and still has algae!

[saltyFISHscales]

I've had this issue for months, and a friend of mine suggested I remove the rocks with the algae and put them in a container that doesn't have any sunlight. So I purchased a trash can and removed all of my rocks (approx 80lbs) and placed them in the trash can for about 3 months. I took about half of the water from my existing tank during this move. These rocks have not seen any daylight since this move for the past 3 months. The only time it gets light is when I open the lid to check on the algae. Well you can see it's still there and it doesnt seem to have even killed any off! My only thought is to leave it out to dry in the sunlight and I would have to cycle the rocks again. Does anyone else have any suggestions? I'm about to make a move to a new house in the next 45 days, and at the same time I'm also trying to come up with a larger tank build (approx 150-200 gal). So I was thinking of doing all of this and starting fresh with the new tank.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v306/saltyFISHscales/IMG_2846.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v306/saltyFISHscales/IMG_2845.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v306/saltyFISHscales/IMG_3423.jpg

[saltyFISHscales]

Any suggestions?

[jchase1970]

do like some do with hair algae and get you a stiff brush and scrub the rocks. see if you can get most of the algae off. do a 100% water change to remove all nitrites trates. then maybe you can starve it out with no sunlight.

[goochesfish]

Here is a thread with instructions on how to cook live rock
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1820445&highlight=cooking+live+rock

[Lemeshianos]

What you need to do is "cook" the LR, not just keep it closed in trashbins.
I am assuiming you have powerheads in the trashbins to move the water and maybe a heater?

Light starvation will just kill algae temporarily. The source of the problem is excess nutrients.
If I were you I would do what jchase1970 suggested.
Take it out of the trash bin and replace all the water with new saltwater.
Then scrub the algae off the rock, rinse the rock well and put back in the bin with the new water (so no strands of algae get in the new water).
After 1week to 2 weeks check if new algae has developed. If yes repeat the process and so on until no algae grows back.

[Ding2daDong]

Just keep your parameters in check and get some tangs, should clear it all up. Maybe some turbo snails or a sea hair. I wouldn't worry about it taking over and being a continued nuisance unless other factors like high phosphates are present.

hth

-Matthew

[jbell370]

I had the same issue with rock that I had purchased from a local chain type store here in Canada. I ended up taking each piece out, scrubbing it, rinse it well then replaced, I did that with every rock over the course of 3 hours or so. Once back in the tank, within a couple days it started again, I bought Mexican Turbo snails and they started to eat it as well as a Kole tang that constantly ate the stuff. In the end however I could not get it to stop growing, I checked my TDS, bought and installed a phosban reactor, did everything that I could think of, but nothing would help.

I removed the rock all together, did a water change and bought new rock from another store, since then no issues at all. I am not saying it was the cheap rock they offered, but it might well have been leeching phosphate.

[mr.maroonsalty]

There are chemical means of destroying life and PO4; look around on the chem forum if you really feel you can't live with the algae.

[DustinB]

Get a lawnmower blenny. Interesting little fish with personality. He'll even clean your powerheads.

[spw4949]

Just keep your parameters in check and get some tangs, should clear it all up. Maybe some turbo snails or a sea hair. I wouldn't worry about it taking over and being a continued nuisance unless other factors like high phosphates are present.

hth

-Matthew

Agreed, if your parameters are in check then just throw in some mexican turbos & let 'em go to work......

[GhostCon1]

Hey,
Kind of new here (just registered) but I was reading the forums last night and I read that some of the algae we have that we think would need light to survive, in fact do not. So, that may be the algae you have and no matter how long you keep it in the dark, that algae may never die off completely.

Maybe someone that saw that thread will come in here and explain more about the no-light-to-live algae.

Hope you fix your problem soon, bud!

[carolina reefer]

If you put the rock in a 5 gallon bucket and fill with boiling water you will kill everything on it. Then let sit and dry. Dead rock but no algae.

[saltyFISHscales]

Thanks everyone for all the great advice, I think I'll let the rock dry out so it kills everything and then cycle it again once i move to my new location. yes ,it's annoying as I had this tank set up in 2003 till 2005 and did very little maintenance and it was running good! Then I moved to where I'm living now, and thats where everything went downhill. :( Since then, i've lost corals and fish and had this damn issue with algae. Back to square one.