Need some advise

[sondaar]

I have Halimeda and this Neomeris annulata both calcareous algae and the Neomeris has taken over every rock in my tank. Tank crashed after 3 years of doing fine. Lost all fish and sps. Cleaned everything out of tank and have been changing water and vacuming sand for 3 weeks and now this stuff is growing like weeds.
http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/x345/bevobevo1/rocktrash.jpg

I want to clear this stuff out before I start adding coral. Does anyone know if a bleach bath or have any other ideas about how to kill this off my rock?

Thanks

[sedor]

Looks like bubble algae...do not pop them in the tank as it will just encourage more growth. Remove the rock, scrape the algae, rinse the rock and put it back. Or emerald crabs have been known to eat it.

[reeferstace]

That's Neomeris not bubble algae.

I would take those rocks out and bleach them for a couple of days. Since they are calcareous, no herbivore will likely eat them.

[thegrun]

I've never seen it in such large numbers. I have one or two that pop up every now and then, but they usually die off in a month or two. Kalk paste in one area at a time perhaps?

[sondaar]

The bad thing is it is literally on every rock I have. I am wondering if the bleach bath will kill it or if it will just come back? I guess I should do all of the rock at once? My sandbed should be able to replenish the rock right?

[FirstContact]

Yes, the live sand will seed the dead rock after bleaching or you could try using hydrochloric acid instead of bleach. They have it at Home Depot.

[sondaar]

Bleach or hydrochloride acid which would be best? And how long after the bleach/acid bath would it be safe to put back in the tank?

[clydog]

halimeda is for sale on certain websites.....its a good way to tell if your levels are good....some say better than any test kits...if you can grow halimeda you can grow corals....i just trim during waterchanges

[sondaar]

It's the neomeris that I'm trying to rid myself of. Both algaes came on the live rock when I set the tank up 3 years ago. I lost softball size acros, along with many othe sps that were grown from small frags. Both algae grow on one rock and I just picked them when needed during water changes. Now 3 weeks after the tank crashed and im trying to get my water ready to support corals the neomeris is every where while the halimeda stayed put. I changed 20 gallons of water every other day for a week with a low salinity then brought it back up to 35 and within a few day I had the little green fuzzy headed worms every where. I don't believe ther is any way pick all of them without them just spreading more

[TimeConsumer]

Look into FM Ultra Algae X if you want to go the chemical route. I was using it for dinoflagellates, but it killed all the other algae's too. Including a couple of Neomeris I had.

[StevenSinger]

Hydrogen peroxide will also work and is a less chemicals on the rocks.

[FirstContact]

If you are starting over I would use the hydrochloride acid as it will remove the built up phosphates from your rock. I did this once and rinsed everything thouroughly after the bath and then waited a few days letting everything air out before putting the rock back into the tank. I did this when I switched from FOWLR to reef.

[sondaar]

How long should I let it sit in the acid and will a regular salt bucket work for the acid bath?

[sondaar]

Ok I'm starting to lean more towards vinager now. Should I run a power head in there and my skimmer?