New and confused....

Hannelie

New Member
Hi everyone. I am new to this hobby. Have my tank for 5 months now and everything was going well until now. I have 3 beautiful live blue rock pieces covered in green and purple-red algae. Also have some hair growth on them. I have long green algae of about 5 cm growing out of the gravel now. I have read so many things about cleaning the rock that I don't know what to do. Read about bleach, acid, vinegar and very complicated methods on cleaning them that will take months. Any advice will be appreciated.
 

Snid

Active Member
Try getting a few more posts in so that you can post a pic. After 5 posts you can do this. That being said...

5 months is a very young tank. I know, it probably seems like it shouldn't be considered young, but it is still a new born as far as reef tanks go. Green Hair Algae (GHA) is a normal part of the early stages of a tank, and should be expected. It will indeed take time to remove as there is no real overnight recipe. If you try to remove any manually, make sure you siphon it out as you go. Any lose strands can replant themselves, essentially breeding more.

Some of the green and purple-red algae that you mention might be Coralline Algae, which is a good thing. You want that in your tank.

What do you have in your tank besides the Live Rock (LR)? Fish? Snails? Crabs?
 

Snid

Active Member
You will definitely want to consider getting some snails and maybe some crabs in there as part of a Clean Up Crew (CUC) to help clean your tank. I'm not sure what size tank you have, but you'll want to gradually build up a CUC that will work well within your tank and to your liking as well. I'm particularly fond of Mexican Turbo Snails for GHA, Nassarius Snails for detritus (fish poo and left over food), Nerite Snails, and Cerith Snails. I also like Emerald Crabs as they tend to leave others alone unless they get in their territory. Some people like Hermit Crabs, but you'll need extra shells for them to move into or they will attack the snails you might get for their shells. I myself have a Long Spined Sea Urchin that is mowing down GHA for me, as well as a couple of Yellow Lettuce Sea Slugs.

Do some research to see what you like for yourself, as there are many options. Don't add too many at once, as they carry a bio-load to your system as well.

I'm not sure if you want to go about taking the rocks out and cleaning them with any chemicals, I'll leave a response to that for those you know best. But you can always carefully take them out, scrub them with a toothbrush or something similar, and rinse them in RODI water before putting them back in. I personally don't prefer doing this as there are other beneficial organisms on LR that I wouldn't want to scrub away, but many people do this with success and prefer no GHA over keeping other small organisms.
 
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DaveK

Well-Known Member
... I have read so many things about cleaning the rock that I don't know what to do. Read about bleach, acid, vinegar and very complicated methods on cleaning them that will take months. Any advice will be appreciated.

There really isn't enough information to give you a lot of advice, but I will say one thing. You don't use any of those harsh methods for cleaning live rock, except in the most extreme circumstances. In most cases, you work on maintaining high water quality and low nitrates and phosphates to control algae in the tank and on the rocks. These extreme methods are only used when you have had a total disaster and need to sterilize everything. For example, if you lost everything due to a terrible disease outbreak.
 

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
Good advise above ^

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to ReefSanctuary, a real Sanctuary of reef forums, with lots of very nice members
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Start a new tank thread & share your tank with us so we can follow along - we love pics :)
 

goma

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
PREMIUM
Welcome to RS!

+1 to Dave's advice above. This is a relatively new tank and with good husbandry and a good clean up crew, this phase will go away in short order.
 
Dave, Goma and snid nailed this for you with the best answers you could find anywhere, After about a year your tank will be fully cycled and will then start maturing( not including the Ammonia nitrite nitrate spike you experienced early on). In the first year you will Probably see many algae out breaks which will come and go. They are all part of the maturing process, diatoms, GHA, brown algae, perhaps even cyano bacteria in low flow areas, but if you keep up with regular weekly 15-20% water changes life will be so much better in the long run (water changes are your best friend in reefing). IMO if you are suffering with very bad algae your phosphates are most likely high, either you can cut back on how much and how often you feed you fish or if you can run GFO in a reactor something like rowaphos. Good luck :)
 

DianaKay

Princess Diana
RS STAFF
Hi Hannelie :wave:
:welcomera WELCOME to Reef Sanctuary :crowd:
Sounds like you just need some hungry snails & to post your water parameters. ;)
Would L:heart:VE to see some pictures of your tank & lots more posts from you.
Very BEST WISHES :biker
 

Hannelie

New Member
Thank you. I will do. I see most members active are in USA. Here in South Africa we do not have good shops with all the variety and no advice. I don't think having a reef tank is very popular here. Will place some pics soon.
 

DianaKay

Princess Diana
RS STAFF
You can get GOOD ADVICE right here, RS is a world wide community of SW reef tank owners willing to help with any concerns others have about keeping a healthy tank.
We've learned to tell a lot about what could be the issues you need to fix by PICTURES. Kinda like a trip to your house to SEE your tank ;) You don't have to feel alone in this awesome hobby.
DO YOU HAVE A TEST KIT for Nitrates & Phosphate?
Hope to see your pictures posted as soon as you have 5 posts.
 
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