Dealing with Bubble Algae

[Everyones Hero]

I have a 75g that has had a bubble algae problem for about a year now. There is a lot of it along the back of the rocks, which are not only hard to get to, but I was always afraid to put my hand into an area I couldn't see because I had a 2ft Snowflake Moray Eel.

Due to the hurricane & being without power everything has died. Well, my clown pair, my eel, my corals, & most of my snails have died. The bubble algae & what looks like cyno are doing just fine.

I want to break everything down & make some equipment/tank changes, as well as change how I do my aquascaping. I'd prefer to reuse my LR but I want to make sure the bubble algae is good & dead before I put it back into the tank.

What can I do to kill off all of the bubble algae, including the spores? Can I just leave it out of water & let it dry? Can I do a FW dip or soak it all in vinegar? Is there a chemical I can use to kill the bubble algae & spores that won't taint the rock so that I can't keep inverts or coral?

Thank you very much for any advice.

 

[NinjaBum]

If you dry it out in the sun it will die. You'll just need to scrub it off so there isn't dead plant matter in your new setup.

 

[eddiesylas]

Look how to properly "cook" your rock. The three months in a bucket method not the grill... anyways, highly recommended.

 

[skabooya]

I soaked my equipment in a strong vinegar and water solution. I don't recommend it with LR because of the limestone content. But it basically breaks down the cell walls of the algae and makes it WAY easier to scrub off. Otherwise I would let it dry out and scrub it off. Chances are however that some will survive. Algae is resilient stuff and one spore can come back and produce lots. When you see that happen manually remove immediately.

 

[Everyones Hero]

Thank you for the suggestions.

I was reading through this thread:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=437342&highlight=cook+live+rock

And I think I'm going to give that a shot.

My only concern is that I don't think it will kill the algae spores... And I do NOT want to deal with bubble algae again. In the few years I've had a tank the bubble algae is the most troublesome thing (aside from power outages & people turning off my pumps while on vacation) I've had to deal with.

 

[Everyones Hero]

i heard the emeral crab will eat it

I've heard they're hit or miss & since nearly everything died I want to break down & make sure it's gone before I set it back up again.