Fresh water dip to kill algae

[vyger]

I have a 5X6 piece of rock covered with Zoo's and there is a bunch of macro algae( razor & grape calpura) that has taken hold on the rock growing between the Zoo's. Not sure where it even came from ...I have tried picking at the algae but it grows faster than I can get it off and now the Zoo's are looking worse for wear due to the manhandling.
Anyone tried fresh water dipping to kill off the algae on a rock without killing the coral. If so , how long would do it in a fresh water dip?? 1 min....5 min.....
Thanks
William

 

[DgenR8]

I don't think it would work. You'd kill the Zoas and any other beneficial life on that rock long before the algae would begin to suffer.

 

[Reefist]

Nothing but lack of nutrients gets rid of algae. Try a few waterchanges and cut back on feeding is about all I can think of.
Tom

 

[ming81]

Rip off a bit of that algae, put it in some freshwater and wait till it dies. Wake me up when you're done. lol

But yeah, what the other two above said

 

[vyger]

Hmm... I'm pretty sure it would kill the beneficial life on the rock but not kill the Zoo's.I've dipped Zoo's before for up to 3 minutes in R/O water to kill parasites with no ill effects to the Zoo's... ... Part of my question was misleading ...sorry... What I was wondering was if anyone has tried it to kill the algae on the rock with the same method. I don't have an algae problem with the tank just macro algae on this rock for some unknown reason.So I thought by lowering the salinity for a bit , it might do in the algae. If someone knows for certain that it won't work then I won't try it. But actually ming81 has a good idea which I may try to see what effect it has on the algae...
Thanks

 

[Reefist]

I know high alkalinity does a number on algae but the thing here is its hold. I think what ever you do you won't kill its hold with out killing other organisms.
I think you just have to keep at it with the pruning and lower your nutrients. Grape culerpa is one of the fastest growing that I ever had. It took a year of constant pruning to remove it from my sump with 100's of gallons of water changes.
One thing you could try is putting it a separate bucket with freshly mixed water with heat and light and lower the nutrients in that bucket until it stops growing back but it could take quite some time.It picked that spot to grow for a reason
HTH
Tom

 

[vyger]

Yea...some algae is sure hard to kill. I've had bubble algae on live rock survive in a 5 gal bucket for months with no light at all..Tuff Stuff it is!!!Can't imagine where the feather culerpa even came from , just seemed all of a sudden it was there , Nice algae but don't want it competing for space with my Zoo's. I do 10% water change a week now , I guess I could up it to 20 and see if it helps. Seems like alot of trouble to get algae off of one lousy rock LOL...I only have one fish in the tank so the load on the tank is minimal. I've been keeping reef tanks since around 1988 and it seems if it isn't one thing it's another, but I guess that 's what makes this hobby so interesting and never boring eh'
Thanks

 

[billsreef]

Bill,

The caulerpa will survive a much longer FW dip than your zoo's will. Best control is physical removal combined with dropping nutrients low enough to crash it.

 

[Reefist]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8890014#post8890014 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by vyger
I've been keeping reef tanks since around 1988 and it seems if it isn't one thing it's another, but I guess that 's what makes this hobby so interesting and never boring eh'
Thanks

Ah War stories Got plenty of them too. Wheres the beer.

 

[vyger]

Bill ...Unfortunately your more than likely correct...

Reefist...I'll drink to that