green hair algae question

[d-man]

Ok so i'm getting a complete 128 gal for free from a buddy but its riddled with hair algae and aptasia. There are fish and corals in it so i cant go and cook everything. In my own tank i have plenty or rock so i plan on seperating the rock that is not covered in corals and just letting it dry out completely. I will bleach the sand and rinse very well. But as far as the coral covered rocks what can i do to kill of the hair algae.

I plan on putting a bunch 10-15 pep. for the algae.
I wont really feed anything for the 3 tangs that are there.

So I'm thinking lots of GFO and start dosing vodka. As well as individually scrub the rocks on a near daily basis. Please lend me advice or tell me that what my plans are good, bad or other.
Thanks,
derek

 

[Palting]

Other than bleaching and rinsing the sand, I think you've got a good plan. I truthfully don't like to re-use sand. Just fiddling with the sand releases all kinds of toxins, and the cleaning out isn't worth it. I would just use new sand.

I assume RODI water is what you plan to use as well. Time, patience, and your plan should work.

Congrats on the freebie!!

 

[marti224]

Don't dry out the live rock! That kills all the "good" stuff on the rocks and once you return it your tank it will cause the nitrates to spike from all of the dead organisms. A better idea is to place this rock in a separate container/tank at normal conditions and keep it in the dark for a few days. This will kill off most of the algae. For the rocks with coral I would remove as much hair algae as possible with my hand and spend some money on blue-legged crabs and turbo snails as they will clean up the rest. At least 100 crabs for a 125 gallon. As for the aptasia just get the Joe's Juice and fight it the best you can.

 

[d-man]

there is alot of aptasia, way to much to just juice them.

 

[89Foxbody]

Blue and Red Leg hermits will wipe out the hair algae in short order provided you get enough of them. As far as the aiptasia, separate out the rock and try something like Aiptasia-X on them first before you kill off everything that's on them.

 

[d-man]

cant the hermits be disruptive later?

 

[natereinhold1]

Reds and blues usually aren't to bad, just watch out for the ones with one larger claw, all of the different speicies that I have had, after growing larger, with that claw setup ended being fish killers. It could be coincidence(sp?), but I've had it happen too often personaly to trust them.

 

[89Foxbody]

The blue and red legs are considered reef safe. If you see some with a grayish color those are the ones which can become fish aggressive as well as prey on corals and snails when they are hungry enough.

 

[The_Codfather]

If you are going to nuke the rock the only way is to let it soak in in a bleach mix for some time and then a muriatic acid dip to rid the rock of any organic matter left.. use the rock as a base rock and use good live rock to seed it.. Did it with 200lbs of fiji live rock covered with bubble algae.. why risk anything coming back when it's that bad
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=17140441

 

[tkeracer619]

The rock is going to be loaded with phosphates.

Manual removal, gfo, and even carbon dosing is the best solution.

He didn't maintain it properly and if you do it will come back without too much trouble.

Those tangs will make it hard to maintain without a large skimmer.

I like using an insulin syringe and liquid calcium to inject the aptasia. They die on the spot. Eventually you will get most of them and can really start working over a few rocks at a time. You will be in there getting hair algae so its not that much of a pain.