Turf Algae -

[Mr aqua]

How do I get rid of this stuff? I have isolated patches growing on my LR and spent at least an hour peeling this junk off. As the name suggests, it looks like astro turf, bright green and short. Fingers got raw trying to pry the thick patches off.

My purple tang does a pretty good job of keeping the tank algae free but rarely touches the stuff. All the vetrans in my circle can't come up with any thoughts besides manual removal, which I don't have a problem with, except I can't get all of it off.

Any thoughts?

 

[bluenassarius]

pull it out of y our tank and burn the rock where it is affected. you will have to cure your rock again, but at least you will have the piece of mind that it won't come back.

 

[jimmyray]

Wow...that's a bit extreme. Is the algae slimy or rough? If you have a picture, post it. Manual removal will work is you keep at it, maybe scrub the rock with a brush in a rubbermaid tub.

 

[Mr aqua]

My thoughts exactly. Although I do have a blow torch... haha.

Jimmyray, it's the rough crap. My thumb went raw scraping it off at the "root". Managed to pull off the clumps and am keeping up on "dusting" the tank daily to prevent detritus pockets to settle which these turf patchs seem to feed off of.

With any luck my tang will prefer to eat the softer parts of the algae...

anyone else?

 

[garvin90]

Get a royal urchin, and to boot, the urchin will let you know its happy by wearing what it hasnt eaten yet. Mine does a great job mowing it down. If your system is big(75+) I would get 2 if your have alot of it.

 

[Chad Vossen]

some of my smaller rocks, i boiled them. the hair algae turned an interesting green color then clear then gone. i think boiling the rock helps remove nutrients traped in the rocks as well.

blow torch might be better on larger rocks. have fun and i hope you dont have corals growing on these rocks lol

 

[jimmyray]

Boiling your rock will kill most if not all of the beneficial life in the rock. You'd have some very expensive lace rock on your hands. Boiling, blowtorches, nuclear strikes... these are all extreme measures. Why don't we try the simple things first... yes, it might take a few months, but it's worth it not to have to tear down the tank and kill your rock.

I think manual removal with a good clean-up crew of mexican turbos/urchins/etc. would be a good first shot.

 

[Mr aqua]

Jimmyray, my sentiments exactly. I "dust" my tank more often to prevent detritus settling and manually remove what I can. I'm planning on a tuxedo urchin combined with purple tang. I have some red algae I know the tang could pick on all day long and tuxedo urchins usually do a good job. Its a 20 gal system so not too much is needed. Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

Now what about hydroids? got a minor infestation I need to kill off. they are getting to be an annoying eye sore...

 

[cw150]

Nasso tang will virtually eliminate it, but your tank is probably too small for one.

 

[ziggy222]

i could be wrong but i think what she meant by burning the rock was that you should keep it in the dark until the algae dies off.

 

[crustin]

i second the mexican tubros, those things are awesome