What to do about GHA on frag plugs?

[aquadonkey]

Hi friends - I have some frag plugs (with zoanthids on them) that are growing green hair algae like crazy.....
Theoretically, it would be nice to create a hostile environment for GHA - and just eliminate it all, but I'm also perhaps a little lazy for that. The tank looks clean in general and I'm pretty happy with it.
That said, probably 90% of the GHA in the tank is on these plugs - just grows back when I pull it off. Any suggestions?

 

[Capt_Cully]

Turbo snails? They wreak havoc by bull dozing, but it'd be a cheap n easy way to give laziness a chance.

 

[aquadonkey]

...... give laziness a chance.

That would be a good song lyric!

Hmm.... I think if that is my only lazy option, I might just have to buck up and do a little more work. The urchin is already banished to the sump for being clumsy (or in his case, purposefully wreaking havoc).

I think in the future I will just avoid anything on a plug.....

 

[lcs]

You could remove them from the plug and glue them right to the rock. I've never tried it, but I think lots of people do that as they don't like the look of the plugs.

I just added astrea snails and one just did a great job cleaning off one of my plugs. The zoas weren't real happy for a while, but they got over it.

 

[pascal32]

If you are using regular plugs, you should soak them in RODI for a couple months and change the water weekly. The plugs leach stuff that GHA likes and makes a great base for it.

alternatively you can switch to ceramic plugs, which I would still soak for at least 2 weeks even though they say you don't have to.

Ever since I started soaking plugs I haven't had this issue. Recently I had some that had been soaking, but forgot to change out the RODI and I had algae growing on them.

enjoy

 

[aquadonkey]

Thanks guys - I'll look into taking the zoas off the plugs for now - those things really are algae magnets!

 

[tmz]

Once,the corals are off,I put the plugs in a plastic coffee can filled with half bleach/half water for a few hours to destroy the algae and any other orgnaic material. Then to another can with ro water and dechlorinator for a day. Then I let them dry before putting them into another can with ro with a little lanthanum chloride in it where they are kept until I reuse them . I suspect they have a lot of PO4 leaching but haven't tested it .

 

[pascal32]

Once,the corals are off,I put the plugs in a plastic coffee can filled with half bleach/half water for a few hours to destroy the algae and any other orgnaic material. Then to another can with ro water and dechlorinator for a day. Then I let them dry before putting them into another can with ro with a little lanthanum chloride in it where they are kept until I reuse them . I suspect they have a lot of PO4 leaching but haven't tested it .

that interesting, never thought about using LaCl3 to remove phosphate from plugs. You think this could be used to accelerate the "curing" process? how much are you mixing and where are you buying from?

sorry for the hi-jack on the thread

 

[Rockys_Pride]

Do a 50/50 dip of tank water and hydrogen peroxide for 5 min. I also scrubbed the HA off with a toothbrush. Worked wonders for me. 5 min of work and still algae free 3 months later.

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