Green hair algae

jj1

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Hi there i’m setting up a 200 L Reef tank I have all the equipment protein skimmer UV canister led lighting ect i’m about to add the salt water and start getting matured rock in there yesterday someone gave up their tank 30liters
Has two black clownfish some hermits snails and two beautiful bits of rock the only trouble is the rock has a hair algae on it can I add this rock to my new tank with a better cleanup crew to cycle the tank there’s nothing in it yet just sand or is this a bad idea or Just get a new rock
 

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Hi there i’m setting up a 200 L Reef tank I have all the equipment protein skimmer UV canister led lighting ect i’m about to add the salt water and start getting matured rock in there yesterday someone gave up their tank 30liters
Has two black clownfish some hermits snails and two beautiful bits of rock the only trouble is the rock has a hair algae on it can I add this rock to my new tank with a better cleanup crew to cycle the tank there’s nothing in it yet just sand or is this a bad idea or Just get a new rock
+1 vote Bad idea. Get a new rock - rocks are easy. green hair algae (GHA) is evil

I've been fighting GHA for many months. Has killed some corals. Treatment has killed even more coral. If it had never gotten in, my life and checkbook would be happier...
 

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Scrub the rock with a clean stiff brush and rinse thoroughly with clean salt water. You won't lose the beneficial bacteria. All the detritus will be removed. The cause of the gha on the rock was likely a combo of the condition of the previous tank it was in and dirty rocks. The rock will be fine and carry the beneficial bacteria you need.
 

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Scrub the rock with a clean stiff brush and rinse thoroughly with clean salt water. You won't lose the beneficial bacteria. All the detritus will be removed. The cause of the gha on the rock was likely a combo of the condition of the previous tank it was in and dirty rocks. The rock will be fine and carry the beneficial bacteria you need.
and this doesn't kill GHA roots...
 
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jj1

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This was there tank it was really bad had the algae everywhere back of the glass all over the sand wave maker everywhere did a complete removal of the fish and invertebrates blasted the rock with a Turkey baster and cleaned the tank this is what’s left
E940B9D2-90BD-43C3-B1B4-C442358F2BD2.jpeg
 

kados

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Nice job. You could easily clean those rocks in a bucket and put them back. That will take care of the detritus on the rock and surface algae. I'm a fowlr guy and have owned mostly large sized tanks with messy fish. A good brush and regular cleanings, vacuuming are my defenses. Cleanup crew would be snacks in my tank. I do the scrubbing right in the tank since it never gets too bad. In your case you can pull them out a couple at a time.
 
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jj1

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Ok cool this is the big tank am setting up I’ll get some salt water tomorrow and a brush thank u
 

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Tired

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Scrubbing algae off isn't necessarily a good idea. It clears off ALL the algae, including the beneficial stuff that can outcompete the hair algae for space. Might be the only option if you can't have any CUC, but for tanks that can, pulling the long tufts of hair algae out so the cleanup can eat the short stuff can do the trick.

Scrubbing the rock once to try to remove the hair algae can be fine, but you shouldn't be regularly scrubbing your rocks, it prevents the rock from maturing and building up the algae that prevents pest species getting established.
 
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jj1

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Scrubbing algae off isn't necessarily a good idea. It clears off ALL the algae, including the beneficial stuff that can outcompete the hair algae for space. Might be the only option if you can't have any CUC, but for tanks that can, pulling the long tufts of hair algae out so the cleanup can eat the short stuff can do the trick.

Scrubbing the rock once to try to remove the hair algae can be fine, but you shouldn't be regularly scrubbing your rocks, it prevents the rock from maturing and building up the algae that prevents pest species getting established.
Was going to get a lawnmower benny and some snails would that work not going to scrub hard trying to do as much cleaning as possible without disturbing to much of the tank before I put it in the new one
 

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Should be good, depending on what type and number of snails. The main thing is to remember that snails can't eat the long algae, so you have to pull that by hand. Literally just pinch it in your fingers and pull it out. Preferably set a snail right on top of a patch after you finish yanking it, so they learn they can eat there.
 

kados

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I can understand wanting some algae for fish to graze or CUC and agree that some algae can help prevent other more nuisance algaes from developing. I have tangs mixed in there and keep them fat with nori for veggies needs. But my aquascape (again fowlr) is a compliment to the fish for me. I don't carry any visible algae. So when I say scrub in my case it means touch up cleaning when necessary right before a water change. The deep scrub was after cycling at that time. UV sterilizer keeps the glass clean so manual work keeps my rocks clean. But again I like the crisp brand new look. Sand gets cleaned changed too. In my mixed reef tanks previously I didn't go as deep cleaning but that's part of the reason I didn't enjoy them as much. The look not the cleaning part lol.
 

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The algae I'm talking about wanting is coraline, and some of the slow-growing green algaes. You don't really see pest algae growing across coraline, after all, unless something's wildly out of whack.

Plus, I've never been a fan of all white. It looks unnatural. Never seen a pure white reef in my life, except the bleached ones, and even those have algae somewhere in there.

If it's working for you and you like the look, fair enough. But it's not generally a good approach for a reef. The goal of a reef is lots of biodiversity, including that healthy, established algae layer that competes with pest algae without bothering corals.
 

kados

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The algae I'm talking about wanting is coraline, and some of the slow-growing green algaes. You don't really see pest algae growing across coraline, after all, unless something's wildly out of whack.

Plus, I've never been a fan of all white. It looks unnatural. Never seen a pure white reef in my life, except the bleached ones, and even those have algae somewhere in there.

If it's working for you and you like the look, fair enough. But it's not generally a good approach for a reef. The goal of a reef is lots of biodiversity, including that healthy, established algae layer that competes with pest algae without bothering corals.
 

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Either that's painted to look like algae, or you have algae. Coraline does count.

Looks like a pretty display case. I can see why you'd like it that way, but I like a slightly wilder look. Algae and color variation and all that. Heck, if hair algae didn't smother everything out, I'd like a patch of it. Great pod habitat, and the movement is nice. It's the "spreads everywhere" and the "irritates corals" that are a problem.
 

kados

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Either that's painted to look like algae, or you have algae. Coraline does count.

Looks like a pretty display case. I can see why you'd like it that way, but I like a slightly wilder look. Algae and color variation and all that. Heck, if hair algae didn't smother everything out, I'd like a patch of it. Great pod habitat, and the movement is nice. It's the "spreads everywhere" and the "irritates corals" that are a problem.
It's Caribsea liferock. It comes painted to look like coralline. I did allow coralline on my previous setups with Fiji Live Rock. I completely agree with you on the benefit. I switched out from true live rock when I moved and sold my previous tank. Ha, I hear you. The natural look totally looks more realistic with different growths and colors. Most reefers would prefer that over my setup. I have the sterile day 1 look lol. But that's what I like.
 
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