Cleaning liverock help!!!

[FishyFrick31]

I'm new to this. Though I have years of experience with fish working in pet stores etc. this is personally my first time working on a reef tank.
A few questions for you about live rock etc.....
1.) how do you clean the algae off of live rock? 2.) what do you advise cleaning a live rock with? 3.) what if the live rock has corals on it?
4.) how often do you usually clean live rock?
5.) what types of organisms are best for cleaning liverock in a reef tank??

If you guys can give me personal advice or send me any how to videos that you think would greatly help me out with any or all of these questions I would really appreciate it.

 

[Mebbid]

1, 2, & 3 - That depends entirely on what kind of algae it is. Most times a tooth brush and siphon will work.

4 - The only cleaning I ever do of my live rock is taking a turkey baster and blowing it off occasionally. This will depend entirely on how your tank is behaving.

5 - For cleaning live rock I would probably choose to use some hermit crabs. Astrea, turbo, and turban snails are also good choices for a clean up crew. Urchins will also help clean the algae off of rocks.

A lot of these answers depend entirely what your algae problems are. For the most part algae problems are solved by low nitrates and phosphates. If you want to take some pictures of the problem areas we can help guide you more.

 

[mr_X]

Please make a single post with your question. There is no need for multiple posts.

 

[ivan_dalmatia]

I'm new to this. Though I have years of experience with fish working in pet stores etc. this is personally my first time working on a reef tank.
A few questions for you about live rock etc.....
1.) how do you clean the algae off of live rock? 2.) what do you advise cleaning a live rock with? 3.) what if the live rock has corals on it?
4.) how often do you usually clean live rock?
5.) what types of organisms are best for cleaning liverock in a reef tank??

If you guys can give me personal advice or send me any how to videos that you think would greatly help me out with any or all of these questions I would really appreciate it.

You might want to clean your rock if its a new system. But for everything else,,,, thats a marine tank, it should all fall into place if you have the proper crew and lighting (i think is most important in a reef tank) as mentioned you will not have to clean your rock.

 

[FishyFrick31]

1, 2, & 3 - That depends entirely on what kind of algae it is. Most times a tooth brush and siphon will work.

4 - The only cleaning I ever do of my live rock is taking a turkey baster and blowing it off occasionally. This will depend entirely on how your tank is behaving.

5 - For cleaning live rock I would probably choose to use some hermit crabs. Astrea, turbo, and turban snails are also good choices for a clean up crew. Urchins will also help clean the algae off of rocks.

A lot of these answers depend entirely what your algae problems are. For the most part algae problems are solved by low nitrates and phosphates. If you want to take some pictures of the problem areas we can help guide you more.

The type of algae I have is that grassy type.. It grew on my Alabama river rock mostly.. It also grew on the rock in my tank that wasn't live rock but just regular white.. And also it's growing on the glass..( I keep scrubbing it off the front glass and both side glasses but the man at the fish store says its good to keep the back glass as dirty as it comes. Here's a picture of the type of algae it is..

 

[ivan_dalmatia]

Not the rock you want in a saltwater tank. No pores=no bacteria and a sh** load of unnecessary pounds added to your tank.
Your hole ST tank evolves around your LR and LS

 

[FishyFrick31]

Not the rock you want in a saltwater tank. No pores=no bacteria and a sh** load of unnecessary pounds added to your tank.
Your hole ST tank evolves around your LR and LS

So what does all of those letters mean lol

 

[Mebbid]

So what does all of those letters mean lol

Well the sh** is a bad word which I wont repeat

The ST I am assuming is a typo for DT which is Display Tank

LR and LS is live rock and live sand

Ivan is correct about the live rock. I would invest in some dry rock from Bulk Reef supply. It will help you control ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates.

What are your parameters? Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, and Phosphate

The best way I found for manual removal of the hair algae is to rubber band a small diameter plastic tubing to a brush. Then you can let the other end of the tube hang out of the tank into the bucket. Then you just need to start the siphon and start scrubbing.

The hair algae really needs to be removed from the tank entirely or else it will just grow wherever it lands.

How long has this tank been set up?

 

[ivan_dalmatia]

No matter how long? He's got the wrong rock, start the cycle as a marine tank not a fresh water tank. You'll get rid of your agley by replacing you rock (Getting rid of your rock)

 

[Mebbid]

No matter how long? He's got the wrong rock, start the cycle as a marine tank not a fresh water tank. You'll get rid of your agley by replacing you rock (Getting rid of your rock)

That's not necessarily true. The only benefit live rock has over regular rock for a salt water tank is that it aids in controlling nitrate levels. There are plenty of other methods out there to do the same thing.

Age of the tank is really really important. If its a new tank it will have more issues with algae than an aged tank. Most new tanks go through a hair algae phase when establishing themselves.

I would like to add that live rock could potentially help. But it will by no means solve the issue entirely.

 

[ivan_dalmatia]

That's not necessarily true. The only benefit live rock has over regular rock for a salt water tank is that it aids in controlling nitrate levels. There are plenty of other methods out there to do the same thing.

Age of the tank is really really important. If its a new tank it will have more issues with algae than an aged tank. Most new tanks go through a hair algae phase when establishing themselves.

I would like to add that live rock could potentially help. But it will by no means solve the issue entirely.

And you took it out of a freshwater and trying to make it saltwater?

 

[Mebbid]

And you took it out of a freshwater and trying to make it saltwater?

What difference does it make? About 30% of the rock in my tank is lace rock and I am having absolutely no issues at all with my tank.

Algae is an issue revolving around water quality not the rock it's growing on.

 

[FishyFrick31]

And you took it out of a freshwater and trying to make it saltwater?

I bought the "freshwater" rock from a saltwater fish store lol it came with live rock growth already on it so your wrong about that, but I already discovered the reason why I'm getting hair algae is because the light was being left on to long. We didn't get a timer yet so we were leaving it on 10-12 hours a day rather than 6-8..

Yes it is a new tank 6-7 weeks old.

Our clean up crew consists of:
12 carribean blue legged hermit crabs
6 nassarius snails
2 gobys (1 orange spotted/1 yellow head)

It's a 55 gallon aquarium and I plan on putting corals in it as soon as I fix this green haired algae problem.

Let me know if you can help me fix it.

I'm new to this. Though I have years of experience with fish working in pet stores etc. this is personally my first time working on a reef tank.
A few questions for you about live rock etc.....
1.) how do you clean the algae off of live rock? 2.) what do you advise cleaning a live rock with? 3.) what if the live rock has corals on it?
4.) how often do you usually clean live rock?
5.) what types of organisms are best for cleaning liverock in a reef tank??

If you guys can give me personal advice or send me any how to videos that you think would greatly help me out with any or all of these questions I would really appreciate it.

 

[Mebbid]

Scrubbing it off with a brush while siphoning right over it is the best way for manual removal.

Reducing nutrients in the water is the best method for controlling it

 

[vshawn]

algae is normal in a new tank, I would keep scrubbing and keep up on tank maintenance. clean rock as often as you see it come back the quicker you get the nutrients out of tank by removing algae the quicker it will disappear. do it everyday if you have make sure your water changes are current check your parameters so you were your at also

 

[mr_X]

dbl post

 

[mr_X]

algae is normal in a new tank

It's not normal, but it is a common mistake for newcomers to cause a nutrient rich environment.

Reducing nutrients in the water is the best method for controlling it

You can scrub that rock all day long and you aren't going to solve any problem if you continue your current feeding/husbandry.
Reduce the nutrients in the system and wait it out. You'll overcome it in a short time.