long green hair algea and lotts of it.....

[reddragon]

thanx for the info guys/gals!

Well the very little I do have the LMB eat no problem, I turn the 10K lights on the tank and you can see the green on the rocks and it is not filum algae the LMB just keeps it very short and all the snails keep it down and hermits once the coriline algae grows over the area green is gone for good. I've never seen LMB that will not eat HA if it is very short. but to totaly get rig of it you have to get the roos out kind of like crab grass in your lawn and garden.

Bill

[Coleus]

if there is no fish and no coral. Can i just turn off the light for a week. Will it kill all the HA?

Also will it come back once the light is back on?

no fish and no corals you can turn the lights off for a month if you want all rock needs is salt water and cirulation and not much of that pluss heat helps.

Billpluck as much as you can while the lights are out as when the algae dies it releases the phosphate back into the water. skimm wet and this should help take some of the excess dead free floating algae out also.

Bill

[Coleus]

Thanks Bill

[Werbo]

If you are already experiencing HA with no fish your live rock is probably not fully cured and/or leaching nitrates/phosphates.

If you are just starting the tank then I'd seriously consider "cooking" the live rock.

Do search as there are many threads on cooking live rock. IMO it is the best way to start a tank and minimize problem HA down the road.

Yes cook rock kill everything and anything that is good on it all he really needs to do is lights off for probably a month and weekly water changes. pluck as much HA off as he can and keep at it. It sounds like this rock maybe used rock but tank is newish Jan 2010 or so from. I do not cook rock as you kill everything that is good and you might as well start with dead dry rock, if you are going to do that. I did cook some rock by accident heater stuck and the temp probe I had was not working right so I put a good old glass temp thermometer in and found that it was up to 87 degrees. good thing I was just starting my cycle out or I would be upset. I know allot of people cook their rock I do not, I let nature do its thing and I pluck. Maybe use a bit of boiling water on the worst spots it will affect about 1 inch around where you use the boiling water, but it will kill everything it touches and leave some of the good stuff behind.

Bill

[naesco]

I agree with the either poster.
Hair algae growth especially the long stringy stuff is quite normal when you first start up a tank.
Remove it from the glass and the rock as best you can, do a water change and after you have waited a month after your tank has cycled and than add a fish or two take stock of the problem.
If the problem becomes a serious problem consider borrowing a sea hare from someone making sure you acclimate it very slowly. Remove him when almost all the algae is gone or you will starve her to death.
Cooking the rock in your case is extreme. It will kill not only the algae but all living things including encrusting coral, worms, pods, bacteria, good algae, squirts, tiny invertebrates like snails and crabs etcetera.
In other words all the good stuff your fish and coral need.