Valonia vs Bleach - Round 1 - Ding! Ding!

[sharuq1]

I had some type of valonia or relative to in my first tank. (looked like sausages but was quite hard to get off the rocks and any bit left turned into more.) Horrible invasive stuff, along with caulerpa, bryopsis.

I have to say +1 on the blowtorch! I got sooo sick of this infested rock I torched every outside area and fried every bit of it off. Then I left the rock in a circulating tub in the dark for months and did several WC's (lots of die off). Later there was still some life to the rocks, just nothing that had been on the outside of it. (as in I found some pods in there, dusters etc.) The coralline died of course but I think the "inner" rock lived as it did not get hot, just the surface did. I understand the whole problem of "1 spore" getting in, however if your problem is this bad and you're already considering it.... You've been in sw long enough to know the bio-ramifications of doing extreme things with LR (cooking, etc) as well as adding critters, so I won't bother even talking about that. Granted this doesn't guarantee the rock will be free of it forever. All I can say is that on that particular bunch of rocks, it killed it, it has not come back and I got to burn something.

(Oh and +10000 on personal satisfaction of burning. Die algae die!!!)

[OCDP]

Something about Bleach also doesn't sound right to me... it seems risky.

[Zoaelite]

Originally Posted by OCDP

Something about Bleach also doesn't sound right to me... it seems risky.

Agreed, bleach is powerfull stuff! No point in nuking the rock when you can go with a much more natural way like sphelps has suggested.

[Myka]

Originally Posted by i2as kass

No point in nuking the rock when you can go with a much more natural way like sphelps has suggested.

We're talking about 25-30lbs of rock here, so it's not much pocket damage risk. Buying critters to eat Valonia is VERY hit or miss. My tank is as stocked as I ever want it to be. There isn't room for any more critters.

I did think of adding an Emerald crab recently, so I made up a poll on CanReef, and it seems like the chances of an Emerald crab eating Valonia is rather slim!

Anyone have a Valonia eating Emerald crab they want to lend me???

[untamed]

I wish I knew WHY I've never had problems with Valonia...my tanks have always had some but it has never multiplied to any problem level.

If you don't already have one, try adding a refugium. Grow some good algae there (maybe even valonia). That may use up nutrients and the valonia won't be able to get out of control in the main tank. You'll likely still have to weed it manually out of the display until you get growth in the 'fuge, though.

[Myka]

Originally Posted by untamed

I wish I knew WHY I've never had problems with Valonia...my tanks have always had some but it has never multiplied to any problem level.

If you don't already have one, try adding a refugium. Grow some good algae there (maybe even valonia). That may use up nutrients and the valonia won't be able to get out of control in the main tank. You'll likely still have to weed it manually out of the display until you get growth in the 'fuge, though.

This is the first tank I've ever had that had any issues with Valonia...and I've had a lot of tanks over the last 15 years.

I don't have a fuge on this tank, but I'm in the process of moving it over to a 40g breeder, and I'm trying to figure out a way to NOT move the Valonia with it! The 40g will have a fuge built into the sump, do you think I should just bite the bullet, move it over, and hope the fuge takes care of it all?

[mark]

I would stay away from bleach even with Prime. Likely you'll kill off everything else beneficial and some spores of the bubble would survive.