cleaning rock / killing algea ...what to do

[albie611]

i have a batch of my old rock that is covered in red gracilaria and i have tried everything. no light , trie to pull it off and scrubbed the rock....... no luck yet ...it just wont die off.

the rock has been sitting in a fresh batch of salt water with a heater set at 86 and no light for 2 weeks..but the algea is still alive

question is ......what will kill the algea so that i can use the rock again without it comming back.?

going to try..... 1 rock in vinegar, and 1 rock in hydrogen peroxide to see witch one works better
whats your experience / thoughts on it

 

[TanksNStuff]

My first question would be why are you trying to get rid of gracilaria? It's a good macro algae to have in your tank. I would think a few tangs would munch on it if you really wanted it gone. Worst case, leave it in the sump/fuge to help with filtration.

If you're not happy with that solution, remove the rock from the water completely and just let everything on it die off. It could take a few weeks, but I don't think much of anything would survive out of water for very long.

After everything is dead, you'll want to scrub all the dead stuff off and then start to "cook" it in fresh salt water/heater. Using a piece of LR to seed it and/or adding a biological cycle "boost" product will help speed that up.

Good luck.

 

[redfishbluefish]

I wouldn’t use vinegar, unless it was for a very short period of time…..a dip. Vinegar will dissolve this stuff that we call rock, because it really is just a bunch of calcium deposits.

The other option, if the wife isn’t home, and you can vent the odor from your house, is to put it in the oven and “cook” it. I believe 350 for 30 to 60 minutes would produce a nice tender (and odiferous) cooked algae. As mentioned above, you would then have to cycle the rock before using.

But I do like George’s options of either leaving it or using it as a snack for some tangs. I tried growing macro algae in my tank in the presence of three tangs, and the macro didn’t last more then a few days…..tang food.

 

[MadReefer]

You can also try 50/50 hydrogen peroxide salt water dip. Be sure to rinse the rock in only salt water after be fore putting it back in the tank.

 

[albie611]

thanks for the sugestions..

.the rock was in my display tank and the red gracilaria grew like a weed, covering most of the rock structure then after Irene it got covered in hair algeas. so i want to clean the rock completely and dont want the chance that a few strands survive and cover the rock again.