Been battling hair algae for a while. Identified the source of no4 and po4 and started running gfo. Got the source in check but HA persists. I have an urchin, which seems to do very little. I just got a sea hare yesterday too. I have almost no coralline algae in my tank and I see some good deals on LR out there. Should I replace it all?? Would you? Any downsides?
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Total live rock replacement?
- Thread starter BryanDuggan
- Start date
I also have some unattractive palys that took over more real estate that I'd prefer.
I'm emptying the skimmer about once a week.
Edwardw771
NJRC Member
I'll bring a 10 gallon tank to work and come over and help you put all the corals in there. Then redo that tank. What night works?
That would be great. I'm around Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday, really most days...
How old is the tank, there is "new tank syndrome" which a lot of people go through. I did myself. A lot of Water changes, GFO, sucking out the GHA, Diatoms are all part of it. I just kept up with the maintenance and it went away by itself after about 2 months.
IMHO, If you bought the live rock from one of the known suppliers, you are risking the same thing happening by replacing it. I think all rock will leach in the beginning.
IMHO, If you bought the live rock from one of the known suppliers, you are risking the same thing happening by replacing it. I think all rock will leach in the beginning.
Edwardw771
NJRC Member
I gave him the rock over 6 months back.
The tank was started valentines day last year, so it's about 15 months old? Went through new tank syndrome while making the typical noob mistakes, feeding too much and not skimming.
My alk swings are the only problem I have yet to correct. I manually dose,but not cafefully or often enough, so that's something to improve on. I do 10 gallon wc's every 2-3 weeks on 33 gallons so that helps matters. Was buying bad water, fixed thAt, and for two months now my po4 has been 0 most of the time.
Sand bad is original. I moved in January and got a lot of dirt out then. Overall the tank perked up at the time but the HA hasn't improved any in 6 months. My cuc is lacking, lost most of it in the move, so I've been trying my luck with a bicolor blenny, an urchin, and now a sea hare.
My alk swings are the only problem I have yet to correct. I manually dose,but not cafefully or often enough, so that's something to improve on. I do 10 gallon wc's every 2-3 weeks on 33 gallons so that helps matters. Was buying bad water, fixed thAt, and for two months now my po4 has been 0 most of the time.
Sand bad is original. I moved in January and got a lot of dirt out then. Overall the tank perked up at the time but the HA hasn't improved any in 6 months. My cuc is lacking, lost most of it in the move, so I've been trying my luck with a bicolor blenny, an urchin, and now a sea hare.
I too was recently battling a HA problem with otherwise OK water params. Added a couple of Mexican turbo snails (the big ones) and was amazed at how thoroughly they scrubbed each and every rock. Just don't get too many though, because once all the HA is gone you don't want them to starve to death.
Sent from my phone
Sent from my phone
I presently have almost no coralline which is part of the appeal to buying new rock.
Is that the tank water or from your water change. Chances are if your having Algae problems the algae is consuming the po4 before you can even test for it.
You could try taking a small rock piece out and see if it's leaching, by putting it in Ro/Di water, which has been testing prior to putting it in. If it's was in bad water for a while, it's going to take a bit of time to leach back out. I would check everything, your food, your water going into your WC. A CUC is important, a quick order from reefcleaners and that problem easily solved.
Hang in there, Hair algae sucks, but with good tank maintenance you'll get past it.
You could try taking a small rock piece out and see if it's leaching, by putting it in Ro/Di water, which has been testing prior to putting it in. If it's was in bad water for a while, it's going to take a bit of time to leach back out. I would check everything, your food, your water going into your WC. A CUC is important, a quick order from reefcleaners and that problem easily solved.
Hang in there, Hair algae sucks, but with good tank maintenance you'll get past it.
Coralline will grow when the conditions are right, and probably like most people you will wish you can get rid of it when it start growing everywhere. Did you ever seed your thank with some? If not, just get some chips from someone and put it in (not sure if that really works, but it's stated often enough).
Tank rocks started out all purple, Ed hooked me up with some nice ones out of his tank. I had a few problems along the way including a tank crash from overheating, so I'm probably paying the price from that and a few mistakes along the way. I just tested po4 and got .05 prior to my water change, 3 weeks since my last WC.
Nitrates are 0.
alk 8.
Nitrates are 0.
alk 8.
Bryan
You do know that the urchin eats coraline that's why you don't have any?
Bob
Those things love the stuff. My frag tank is a coraline factory. Every now amd then I throw him in there to clean the glass
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I think I did know that but I had already lost all my coralline so figured it was worth a shot.
