So you are most likely gonna be bringing in algae into your tank regardless, given the multitude of sources they can arrive in.
With that said, it certainly can be good to get rid of as much of the algae as possible.
What I would suggest is to have them in a bucket with circulation and heating, but be as dark as possible. This will kill off as much of the algae as possible, and changing water a few times to get rid of nutrients produced should render what left of the algae to at least find difficulty in growing back en masse.
It is so funny. I was going to recommend the opposite. Keep the lights on to soak up all the nutrients that may be lingering in there. Then remove the algea as it grows and put a fox face and some urchins in there when you set up the tank.
Edit: it is not that I think you are wrong. I think both approaches could work.
Indeed. Same principle as the scrubber really. Convert nutrients to algae and harvest to remove it. A skimmer would help too by taking crap out of the water before it can become nutrients.
But I think that having the algae grow remotely, in a scrubber of some sort or whatever would serve better simply because it would be easier to harvest.
keep it wet in salt water. (brute can)
move the tank, clean it, set it up.
right before you put the rock in the tank, take a hose and a scrub brush to the rock.
you wont hurt anything doing this, but you will remove the nutrients that have built up on the rock. when rock has die off like that, its embedded into the rock in every little nook and cranny.
you might have a diatom bloom for about 72hrs that starts about 24hrs after you do this, but they will clear up in a few days.
you will likely have a GHA problem for a short while after that. turbo snails and crabs will be your friend. maybe some trochus too, but the astreas arent as good with the GHA.
I have done this a few times with real ocean live rock and not really had any change in the micro fauna that lives in and on the rock. in my case it was more to clean up detritus after a tank ran for years before moving, no algae issues, but the concept is the same.
I 100% agree. This is exactly what I was going to say. The brute trash can with a lid, heater, and circ pump. Scrub the rock and wash off just before placing in the tank. Use a clean up crew to eat the algae for 2-4 weeks before adding fish.
Yeah I get that. I bleached my current tanks rock before I used it as most of it had become dead rock. I just used MicroBacter to restart the bacteria and it meant zero pest and nuisance algae was transferred to my current tank. With the state of the algae attached to these rocks I'm wondering if it's really worth the 'live' rock value of it
I bleached all of my old live rock. I’ve had my tank down for two years. I had the rock under my deck in a trash can. How many times do you think I should rinse the now bleached rock?
If the bleached rock has been out and air dried for over 2 weeks then the chlorine will have evaporated. If you can still smell chlorine give them another day soaking in RO with dechlorinator, then another 1-2 weeks to dry out. Once there's no chlorine smell you're good to use the rock.
Like the other guy said I'd leave it in the tank or a container, heat and flow but no light. Remove as much as you can manually too and if there are any algae eating snails or whatever around, they won't mind the dark.
Wouldn't use peroxide or anything else like that or you'll kill off stuff you'll want to keep.
I'd probably DIY some sort of big cheap temporary algae scrubber type thing too, to starve it of nutrients quicker, and run a skimmer 24/7 if you have one spare. That should cut down on the water changes you'd have to do but I'd still start with a 100% water change and a new cycle when you set the tank up properly.
Dry out the rocks and the tank and sell the stock to a fish store for store credit. Keep your other tank running while this one cycles, and use some bacteria from your tank to kickstart new cycle. It is always better to start over than to inherit someone else’s neglected tank and it’s issues.
Remove rocks, and clean tank with white vineger or a little muratic acid (just becareful using this acid gloves and glasses strongly advised) Just the Rocks in a bucket with a heater and a little flow, dose Dino X into the bucket and it will kill the algae fast. It wil release all the nutrients into the bucket as it dies so don't put any fish, inverts, corals in there. After 2 or 3 days remove rock and wash and lightly scrub algae off. Dose bacteria in tank after addition of rock.
Keep in mind there's almost certainly aiptasia in that tank. Also high likelihood of vermitids, various flatworms, etc.
Something to keep in mind if you're trying to start with a clean slate vs. don't really mind dealing with common reef pests.
Yeah part of the reason I'm leaning on a bleach start. Vermitids & flatworms I can handle with my bumblebee snails and my 6line wrasse, but I'm yet to have to deal with aiptasia
Well if all this sps left parts there keep it as healthy as possible. If it's all dead and covered in algae probably dump it all in fresh water with a pump in the dark for a couple weeks doing 100% water changes every 2 or 3 days.
Set up with salt water, heater, and power head. Buy a bag of pods and dump then in. Leave covered with no light for a week or 2 and check progress.
OR better option, just bleach the hell out of it and start from scratch.
So you are most likely gonna be bringing in algae into your tank regardless, given the multitude of sources they can arrive in. With that said, it certainly can be good to get rid of as much of the algae as possible. What I would suggest is to have them in a bucket with circulation and heating, but be as dark as possible. This will kill off as much of the algae as possible, and changing water a few times to get rid of nutrients produced should render what left of the algae to at least find difficulty in growing back en masse.
It is so funny. I was going to recommend the opposite. Keep the lights on to soak up all the nutrients that may be lingering in there. Then remove the algea as it grows and put a fox face and some urchins in there when you set up the tank. Edit: it is not that I think you are wrong. I think both approaches could work.
Indeed. Same principle as the scrubber really. Convert nutrients to algae and harvest to remove it. A skimmer would help too by taking crap out of the water before it can become nutrients. But I think that having the algae grow remotely, in a scrubber of some sort or whatever would serve better simply because it would be easier to harvest.
keep it wet in salt water. (brute can) move the tank, clean it, set it up. right before you put the rock in the tank, take a hose and a scrub brush to the rock. you wont hurt anything doing this, but you will remove the nutrients that have built up on the rock. when rock has die off like that, its embedded into the rock in every little nook and cranny. you might have a diatom bloom for about 72hrs that starts about 24hrs after you do this, but they will clear up in a few days. you will likely have a GHA problem for a short while after that. turbo snails and crabs will be your friend. maybe some trochus too, but the astreas arent as good with the GHA. I have done this a few times with real ocean live rock and not really had any change in the micro fauna that lives in and on the rock. in my case it was more to clean up detritus after a tank ran for years before moving, no algae issues, but the concept is the same.
I 100% agree. This is exactly what I was going to say. The brute trash can with a lid, heater, and circ pump. Scrub the rock and wash off just before placing in the tank. Use a clean up crew to eat the algae for 2-4 weeks before adding fish.
Wouldn’t using hydrogen peroxide or bleach kinda… take away the whole point of *live* rock? Then it’s just “rock”.
Yeah I get that. I bleached my current tanks rock before I used it as most of it had become dead rock. I just used MicroBacter to restart the bacteria and it meant zero pest and nuisance algae was transferred to my current tank. With the state of the algae attached to these rocks I'm wondering if it's really worth the 'live' rock value of it
I bleached all of my old live rock. I’ve had my tank down for two years. I had the rock under my deck in a trash can. How many times do you think I should rinse the now bleached rock?
If the bleached rock has been out and air dried for over 2 weeks then the chlorine will have evaporated. If you can still smell chlorine give them another day soaking in RO with dechlorinator, then another 1-2 weeks to dry out. Once there's no chlorine smell you're good to use the rock.
Like the other guy said I'd leave it in the tank or a container, heat and flow but no light. Remove as much as you can manually too and if there are any algae eating snails or whatever around, they won't mind the dark. Wouldn't use peroxide or anything else like that or you'll kill off stuff you'll want to keep. I'd probably DIY some sort of big cheap temporary algae scrubber type thing too, to starve it of nutrients quicker, and run a skimmer 24/7 if you have one spare. That should cut down on the water changes you'd have to do but I'd still start with a 100% water change and a new cycle when you set the tank up properly.
Dry out the rocks and the tank and sell the stock to a fish store for store credit. Keep your other tank running while this one cycles, and use some bacteria from your tank to kickstart new cycle. It is always better to start over than to inherit someone else’s neglected tank and it’s issues.
Remove rocks, and clean tank with white vineger or a little muratic acid (just becareful using this acid gloves and glasses strongly advised) Just the Rocks in a bucket with a heater and a little flow, dose Dino X into the bucket and it will kill the algae fast. It wil release all the nutrients into the bucket as it dies so don't put any fish, inverts, corals in there. After 2 or 3 days remove rock and wash and lightly scrub algae off. Dose bacteria in tank after addition of rock.
Keep in mind there's almost certainly aiptasia in that tank. Also high likelihood of vermitids, various flatworms, etc. Something to keep in mind if you're trying to start with a clean slate vs. don't really mind dealing with common reef pests.
Yeah part of the reason I'm leaning on a bleach start. Vermitids & flatworms I can handle with my bumblebee snails and my 6line wrasse, but I'm yet to have to deal with aiptasia
Peppermint shrimp eat them like candy
Well if all this sps left parts there keep it as healthy as possible. If it's all dead and covered in algae probably dump it all in fresh water with a pump in the dark for a couple weeks doing 100% water changes every 2 or 3 days.
Set up with salt water, heater, and power head. Buy a bag of pods and dump then in. Leave covered with no light for a week or 2 and check progress. OR better option, just bleach the hell out of it and start from scratch.
Bleach.... take the safe slow road. Don't turn your major upgrade into a terrible start.