Cleaning dead algae from rocks after outbreak

[amanda121287]

Hi guys
Been wondering if you use any specific method to clean dead algae from the rocks after an algae bloom war has been successfully won without tearing everything apart.

I just had a start of cyano outbreak combined with hair (or dino), film and bubble algae all at the same time. Took a shot with hydrogen peroxide and most of it was gone after the 14 days treatment period. Now I'm left with a big amount of white deposit which I believe to be dead algae sitting on my rocks. I can see it clouding the water when the fish swim fast by. I tried syphoning it, but it doesn't seem to work. Would the best option be using a brush? There is some new hair algae blooming at the spots where most algae was during the outbreak, I'm assuming it's because they have plenty of nutrients from the dead algae...

Thanks y'all

 

[Dennis McGrath]

Can you take the rock out, put it into a container big enough to fit the rock with salt water in it, and scrub it well with a tooth brush? That's what I did for my rock in my first tank.

 

[Swoody]

What I have done...first off if you have a sump with filter socks...just get a brush similar to the firmness of a medium toothbrush and scrub the rock work and just let the junk go through the overflow and collect into the filter socks, and of course clean after awhile of tank circulation. Not sure of the amount of rocks you need to clean but a toothbrush might just be big enough for you and allows you to get into the smaller crevices....
If you do not have a filter sock type sump, another thing you can do is get a couple of the larger size of the fine mesh bags with a drawstring like you would put carbon, or purigen into and tie them over the outlets of your return lines in the tank and then scrub away. Whatever goes through the overflow into your sump, your return pumps will send it back up and into the mesh bags not your tank....this has worked great for me after a sump cleaning before I restart the return pump. Do this and all the nastyness collects right into the mesh bags and when it seems done, take them off. This has worked great for me and collects everything as to not let it get back into your water column.