Removing all rocks in established tank a bad idea?

[Richard498]

Hi, i have brown algae taking over. My rocks are getting hairy, my glass is covered in green and purple bacteria. I've tried everything and i think i just need to manually remove this stuff at this point.

Does anyone think it would be a bad idea to remove every rock one by one and spray them down with a garden hose? I think my anemone will be ok sitting on the sand for a bit, right?

That picture is just 2 hours after vacuuming the sand. This stuff is relentless.[emoji35]

 

[den75]

The anemone isn't the problem. You'll kill most if not all of your nitrifying bacteria and your tank will cycle again.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Spraying your rock off with a hose won't fix anything though. The hair algae will still be attached. Now you'll have killed off some of the biofilter and also created extra nutrients by killing off some of the flaura on the rock. So, less bacteria to "consume" things such as ammonia and more ammonia present from dying critters..... all to have the hair algae still present.

 

[Richard498]

Well, I'm glad i posted this before i went ahead and did it. Thank you. Any suggestions for clearing that hair? I just purchased api marine algaecide as a last resort.

I did just put 20 red mangroves in the sump. That's about when this started, so i replaced them with 2 balls of chaeto for a long term solution.

 

[Bunnee911]

@brandon429

 

[brandon429]

Thank you I agree big potential. This thread is an exact compare to what's being considered here

http://reef2reef.com/threads/algae-outbreak.249581/page-4#post-2956994

Richard
It's such a serious technique that to ever have algae problems again is purely optional

This is the removal step above

The options for prevention are where so many ways come into play

Use ATS, carbon, dsbs, refugia etc as preventative and only start them on a clean, non invaded condition. Pure unbeatable algae control. Whatever gets through the gauntlet, el zappo