Tired of my green live rock

[Anonymous]

Have had my reef up and running for 4 years. I purchased my tank and LR from someone quitting the hobby. At the time I didn't know better, but the LR was and still is covered in tough green algae which I have been unable to get rid of. I've tried scrubbing (too tough to get off), snails, crabs, Foxface and a Yellow tang over the years with no luck.
Any thoughts on how I could swap out my algae encrusted rock with new LR without killing my corals? The tank is a 58 gallon. Ideally, I would want to buy the LR in bulk and not just one piece at a time. How much should I buy?

Mitch

 

[jdeets]

If it's green encrusting coralline algae, the best and quickest way to get it off would be a long-spined urchin. These guys will take the algae down to the bare rock. If you could get most of it cleaned off with the urchins, then you could "seed" the tank with a few pounds of good coralline-covered LR and see if you can get the purple stuff going that way.

 

[Jrsydevi1]

What size tank? How much LR are we talking about? Do you have a sump? Refugium?

 

[Anonymous]

The tank is a 58 gallon. I wish I could estimate how much LR is in there. Like I said, I didn't buy it by weight, but the tank seems reasonably full of LR.

This algae is really tough and fixed to the rock. I have tried flipping it over, but it doesn't really seem to die off. I really can't scrub it off either, it is just too tough.

I don't know about excess nutrients. I feed rarely (once a week). I have a skimmer and use RO/DI water.

Yes some of the LR have corals attached.

Help, help, help!

mitch

 

[Anonymous]

Actually it is more like tough turf algae. It has the consistency of Brillo. I tried tuxedo urchins and they ate my coralline but didn't touch the green stuff!

mitch

 

[jdeets]

Hmmmm--tuxedo should much it down. But they don't always do what you want them to...

I can't imagine a hair-type algae that couldn't be scrubbed off. Is it briopsis perchance?

 

[olgakurt]

Do all your rocks have corals attached, or could you turn some over away from the light and let the turf algae die off? Usually the sides/undersides will be coralline encrusted.

Sounds like there might be excess nutrients in the system. You might want to try some other macroalgae for export if you can't find an effective grazer.

[ July 19, 2001: Message edited by: olgakurt ]