So the hair algae is outa control in my tank. I've been trying to get rid of it, but it is taking off like a weed!!! I have cut my feeding by about 75%, been doing more water changes and with distilled water, bumped up my skimmer, and more. And it just gets worse. The cualerpa has quit growing...the hair algae is using up every bit of nutrient in the water before the cualerpa gets a chance. Desperate times calls for desperate measures, so as soon as I can line up enough time, this is the plan...
1. Set up a spare 29g tank and gets its parameters really close to that of my display tank. Once its been up and running, put the dottyback and firefish (if its still alive, havent seen him in quite some time) into the 29. Oh and all snails and crabs.
2. Remove all possible corals and place into 29.
3. Set up two or three cleaning tubs for live rock, and begin to scrub each rock thoroughly.
4. Place freshly cleaned live rock into 29.
5. Siphon out the rest of the water in display tank and remove top 1/2" or so of sand which is caked in hair algae. Pour a new bag of live sand in over top of old, and refil aquarium with newly mixed water.
6. Place livestock back into disply tank once all cloudiness settles.
I have two questions though...
Question 1: Is scrubbing the rock gonna cause die off that will cause a sort of re-cycle? I am planning on just putting the rock into the 29 once all the hair algae is off
Question 2: How long will the coralline algae stay alive if I drain the tank all the way down? Back and side walls are about 95% covered, and I dont want to loose the beautiful color, much less all the waste it would probably produce if it all died.
Ok after all that, how does the plan sound???
1. Set up a spare 29g tank and gets its parameters really close to that of my display tank. Once its been up and running, put the dottyback and firefish (if its still alive, havent seen him in quite some time) into the 29. Oh and all snails and crabs.
2. Remove all possible corals and place into 29.
3. Set up two or three cleaning tubs for live rock, and begin to scrub each rock thoroughly.
4. Place freshly cleaned live rock into 29.
5. Siphon out the rest of the water in display tank and remove top 1/2" or so of sand which is caked in hair algae. Pour a new bag of live sand in over top of old, and refil aquarium with newly mixed water.
6. Place livestock back into disply tank once all cloudiness settles.
I have two questions though...
Question 1: Is scrubbing the rock gonna cause die off that will cause a sort of re-cycle? I am planning on just putting the rock into the 29 once all the hair algae is off
Question 2: How long will the coralline algae stay alive if I drain the tank all the way down? Back and side walls are about 95% covered, and I dont want to loose the beautiful color, much less all the waste it would probably produce if it all died.
Ok after all that, how does the plan sound???
