Cleaning alge on rocks and sand
- Thread starter nooberpie
- Start date
If they aren't live rock, you can take them out a few at a time and hit them with a 20% bleach solution (a cup or two of bleach to a gallon of water), soak for 12-24 hours, rinse well, and soak in a double-shot of chlorine remover (use the cheapest stuff you can find) for 12 hours. No hint of chlorine (bleach) will be left. Rocks will be clean and white, no scrubbing!
Don't do this to sand. If you have algae on the sand, are you *sure* it's not slime algae (blue-green algae, cyanobacteria)?
Don't do this to sand. If you have algae on the sand, are you *sure* it's not slime algae (blue-green algae, cyanobacteria)?
Slimey algae on the sand is cyanobacteria, aka bluegreen algae/bacteria. A photosynthetic bacteria that is a pain in the butt, but fortunately defeatable with time (we ALL deal with this from time to time). The trick is to keep it from reaching a plague proportion.
Here's what I'd do (and have done in fresh and saltwater tanks)
1) Remove as much of the slime as you can find. Use rigid airline tubing to surp it out (cheap stuff at a good lfs) into a bucket--- also a good way to do small water changes. This is a pain and you'll be shocked at how fast it regrows.
2) Control phosphates---- make sure you have a light fish load and feed lightly. Use kalkwasser in saltwater tanks per instructions--- kalkwasser will eventually precipitate most of the phosphate out of the water if dripped every night fairly aggressively (do NOT use so much that it raises pH, which is pretty easy to do). It also maintains a nice calcium level. If this isn't enough, consider a good phosphate remover.
3) Grow tons and tons of macroalgae to combat the phosphate level.
4) Be patient. It can take a few months to get rid of this stuff. Fortunately, in low levels, it doesn't cause any harm.
Here's what I'd do (and have done in fresh and saltwater tanks)
1) Remove as much of the slime as you can find. Use rigid airline tubing to surp it out (cheap stuff at a good lfs) into a bucket--- also a good way to do small water changes. This is a pain and you'll be shocked at how fast it regrows.
2) Control phosphates---- make sure you have a light fish load and feed lightly. Use kalkwasser in saltwater tanks per instructions--- kalkwasser will eventually precipitate most of the phosphate out of the water if dripped every night fairly aggressively (do NOT use so much that it raises pH, which is pretty easy to do). It also maintains a nice calcium level. If this isn't enough, consider a good phosphate remover.
3) Grow tons and tons of macroalgae to combat the phosphate level.
4) Be patient. It can take a few months to get rid of this stuff. Fortunately, in low levels, it doesn't cause any harm.
