Hair Algae and Dirty rock

Hi Guys,

It's been awhile... My 45 has been so neglected. We recently did a water change to get out the hair algae, but the rocks look terrible. They are brown and fuzzy? Like detritus? Should I just take the rocks out and start with new ones?

Thanks,
Amanda C

 

I don't know how other people feel about them but I had a tuxedo urchin that demolished any algae I had on my rock. One would have it cleaned up in a few days. But you still need to find out the source of the problem. They are bulldozers though and pick up anything that's not glued down. I definitely wouldn't start over. When was the last water change, are you using RO/DI water?

 

Thanks!! I hadn't thought about an urchin. I did add some more hermits and snails.
It's been a long time since I had done a water change- like several months. I had been using tap water instead of my RO unit... So it was bad. Plus, I had my skimmer and refuge unhooked. All is hooked back up and I think I will do another water change this weekend. My clown pair have been troopers. I plan on getting a few water changes in and restocking my corals. everthing was smothered out by the algae except a few mushrooms and a flower anemone.

 

Yeah tap water even after treated with a dechlorinator would be full of silicates and phosphates. It wouldn't hurt to do a big water change (with ro/di). A bag of purigen would also help getting any unwanted contaminates out. I love that stuff, but someone else may have some better ideas and wisdom.

 

I have a question. Was having a time with green hair algae. Thought maybe water source. Bought a RO/DI system phosphates read 1.0 from the tap and .25 after. Is this normal?


Terrie Hawkins

 

Kim it's a new system. Made maybe 20 gallons of water.


Terrie Hawkins