Algae tank reboot (1 Viewer)

[HouseofStark]

Today marks 1 months since I rebooted my reef. Pulled rock and sand, and replaced with new. Hoping this is the case of the tank uglies, but just wanted your guys thoughts. I didn’t touch anything in my sump and fuge, and placed as many “clean” rocks from previous tank setup and placed back in tank. Bought a decent sized tank clean up crew to replenish the invert brought over from last setup and added/dosed a gallon of “snack pack” pods from Dunkin’s.

I had been running lights, probably more than I should. Po4 as been a bit high around .1 and no3 has been at zero, been dosing neonitro to try to get a “free” reading at minimum.

Just been 5 years or so since having a new/sterile tank. Seeing this algae growth on rocks a bit fuzzy looking rock… something I need to address or just ride out?

Video via YouTube and pic for reference.

 

[spsick]

Oof are we talking dry rock total fresh start?

I see coralline so that’s good at least. Mexican turbo snails are your friend. Get like 5 and they will keep ahead of the hair algae.

 

[HouseofStark]

Ya totally dry new rock, maybe 5/6 pieces of old rock from previous tank, laid back on sand bed and in sump. The coralline look on that rock would be false. I used colored liferock for all the new structure, hence the color and alage. You think send in some turbos to cut that back?

 

[spsick]

Yeah they’ll rip through that hair algae.

FWIW I’ve not heard success stories with Liferock. Live rock on the other hand….

 

[HouseofStark]

Ya that’s depressing to watch :/

 

[spsick]

Ya that’s depressing to watch :/

Sorry, not helpful I know.

 

[MistakesWereMade]

I have a bunch of the liferock in both my tanks. It depends on what you used though. I bought a couple of the 20 lbs boxes that were small baseball sized pieces and they were not very porous. They just ended up at the bottom of my refugium. The arches work alright but again, not super porous. Then I got some of the shelf liferock. Those have a lot of texture and holes.

I would give it some time. I fought that hair algae when I set up my smaller tank for about 2 months before it just went away. I tried a bunch of snails and hermits to knock it down but I believe the best course of action is just let time take care of it.