New to hobby. LR has tons of hitchhikers

spamn · 01/19/2009, 12:53 PM

So I got my LR from a established tank that was getting broken down. Cheapest way to buy LR and you can hand pick your pieces.. However it has a ton of interesting things on it. Not sure what all is bad and what all is good.

A lot of the rock (as well as the shells of my turbo snails) has this "red fur" growing on it. I was told it was good by the person I purchased the LR from but after a simple google search I think it is the "red turf algae".. From all my readings, the turbo snails are supposed to be the best thing for taking care of it, however I have never seen one anywhere near this algae and in fact, the algae is growing ON the snails themself.

I will try to get a better picture so that someone can ID it better. I just have those general tank pictures right now.

My parameters are
SG 1.024
Temp 77
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 5ish
PH 8.4

Thanks
Sam

Sk8r · 01/19/2009, 01:17 PM

Great rock, good job. i'd get that temp up just a bit to a steady 80, 79 ok. That algae can be a bit of a pita---I think I'd pull that one rock and see if it manifests elsewhere.

qfrisco · 01/19/2009, 02:24 PM

I did the same thing when I was starting up my 90g - found someone tearing down their tank. I bought about 150lb of LR for $100. Problem was there was quite a bit of green hair algae on the rocks. I scrubbed what I could off, but as anyone that's dealt with hair algae before, it's near impossible to get everything off. For the rest, I just made sure my water didn't have any phosphates and nitrates. It took about 3 months, but the algae just went away.

In those 3 months, I had gotten hermit crabs, a lawnmower blenny, and others to help control the algae, and perhaps they did, but I think the main thing that got rid of them was the lack of nutrients.

01/19/2009, 12:53 PM	#1
spamn Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: 22134 Posts: 801	New to hobby. LR has tons of hitchhikers So I got my LR from a established tank that was getting broken down. Cheapest way to buy LR and you can hand pick your pieces.. However it has a ton of interesting things on it. Not sure what all is bad and what all is good. A lot of the rock (as well as the shells of my turbo snails) has this "red fur" growing on it. I was told it was good by the person I purchased the LR from but after a simple google search I think it is the "red turf algae".. From all my readings, the turbo snails are supposed to be the best thing for taking care of it, however I have never seen one anywhere near this algae and in fact, the algae is growing ON the snails themself. I will try to get a better picture so that someone can ID it better. I just have those general tank pictures right now. My parameters are SG 1.024 Temp 77 Nitrites 0 Nitrates 5ish PH 8.4 Thanks Sam

01/19/2009, 01:17 PM	#2
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	Great rock, good job. i'd get that temp up just a bit to a steady 80, 79 ok. That algae can be a bit of a pita---I think I'd pull that one rock and see if it manifests elsewhere. __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.

01/19/2009, 02:24 PM	#3
qfrisco Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Dallas, TX Area Posts: 1,389	I did the same thing when I was starting up my 90g - found someone tearing down their tank. I bought about 150lb of LR for $100. Problem was there was quite a bit of green hair algae on the rocks. I scrubbed what I could off, but as anyone that's dealt with hair algae before, it's near impossible to get everything off. For the rest, I just made sure my water didn't have any phosphates and nitrates. It took about 3 months, but the algae just went away. In those 3 months, I had gotten hermit crabs, a lawnmower blenny, and others to help control the algae, and perhaps they did, but I think the main thing that got rid of them was the lack of nutrients.