sooo i have had my nano cube up and running perfectly just about for about 3 months now with small amounts of algae here and there but tonight my friend gave me 4 rocks that are completely covered in green hair algae i have 1 lawn mower blenny and about 10 hermit crabs i am worried that with my 8 hour light cycle for my coral's that it may get out of control can i just stick the rocks in a bucket with a power head and no light for a few weeks till all the algae dies off ?


Thanks!
jonzie

yes.

yes.

Yes. And smack that stanky friend.

You can also scrub as much algae as you can before putting the rocks in your tank.

oh and yes......or if your impaitent and not worried about any thing on the rock, you can pour boiling water on it then dry it out side and be done with it....

yeah he really didn't take care of his tank at all these rocks are covered completely with algae, over night though my lawnmower blenny and my hermit crabs went to town id say they ate 30% of it over night lol maybe ill just leave em in the tank so my blenny has some food thanks for the help all

yeah just let ur tank inhabitants chow down
nothing wrong with a lil turf algae as long as ur CUC keeps it under control...

^ This

GHA is a normal algae to have, and is normally found in conjunction with coralline as 'climax' species. Let your tank deal with it... the rock will leach all the yucky stuff (feeding the algae), the algae will get eaten, and when there's no more nutrients the algae will subside (and you'll be left with clean rock).

If your tank has been up and running "perfectly" for three months, then you're not in need of immediate additional biological filtration. So, there's NO good reason to put that rock in your tank, in that condition, and risk infesting your tank.

My suggestion is that you bleach the rock (about 1/2 to 1 cup of bleach per gallon) to kill anything alive on it and to help break down organic materials. When that's finished, give the rock an acid wash with muriatic acid to remove the outermost layer of the rock, which will remove accumulated phosphates, heavy metals, etc.

Rinse thoroughly and let dry.

Then, you'll have nice, clean, dead rock that you can add to your tank. It won't take long to become live rock again once you've added it to your tank and you won't suffer through the myriad of ongoing problems that introducing "dirty" rock can cause.

Cheers,

Mark

algae is the result of the conditions that allow it to grow, Its NOT an infection. If you CUC can handle it then you should have no worries putting it into your tank. Putting it in the dark and cooking it...might as well sell it and buy base rock, complete waste.

I think your lawnmower will have a fine time taking care of it and will thank you for it.

if your CUC is chowing down, I saw let them eat

for real, don't eff up the feast.

it's just past thanksgiving.
feast.