Hair Alage Help PLEASE

[lpabsolute]

Hey, I'm getting ready to setup a 5.5g AGA this weekend. I'm going to be using some of the sand, live rock, and water from my current 54g to help the tank cycle faster. I've purchased a large piece of liverock from my LFS that is about 4 lbs. and is completely covered with zoos. I noticed when i went in the LFS to check on the rock that it has a lot of hair algae on the back side of it. What is the best way for me get ride of it before adding it to my tank? I've heard of scraping it off but i'm not sure how easy that will be to do with it being covered with zoos. I've also heard that people use emerald crabs but i have heard that sometimes they wont eat it and sometimes they eay or mess with zoos. Another concern of mine is that it will spread in my tank since it will be new. Please Help ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

[riotj]

I had a little hair algae problem in my .75 - got a real small emerald but in addition to eating the hair algae as a last resort he chowed down on my unique branching coralline as well as red macro algae which was growing out of the same rock so he was out of there! Didn't touch the zoos though. I really couldn't get rid of the hair algae until I brought the rock out and brushed it off with a toothbrush, but I harmed the xenia and shrooms which were also attached to the rock but they are recovering albeit slowly. I'd start all over with a different rock if you don't want to risk damaging the zoos. There is this mini sea hare I'm told that does a job on hair algae but they are hard to come by I was going to get one from atlantisaquarium.net, but decided against it due to shipping costs. Everything is now in a 2.5g and knock on wood no haie algae. It's been about a month.

[schaadrak]

Lick it off, your tongue won't hurt anything.

 

(J/K don't really do that zoo's are toxic. This statement absolves me from all blame in the event you actually lick your LR.)

[wheelspin]

toss a couple of tangs in there....

[CollegeReef]

point a powrhead right at the algae, it will go away.

[sgbett]

turbo snails worked a charm for me, with a little help from my tugging out the long bits

[t0mmyb0y]

a couple of trochus (turban) snails did the trick for me...those guys are awesome. they won't bulldoze your rocks and they're always hard at work. hair algae has never come back!

[ClarkiiClown]

If your water parameters are in check- no nitrites/trates and no phosphate or silicate the algae wont grow

[andykee]

If your water parameters are in check- no nitrites/trates and no phosphate or silicate the algae wont grow

not totally true. a sudden change in lighting spectrums can cause an algae outbreak.

[beezerv]

I fought a horrible war against hair algae that had taken over my tank. Nothing worked for me until I got a large mexican turbo snail. He ate all the hair algae in a matter of days and it never came back. They do knock over rocks though.

[andykee]

I fought a horrible war against hair algae that had taken over my tank. Nothing worked for me until I got a large mexican turbo snail. He ate all the hair algae in a matter of days and it never came back. They do knock over rocks though.

my stupid turbo won't touch the stuff. i may try a few more, perhaps i'll get a real worker!

[The Keeper]

A 4lb rock with zoos on one side and green hair algae on the other...

 

Very simple. Pick up the rock, turn it over in your palm, and use a big scrub brush to take it all off.. After that return rock to aquarium. Problem solved.