green algae hair taking over my rock

looking for some help, i have green algae hair taking over my rock, tried scrubbing the rock once before but it grows right back within the week. do i just need to break down and by a uv stereilizer or is there an easier way to do this?

 

how old are your bulbs? What are your nitrates (overfeeding could be the culprit)? What kind of water are you using (RO, RO/DI, etc)? How much circulation is in your tank? I have had this problem and all of them can be contributing factors. A UV sterilizer will not control this issue, you have to stop it at the root cause. If you are wanting to clean up the rock I have used hydrogen peroxide by spraying the rocks with it and letting sit for 5 minutes then rinsing with RO water. I found a thread on RC that walked me through this process. I would not do this with rocks that have corals attached to them. This is just a quick fix but if not addressed properly you will be in the same boat in 2 months. Good luck.

 

Tickyty nailed it man. Check nitrates and phosphates, watch how much you feed, and use RO/DI water. I had the same problem, then decreased how much I fed and started using RO/DI water. I haven't seem much of any problem since!

 

ya i have never used RO/DI water before and i only have two damsels in the tank. no coral. its a 55 gallon. i need to go get a nitrate test then i suppose

 

Yessir, test that! Also USE RO/DI WATER!!!! Tap water has too many nasties that aren't just chlorine or choramines. If you don't have an RO/DI unit, you probably should get one, regardless if you have corals or not. For short term use, you can go to Walmart or Hyvee and get some of their RO/DI water. It's the stuff they keep at the water kiosk that you fill jugs up at.

 

If in the CR area Pets Playhouse has ro water. Not sure if you will find ro/di many places.