algae covered live rock?

[mandarin1]

I came across two tanks of live rock were the person had let the tanks go.The rock is covered in algae and i dont just mean hair.the glass had to be scrapped to see the rock and it is covered with algae sheets like off of the glass. pitch the rock or can it be saved for the price of nothing i would like to keep it. any suggestions is appreciated. Thanks Keith

[Drew]

Hi mandarin!

As long as there aren't any chemicals or other nasties in the tank keep the rock. Even if it's barren it will still harbor beneficial bacteria and would make good base rock for cheap HTH

Drew

[mandarin1]

Thanks drewman whats the best way to clean it. i dont want to kill anymore than necessary. also would the subtrate be any good .Thanks Keith

[jegel]

Heres what I'd do....
If you're moving the rock from one tank to another then before you put the rock into the new tank scrub the rock down with a brush. I had to do this once and used a new tooth brush but you may want to get a larger brush if its a lot of rock. This will get rid of a lot of the build up of algae. After brushing down the rock (or if you don't want to brush off the rock) put it in a tank (not your prized show tank) with a quality skimmer, keep the lights out and the algae (or any remaining algae) will die off and the skimmer will suck out the nutrients from the die off...

Once the algae is gone you may want to keep the lights out for a little longer (2 or 3 days) to give the skimmer enough time to do its thing.