How often do you clean detritus from your rock?

[Bldgengineer]

I'm currently running a 10g fowlr setup and I've been turkey basting my rock whenever I feed(about every other day) or do a wc and just wanted to make sure that should be adequate. It currently has a pistol shrimp, diamond goby and a clown. The goby loves to make a mess of my rock with the sand and it drives me nuts at times

 

[Tanthaitrung]

Every 2 weeks

 

[AlSimmons]

I usually blast my rocks with a powerhead every two weeks as well. (right before a water change)

 

[ali1]

I have a 300g and I never blast the rocks

 

[RobZilla04]

As needed. Usually do no more than half the tank at once and never closer than a couple of days apart to reduce the chances of spiking nutrients.

 

[Bldgengineer]

My rock is typically half covered with sand within a couple of hours of cleaning my rock off. I recently battled hair algae and cyano which seems to be finally going away. I used to blow off my rock while doing a water chang but read that detritus left on the rock for too long could be part of the issue. I just want to make sure I'm doing what ever I need to do to keep that from happening again. Could that have just been a part of having a newish 8 month old tank?

 

[RobZilla04]

Do you have sufficient flow? What kind of goby do you have?

 

[MrsReefK]

I have a 290g and haven't ever blasted the rocks. In my old 72 I felt the need to more often, possibly because I had less flow? I haven't felt/seen the need for it with this tank at all.


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[Bldgengineer]

Do you have sufficient flow? What kind of goby do you have?

Imy currently using an AC70 and a koralia nano powered. It's a diamond goby

 

[BigEZ77]

Every 2 weeks

Same for me

 

[Joe0813]

I never do. I am going to start after I move

 

[homer1475]

Currently battling GHA, so I do it every couple days. In my old well established tank, like every couple weeks during a WC.

 

[RobZilla04]

Imy currently using an AC70 and a koralia nano powered. It's a diamond goby

I had a diamond goby and he did the same. Tossed lots of sand all over the bottom sections of the rocks.

It may not be aesthetically pleasing to you but you have to remember it's his world.

 

[toothybugs]

It's one of those things you should do a little at a time if you haven't done it in a while but I am a fan of blowing out the whole system every 2-3 weeks regardless of flow. My 75 ran north of 9500gph and I still had a lot of crud in my rockwork when I'd stick an MJ1200 in to the holes and behind the main surfaces. Amazing how many crevices it can find to lodge in.

 

[WatDatThing]

I'm sorry, you are blasting to keep the rocks look nice or to keep algae from growing?

 

[sde1500]

I'm sorry, you are blasting to keep the rocks look nice or to keep algae from growing?

Both. Detritus looks bad, and breaks down releasing nutrients that will feed algae.

 

[jd371]

I blast them with the turkey baster and stir up the sb a little as well right before the biweekly wc.

 

[mcgyvr]

I never do..

 

[billdogg]

I suppose I could if I had to, but with sufficient flow and few if any dead spots, there really should not be any accumulation to speak of.

 

[EdgeN]

I wish that were true... With so much emphasis being put on rocks and their porosity I would think detritus would be attracted to them like flies to poop. Also, if your not moving your power heads around on a regular basis the flow is probably only coming at the rocks from certain angles. What about the other sides? The currents probably aren't strong enough to do a deep clean either. Also, people tend to forget that Hydrogen Sulfide can form in your rocks too, not just a sand bed. It just doesn't seem logical NOT to blast your rocks with a turkey baster or power head on a regular basis IMO. I'd be willing to bet that those of you who don't blast your rocks probably have all kinds of reactors going, a refugium with chaeto, maybe an ATS etc. If you really want to know how clean your rocks /sand bed are take these offline for a month or so and see what happens.