How often do you clean detritus from your rock?

[ali1]

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.

it's standard practice to have skimmer and a refuge. Also, most use some form of reactor to address phosphates/nitrates. Blasting rocks/sand in large reefs is not practical and not even a substitute for the above. Nobody is moving their powerheads on a regular basis.

 

[Patrick.S]

My tank is only 10 gallons, but I do it every couple days with a baster. At the same time I suck up the detritus on the bottom (bare bottom). Its part of my approach to avoiding the need for reactors and skimmers and chemical media. Its still a pretty new tank so we'll see how it goes.

 

[Sk8r]

Flow in my tank (and the housekeeping activities of my large domino damsel) do not permit crud to gather.

 

[RobZilla04]

it's standard practice to have skimmer and a refuge. Also, most use some form of reactor to address phosphates/nitrates. Blasting rocks/sand in large reefs is not practical and not even a substitute for the above. Nobody is moving their powerheads on a regular basis.

^ This

Do you know how long it took to position my power heads to get ideal flow and no dead spots. I'd kill someone if the moved one.

 

[MrsReefK]

it's standard practice to have skimmer and a refuge. Also, most use some form of reactor to address phosphates/nitrates. Blasting rocks/sand in large reefs is not practical and not even a substitute for the above. Nobody is moving their powerheads on a regular basis.

+1, agreed!


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[Nandez13]

Maybe once a month but my system is 120G. A 10 G nano is definitely less forgiving. My powerheads create alot of random flow so it's not that I have much build up anyway. The detritus is not noticeable until I use my turkey baster to blow them.

 

[polaravic]

Yes, it is all in the flow: amount and direction. You shouldn't need to manually clean the rocks with a turkey baster or anything else.

That being said, it is difficult to achieve.

polaravic

 

[SouthFla]

Oh just GREAT, now something else to obsess over :hmm3:

I've never done this, hmmm....I'm not sure I want to tho as I'm currently ADDING NO3 and PO4 to my "too clean" 1 1/2 year old reef LOL.

 

[Newguy76]

I would rather turn each rock over individually, than move my power heads again.


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[BlackTip]

Nothing wrong with house keeping. No matter how strong the flow is, it will never target every rock, groove, and crannies.

I use s mall pump and blow off the rocks before every water change (every two weeks). It is getting harder to do, after the coral started to grow. SPS are very fragile, and I have to be very careful. I can see myself stop doing it, after the coral cover most of the rocks.

 

[1sttimer]

Why not get cleaner shrimp and bunch of hermit crabs?

 

[Patrick.S]

Why not get cleaner shrimp and bunch of hermit crabs?

Crabs don't actually get rid of detritus, they just turn it into crab poop. I blow off the rocks so the crud flows into my filter floss and then I toss it away. Going skimmerless it's my primary method of export.

 

[kowen]

I don't see this as big of a concern on larger tanks with multiple power heads as on smaller tanks without. I have a Nanocube 24, and adding a circulation pump adds too much clutter to the tank for my liking, but that means I have a lot of low-current areas.

I haven't been purposefully cleaning detritus off rocks, but it's something I'm going to start doing.

 

[1sttimer]

I clean them once in a while with a turkey baster