Preventing live rock time bomb

[iwishtofish]

In my last tank, a 29g, I had a lot of live rock (too much) that was full of holes all throughout. I eventually developed a hair algae problem that was pretty persistent.

When I broke down the tank and removed the live rock, I found it was full of TONS of detritus. This was probably the cause of my hair algae problem.

Even if I had 10x as much flow, I think by the nature of the rock it would still have trapped detritus. I bought some dry rock for my new 75g that has similar structure to my old rock from the previous tank. I want to prevent the same problem.

Will just blasting the rock with a hand-held powerhead as a maintenance routine help? I know a turkey baster didn't really do the trick in the old tank.

 

[JonnyD91]

V O R T E C H

but seriously, when i do water changes i try to blow off detritus and there is none.
I have 2 MP40's on each sied of MY 90 and nothing else.

 

[d2mini]

I noticed recently the same problem in my tank. I've had bad hair algae and even some dinos here and there for like 6 months now. After months of fighting, and even with two k2's, one k1, and a tunze nanostream 6045 in my 46g bow, i still have TONS of detritus on my rocks that I figured must be the cause. Now I'm trying to blow them off with a turkey baster every couple days to suspend it in the water column and get some of it to skim out of the tank. The problem is most of it settles back down. But over time it should lessen.

 

[Daniel Reef]

V O R T E C H

but seriously, when i do water changes i try to blow off detritus and there is none.
I have 2 MP40's on each sied of MY 90 and nothing else.

I have a 90g too and am interested in getting two MP40s. Do you ramp them down or do you keep them on full throttle? If you ramp them down, by how much do you?

 

[JonnyD91]

I have a 90g too and am interested in getting two MP40s. Do you ramp them down or do you keep them on full throttle? If you ramp them down, by how much do you?

75% on reefcrest Mode

 

[iwishtofish]

JonnyD91, I'm not sure even a Vortech would keep this rock from holding on to stuff!

d2mini, I remember turkeybasting constantly, and I felt like I was always losing the battle. I bet your corals like it, though.

Ok, here's a preliminary aquascape plan. I've tried to get it so that water will flow freely all around the rock, hopefully lessening the problem:

 

[JonnyD91]

Check my build thread out. Im using the same rock as you. Believe me you have to see it to believe it. I have a slight HA bloom, but thats bc my tank is going through the stages. Maybe see if you can borrow a friends if you know someone that has one to check it out.

 

[iwishtofish]

And here's a shot to give you a good idea what I'm up against. Great for critters and bacteria, I'm sure, but I'm also sure everything will fall in there!

Since I have to get some live rock to seed the tank, I'm wondering if I should just put most of this in the sump for filtration, where I can pull it out occasionally to flush it of detritus. Not really what I want to do, though, since I really like the look of this stuff.

 

[launchnukes]

With some rock no matter how much flow you have there will still be stuff settling in the rock. I use the turkey baster too. It seems to get most of the stuff out of the difficult rock.

 

[iwishtofish]

Check my build thread out. Im using the same rock as you. Believe me you have to see it to believe it. I have a slight HA bloom, but thats bc my tank is going through the stages. Maybe see if you can borrow a friends if you know someone that has one to check it out.

I would so definitely buy a Vortech, but I am just about tank broke. I've still got to buy materials for a stand! :sad2: I'll just have to settle for the two Koralia 4s I bought, and maybe add a K3 I have laying around.

I'll check out your build thread, once I find it!

 

[JonnyD91]

I would so definitely buy a Vortech, but I am just about tank broke. I've still got to buy materials for a stand! :sad2: I'll just have to settle for the two Koralia 4s I bought, and maybe add a K3 I have laying around.

I'll check out your build thread, once I find it!

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1687145

 

[username in use]

While that tank is dry, drill it. A year from now you will be watching your reef thinking, Dang, Im glad I drilled this thing.

 

[noahm]

I have encountered this problem as well and was considering getting a canister filter to set up once a week. Shut off the return and turkey baste away. Anyone do this?

 

[iwishtofish]

While that tank is dry, drill it. A year from now you will be watching your reef thinking, Dang, Im glad I drilled this thing.

All ready to go with that, UIU! :bigeyes: I've been getting some tips on successful drilling in the DIY forum.

 

[iwishtofish]

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1687145

Thanks, JonnyD91! Looks like a long build thread, but I love build threads. I'll glance through it now, and read it carefully tonight!

 

[Tang Salad]

A standing wave, a la Tunze/Vortech, goes a long way to keeping detritus from settling.

 

[sedor]

A good CUC will also help a lot with detrius. Until you can get some superpowered flow like a vortech, blasting the rock with a powerhead when you do WC's will help a lot! With algae though IMO you'll be fighting a losing battle until you employ one of the following:

1) A refugium
2) A carbon dosing regiment
3) Carbon + GFO

The first 2 being the better choice. The 3rd really just makes a good addition to either. This will keep your system free of nutrients and HA or any other types of nuissance algaes can't grow without food.

 

[iwishtofish]

A standing wave, a la Tunze/Vortech, goes a long way to keeping detritus from settling.

Tang Salad, some day I'll get that expensive stuff!

A good CUC will also help a lot with detrius. Until you can get some superpowered flow like a vortech, blasting the rock with a powerhead when you do WC's will help a lot! With algae though IMO you'll be fighting a losing battle until you employ one of the following:

1) A refugium
2) A carbon dosing regiment
3) Carbon + GFO

The first 2 being the better choice. The 3rd really just makes a good addition to either. This will keep your system free of nutrients and HA or any other types of nuissance algaes can't grow without food.

Sedor, a refugium is definitely in the plan. I have one TLF reactor - is it possible to fill it with a combination of carbon and GFO to start, or do I really need to get a second reactor?

As for carbon dosing, I need to read up on that a LOT. I'll only be using an Eshopps HOB (on sump) skimmer rated for up to 100 gallons, so that might not be enough to handle the carbon dosing. I'm estimating I'll have over 100 gallons of water volume at startup.

 

[serpentman]

Whatever flow you go with, if its irregular, it will help avoid dead spots. Also, don't underestimate a decent clean up crew.

You may want to consider GFO as well to help deal with PO4.

 

[bolo7735]

I run 2 MP40 on Reef Crest mode on my 55 gallon and I still have detritus. Detritus will always settle in the dead spot areas. I siphon the detritus as best I can on every water change. I do know if you control the amount the food you feed helps. Meaning instead of dumping all your food in I break it up in a few serving. I now use a hang on the back filtration unit and use a turkey baster and it does help clean it up. I use it for 24 hours and they put it away. I do this every time I do a water change. But I still cannot never get them all.