What is on my live rock?

Laurieo79 · Jul 31, 2014

Can someone tell me what is all over my live rock? It's this powdery silty stuff. I blow it off and it just settles back down on everything including power heads. It probably would be on sand as we'll but the Goby takes care of that. How do I get rid of it!!:squigglemouth:

cumbeje · Jul 31, 2014

How long has tank been setup? I would say it's detritus.

Laurieo79 · Jul 31, 2014

10 months. That's what I was thinking. How do I get rid of it?

fishroomlady · Jul 31, 2014

use a turkey baster and blow it off - you definitely could benefit from adding more flow - that will keep the particles suspended so they can be filtered out......

Laurieo79 · Jul 31, 2014

I have a hob filter at the moment that doesn't pick up much of it. I recently just purchased a sump but haven't had a chance to hook it up yet. Will this help with turkey baster method? How often should I use turkey baster? So with adding flow, I currently have two power heads. Should they be positioned so that it's actually blowing it off the rocks?

Laurieo79 · Jul 31, 2014

As you can see in picture the hob filter gets pretty clogged with it.

BODI · Jul 31, 2014

Wow! If that IS detritus, you have some serious house cleaning to do!!!

I'd say start with a small hose and siphon out as much as possible...

Have you tested your water parameters? I would think (if that is all detritus) your nitrates would be off the scale and you may even have detectable levels of nitrite and ammonia which can be lethal to aquarium inhabitants.

Laurieo79 · Jul 31, 2014

Just had water tested at lfs. Ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 10, phosphates 0, ph 8.2, kh 9, and salinity 1.025. It's been around since tank setup in October. It was all over sand until I got the Goby, then it went to rocks. I purchased this tank used off craigslist. It's like a fine silt. It's all over everything.

CastAway · Jul 31, 2014

Very interesting. Tagging along. Guessing against detritus...

CoralHut · Aug 1, 2014

There's actually an algae that looks much like that. However, I would use a siphon hose and siphon as much out. Then take a toothbrush and try to scrub some of it off the rock if any if left. Swish water around in the tank to get it in suspension. Add more flow to the tank with powerheads to keep this in suspensions and either more mechanical filtration (another hob filter, upgrade to a sump, or gets skimmer going) or change/clean your filter cartridges more frequently.

CoralHut · Aug 1, 2014

It's likely detritus so upgrading some aspects of the tank as aforementioned would help to get rid of it.

mikey_p · Aug 1, 2014

i would def hook the sump up and get a powerhead and blow off all the rock

Laurieo79 · Aug 1, 2014

Thanks everyone, I will give all this a try.

bairdimusprime · Aug 1, 2014

good luck definitely suck it out

shred5 · Aug 1, 2014

Its detritus being kicked up by your goby and you should be siphoning out any detritus during water changes.

cumbeje · Aug 1, 2014

Best way I know is to siphon as much as you can but also use a power head to blow rocks off. Than is will be collected in your protein skimmer, filter sock or settle in a refuigm. You want to export this because it is potential phosphates for your system. I actually take a large pump every month and blow off everything in my 720 Gal reef. I feel like it makes a big difference.