Should I be cleaning rock?

NewRobert

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Hi All,

Quick question. Should I be cleaning my rock? I am not sure if scrubbing it would destroy nitrifying bacteria on it or something but having some green algae issues as well as my sand sifting goby is spreading the sand everywhere.

Should I took a brush to the rock or rather just leave it alone? Not sure what the procedure is here.

Tank is 375l, 6 months running more or less.

Livestock: 1 x Damsel, 1 x Chronis, 1 x Yellow Tang, 1 x Sand Sifting Goby, 3 x Shrimp, 2 x Snails, 2 x Starfish (one recovering in sump at the moment from issues most likely caused by low KH).

No corals yet. Just resolved temperature and KH issues after battling a while and decided to give the tank some time to settle, adjust and balance before adding anything else after sorting out these issues.

Thanks in advance.

MarineRock.jpg
 

mgelb16

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I would take one rock out at a time and put it into a bucket of water. Then I would scrub it with a toothbrush and a sponge to get the algae off. It worked great for me.
 

GHogg

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Generally scrubbing rock isn’t advised imo. If you’re concerned about algae, scrubbing rock will just blast algae bits into the water column and can actually spread it.

Manual removal is the best bet, either like mgel described or simply pinching and removing by hand with gloves.

Don’t sweat the sand, it’s not an issue unless it’s covering corals, in which case blasting with a turkey baster works well.
 

Jekyl

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I use a turkey baister to blow off my rocks and hold a toothbrush at the end of my siphon to clean rocks of excess algae. Anything more isn't necessary.
 

Reef Jeff

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Your picture doesn’t show a need for algae removal. I don’t see any algae that would warrant a scrubbing? Maybe it’s just the picture. If you are referring to the green tint on the rock, that is a normal part of the tank maturing. No need to act on that now.

If you do start seeing hair algae, it is perfectly fine to use a toothbrush to scrub the rock if you have a lot of algae. Best approach is to have a few buckets of saltwater ready. Scrub in one then dip through the others to remove detritus and algae particles. I have live rock from 25 years ago that has been through this process several times when my life put the tank maintenance on hold, and I have always been able to restore it and eliminate the algae. I still have all kinds of life coming out of the rock. It definitely won’t hurt the nitrifying bacteria by any significant amount.
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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I have a way to add to the mix of options.

do nothing until prompted

when prompted remove the rock in question set on the counter. use a steak knife tip to precision debride away all attachments as a point, not a wide-swath run

this makes up for the times animals skip right over the spot.

when clean, put a dab of peroxide on the former spots that used to have algae that you rasped off outside the tank. this rock has now been dental cleaned

nobody says you have to do them all. whats the harm in mastering just one should they misbehave, as a test model
working this way means you don't drastically change your water params in every response, and you aren't adding new animals/bioload/waste production into a setup where for some a 4 min rock guiding makes the lowest work most stable growth of them all. don't rule out this method, its used to save many thousands of eutrophic reefs and we have 40 pages of them logged just this way above.

by all means do not apply this now, wait till prompted. those rocks with corals attached could sit out of water 30 mins (I have the video) and not be harmed, so 4 mins toothing isn't going to hurt anyone. its good practice, reef dentistry.

the goal in reefing is to be so good you don't need any of this.

that is not me for sure, I had to cheat to get an old nano. if it keeps my corals alive another ten that's fine by me, new rules got made to accommodate what works. knowing when to cheat and how is 98% of owning an old nano reef the other 2% is hardware luck
 

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