What are rocks if not giant teeth?

13rodo

Lord of the Reefs
View Badges
Joined
Mar 27, 2026
Messages
218
Reaction score
303
Location
Denver
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I'm sure this has been done 1000 times, but just did it and wanted to share my experience. I mentioned in my tank build that the biggest battle in my 6 months of reefing has been GHA. I definitely overfed early on. I sorted that out and am doing much better clearing it out. The problem is some really long tufts that seem impossible (due to the tight space in my nano) to get with manual scrubbing. I just can't move the brush fast enough to really get it off the rock (I probably should have left more space between the rock and glass).

I was thinking how great it'd be to have an electric rock scrubber for stubborn algae that can get in tight places and then it hit me... electric toothbrush! I grabbed a cheap one with an IPX7 waterproof rating (likely overkill, but wanted to be safe) and the results are amazing! It shredded all the long tufts and my hope is now that everything is short and my feeding/phosphates are under control that my CUC can keep up :)

My only regrets... 1) the toothbrush I got has an auto off timer of 2 minutes 2) I didn't take before/after pictures. Anyways just wanted to share.
 

kevgib67

10K Club member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 16, 2022
Messages
36,825
Reaction score
232,094
Location
Canfield, Ohio
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I'm sure this has been done 1000 times, but just did it and wanted to share my experience. I mentioned in my tank build that the biggest battle in my 6 months of reefing has been GHA. I definitely overfed early on. I sorted that out and am doing much better clearing it out. The problem is some really long tufts that seem impossible (due to the tight space in my nano) to get with manual scrubbing. I just can't move the brush fast enough to really get it off the rock (I probably should have left more space between the rock and glass).

I was thinking how great it'd be to have an electric rock scrubber for stubborn algae that can get in tight places and then it hit me... electric toothbrush! I grabbed a cheap one with an IPX7 waterproof rating (likely overkill, but wanted to be safe) and the results are amazing! It shredded all the long tufts and my hope is now that everything is short and my feeding/phosphates are under control that my CUC can keep up :)

My only regrets... 1) the toothbrush I got has an auto off timer of 2 minutes 2) I didn't take before/after pictures. Anyways just wanted to share.
Grow in a sea hare, problem solved. Good luck.
 
OP
OP
13rodo

13rodo

Lord of the Reefs
View Badges
Joined
Mar 27, 2026
Messages
218
Reaction score
303
Location
Denver
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Grow in a sea hare, problem solved. Good luck.
Funny enough I had just done that. It was amazing for 2 days! Then on day 3 it was dead. Not sure what happened. I drip acclimated it over 4 hours and it immediately started going to town. I did notice my peppermint shrimp was taking way too much interest in it, but who knows 🤷‍♂️ Figured I'd spare another's life from my inexperience and go back to manual removal.
 

TOP 10 Trending Threads

Back
Top