How do YOU clean your reef tank

[Dana]

Hi all, new here.
Just want to hear how people are cleaning their reef tanks.
I've read and heard different opinions about it. Thanks

 

[Trevdawg]

Uummm siphon gravel, new sock/pad, clean out protein skimmer.
Clean glass with scraper or magnet. Depends how much time I have.

 

[Dana]

Yeah I never siphoned gravel cause I was told not to, but the more tanks I looked at that have nice clean sand made me start doing it. Also I've been using the turkey Baster to blow the rocks and stuff

 

[caudill187]

I do all of the above but find it helpful to blow off the rocks with a powerhead or turkey baster just before I do water changes.

 

[Shpongled]

I keep it simple with a water change once a week. While I am doing the water change I will use a razor blade to scrape off any unwanted algae on the corners of the tank. I change my reef sock once a month, along with adding a new PURA filter pad. It's really strange because back in the day my sand would get very dirty and I would end up siphoning the top layer ever water change. Now I rarely ever siphon my sand. It seems to stay very clean with just 6 conchs in the system.

 

[Trevdawg]

I change my reef sock once a month.
It seems to stay very clean with just 6 conchs in the system.

A sock once a month seems crazy, let alone 6 conchs.
What size tank do u have??!!?

 

[MBG75]

Change sock out twice a week. Tank and sand stays pretty clean with a lot of flow. Clean out my sump every few months usually during a water change.

A friend told me to get a bucket head vac from Home Depot for cleaning the sump. Used it today. Worked great. Was able to suck all the water and junk out of the sump and just dump the bucket. Great buy for $20.

 

[Dana]

Hey that's awesome! I gotta get me one of those....

 

[Shpongled]

A sock once a month seems crazy, let alone 6 conchs.
What size tank do u have??!!?

I have a 110 gallon with a 40 gallon sump. So 150 gallon all together.

As for the shop vac, really good idea. I been wanting to clean my sump out, but was just dreading pulling it out of the cabinet and scrubbing it down.

 

[Steviereefs]

Change sock out twice a week. Tank and sand stays pretty clean with a lot of flow. Clean out my sump every few months usually during a water change.

A friend told me to get a bucket head vac from Home Depot for cleaning the sump. Used it today. Worked great. Was able to suck all the water and junk out of the sump and just dump the bucket. Great buy for $20.

$20 Bucks, wow that is a awesome deal thanks for the heads up!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jdd7781]

Dana -great topic. I'd be interested in hearing how those who have sump rooms clean the sand in the DT, as water changes in this setup are typically done from the sump. Anyone care to share?

 

[Dana]

Dana -great topic. I'd be interested in hearing how those who have sump rooms clean the sand in the DT, as water changes in this setup are typically done from the sump. Anyone care to share?

Thanks -)
I figure it's been talked about many times, but not sure if there was a thread dedicated. I assume most people have similar methods, but any tips or tricks are great.
Heck, I never knew about the bucket head vac until now. I will def be getting one.

 

[grumpy-crab]

I scrap the glass once a month. I replace filter floss once every 2 weeks and same time i scrap off the algae turf scrubber. Thats it oh and when i do my water top offs i quickly dump the water by hand over the rocks to clean them off and let my sump and filtration do their job ;-)

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