How do you keep your rock clean?

jaxteller007 · Jul 22, 2020

With how porous the rock in our tanks can be, how do you keep it clean from detritus, left over food, etc? Any specific tank inhabitants that will get into those nooks and holes and tunnels and eat on it? I try to remember to take a turkey baster and blow them out but I'm pretty horrible about remembering to do that unless I Just happen to be by the tank and think about it.

AcroNem · Jul 22, 2020

I use a little pump, about 400-600gph with tubing to blast the rocks off. We did this often on a larger scale in reef systems at a facility I worked at, called it "storming" the rocks. I often do this before a water change to get it out after getting it into the water column or if it settles on the sand bed I'll vac it out, or both.

Kryptonian · Jul 22, 2020

I'd be lost without my angels. Emperor, Regal, and Flame doing a fantastic job cleaning off the LR. I could do a better job blowing off the LR too but too many other tank tasks lol.

emilio365 · Jul 22, 2020

what I usually do I set up a plastic tube and create a siphon from the Display tank into a filter sock in the Sump. Then I blast all the rock with a turkey baster. The main drain and the additional tube clear up the water in no time.

xtremeyolks · Jul 22, 2020

+1 I also use a turkey baster to blow the rocks off before water changes

Calm Blue Ocean · Jul 22, 2020

I'm a member of the turkey baster crowd. But if you want to talk critters, while I see my peppermint shrimps and hermit crabs pick pick pick at the rocks all day, I doubt there's anything quite like bristle worms and spaghetti worms, as much as I hate them. They get into the tiniest holes in the rocks and can crawl all the way through them, eating all those things you can't see. I still hate them but they do good work!

DeniseAndy · Jul 22, 2020

Urchins will strip rocks, but that means strip them to white. No coralline left either. Astrea snails do good as do turbos.

However, my method is to throw them out the window and stomp my feet. Not very effective!

Turkey baster or pump works too. I have a storm time on my powerheads each night to blow the heck out of the tank.

92Miata · Jul 22, 2020

I turkey baster regularly. Then once every couple days I siphon out the little pile in the corner where things build up. (Barebottom is great for this)

WIReefer · Jul 22, 2020

Once a month I take a small pump like mentioned earlier I blow off the rocks while I am doing a wager change.

dadnjesse · Jul 22, 2020

Lots of flow.

Fishurama · Jul 22, 2020

A fair amount of flow, i have off the top of my head a 24 times turn over in my 120. I also use snails(turbo, bumble bee, Trochus)and a lawnmower blenny. I think the blenny kicks butt and the bumble bees are good for small holes since they are tiny. Keep them feed and they will leave your other snails alone for the most part.

PS like the profile picture, was fun working on the show, the crew got jackets at the end

I really wanted the table, and being my step father was the foreman on the show i was hoping he could try to get it, i ended up with a neon light from the bar, sadly it ended up cracking.

RYcube2951 · Jul 23, 2020

Turkey baster but there will be portions of the rocks you can't reach. Dwarf Florida ceriths are suppose to be very good for getting into the nooks and crannies. Reefcleaners.org sells them.

Paul B · Jul 23, 2020

A few times a year I use one of my diatom filters and stick a long tube on it to powerwash the pores in the rock. Much of my rock has been in my tank over 30 years,

Katrina71 · Jul 23, 2020

Diverse CUC is key to helping keep everything clean. Imo.

DeniseAndy · Jul 23, 2020

I got a pack of the 500 dwarf cerith and they are crazy. At night they cover the glass. Just know they get sucked up during vacuumimg and you have to get them out of the water or sand bits. Can take a while. They are tiny!

jaxteller007 · Jul 23, 2020

Kryptonian said:
I'd be lost without my angels. Emperor, Regal, and Flame doing a fantastic job cleaning off the LR. I could do a better job blowing off the LR too but too many other tank tasks lol.

We have a coral beauty now and I see her picking at them all the time, just can't get in those holes real deep.

jaxteller007 · Jul 23, 2020

Calm Blue Ocean said:
I'm a member of the turkey baster crowd. But if you want to talk critters, while I see my peppermint shrimps and hermit crabs pick pick pick at the rocks all day, I doubt there's anything quite like bristle worms and spaghetti worms, as much as I hate them. They get into the tiniest holes in the rocks and can crawl all the way through them, eating all those things you can't see. I still hate them but they do good work!

Our old tank had lots of bristle worms (far too many really) but when we started fresh with the 180 none of the bristle worms made the transition lol. Now I don't think we have any. I wouldn't mind a few, and would be easier to control now that we have a couple critters that would help control their population. But I definitely would not want as many as our 75 had.

jaxteller007 · Jul 23, 2020

We do have a ton of snails, but mostly bigger ones. Need to re-up the bumblebee and dwarf cerith numbers probably. I thought a brittle star might help since they like to hide in the rock and are carnivores. We added one but I think our nitrates were too high and made him really sluggish at first and he proceeded to get the crap beat out of him and die

jaxteller007 · Jul 23, 2020

Fishurama said:
A fair amount of flow, i have off the top of my head a 24 times turn over in my 120. I also use snails(turbo, bumble bee, Trochus)and a lawnmower blenny. I think the blenny kicks butt and the bumble bees are good for small holes since they are tiny. Keep them feed and they will leave your other snails alone for the most part.

PS like the profile picture, was fun working on the show, the crew got jackets at the end
I really wanted the table, and being my step father was the foreman on the show i was hoping he could try to get it, i ended up with a neon light from the bar, sadly it ended up cracking.

Dude........... I've been a huge fan of the show since day 1. I have some of that stuff (not the actual show of course) all over the house. I'd just about kill for something from the actual show.
Me and the wife met Chibs and Opie at a convention in Nashville one year and it was amazing. Got them to sign a one off novel I had and Chibs looked at it and was all "what the heck is this? Where is my money for this book?!" lol.

Fishurama · Jul 23, 2020

jaxteller007 said:
Dude........... I've been a huge fan of the show since day 1. I have some of that stuff (not the actual show of course) all over the house. I'd just about kill for something from the actual show.
Me and the wife met Chibs and Opie at a convention in Nashville one year and it was amazing. Got them to sign a one off novel I had and Chibs looked at it and was all "what the heck is this? Where is my money for this book?!" lol.

I know how you feel. Seeing the table where they voted all the time in the club house... Really wanted it. I think it weighed like 500 pounds if not more, so i was thinking a lot of people wouldnt want it... I thought wrong haha. I think the producer took it....
The show was fun to work on though, a lot of location builds. I hope they do a First 9 spin off with Kurt Sutter but sadly the Drama with Disney i dont see it happening.