How often do you blow out your rockwork?

[charlesk]

I Use a turkey baster or a power head

 

[WiscoFishNut]

I used to never do it, then GHA blew up in my tank lol. Doing everything I can think of short of chemicals to get it under control now, and probably blast the rocks/frags 2-3 times a week.

 

[JaMin2179]

I had to vote "Never" only because I'm brand new to reefing and didn't know any better. I'm just cycling my first tank now so I have a lot to learn! I've kept freshwater tanks all my life and I've always wanted to try my hand at reefing. I'm really going to rely on all of you for advice!

 

[Marc2952]

I do it a couple times a day but im being drastic since im dealing with dinos. It definitely helps.

 

[HaydenS13reefer]

I like to Turkey baste right before a wc and right before changing filter floss/socks. I also position my Powerhead towards the bottom while I turkey baste to help push up any detritus from the bottom up to filter out. Works out pretty good for me.

 

[Nhjmc]

I do mine weekly when I do a 10% water change. I don't go crazy doing so but I do do it as well as gently disturbing just the tippy top of sand bed.

 

[lesterfish]

I wanted to start a poll to see how regularly people blow out their rock work.

How often do you blow your rock work out and how do you do it?

It's something I've started doing a few times a week, and since doing so I feel like my general tank health has really improved. Random clumps of algae have been disappearing and corals seem happier with better polyp extension too.

My hypothesis is this helps get all the gunk out of the rock work that acts as (essentially) fertilizer to algae, as well as encourages liverock to absorb excess phosphates. I also believe phosphates wicking from the rock work, into the bases of large SPS colonies where their base gets minimal flow due to growth could lead to RTN and STN events.

Those are just my hypotheses, and I would be curious to hear anyone else's thoughts/experiences!

I bought a power head so I can start. Was thinking of doing it maybe twice a month. But I might follow your lead. Thanks!

 

[JustJoan]

I was blowing out my rocks now and then, mostly then, until i got diatoms. I have been blowing my rocks out now at least once a day. When the diatoms were really bad, I blew my rocks off 3 to 4 times a day. My right arm is buff!!

 

[MDProuty]

I'm not even sure I know what it means to blow out your rocks. Are you taking a power head and moving it around over your rocks or are you using different equipment to do this. I could definitely see where it would be beneficial. Looking forward to your feedback...

 

[H@rry]

Besides controlling algae, diatoms, etc.; can anybody see any favorable response by SPS, particularly Acros? Polyp extension, color, or growth.

 

[chaoticreefer]

Once a week, before changing filter sock. What settles on the bottom I vacuum that out too into the sock. I do the blowing out of the rock by free handing a MJ 1200. I have a bare bottom so no kicking up the sand bed. When I do have a sand bed I resort to a turkey baster.

Edit:
I should explain my technique more in depth. I actually blow off my rock 2-3 times, depending on my attention time span, during the process. I don't just rely on my filter sock. I blow off the rock, hurry up put a half water bottle on the MJ with floss in it. Let the water column get "polished". Kick everything up again with MJ, let the floss do the work again, repeat....

 

[CenlaReefer]

My answer was "when I think of it" which means hardly never. I need to do it more often

 

[plasma327]

Nutrient export mode and let the pumps do it.. But i have two ner5s and two mp10s on a 65 . One Mp blowing behind the rock work. the other mp 10 high on the other side and the 5s on the back wall. I have 80lbs of large crust and arogonite and blow the bottom to bare glass in less than a minute. So...... rocks clean.

 

[Midrats]

The answer is either Never, or Four times a day, depending on your definition of blowing out...

I have a pair of Tunze 6105's connected to my Apex. Normally, they run a 1 minute ramp up, 25 - 40%, inverse, meaning one is ramping down while the other is ramping up, then they swap.

At 6am, Noon, 6PM, and Midnight, I kick both 6105's up to 100% power for 2 minutes. Really moves some water... Each is rated at 3400 GPH, with both running full out, there isn't anything settling in my tank. In fact, I've had to glue down my frag rack Fish seem to have gotten used to it, though they freaked out a bit at first. Don't seem to mind anymore.

Nothing there to manually blow out

^^^This^^^

 

[enzo]

I have 2 mp10's on a 30gl. breeder running 50% LOTS of flow. I still find myself using a turkey baster before a wc to cleanoff the rocks. With live rock and feeding and fish waste its never ending no matter how many power heads a running.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Just did this a couple of days ago and it was overdue. Need to return to doing monthly. For me, in my 45 AIO bare bottom, I do as follows

1. Cut a filter pad for two pieces to fit behind the dual overflows
2. Go over the whole tank with an MJ 1200 powerhead (bottom, back wall and all rocks avoiding delicate corals).
3. Hit a few known low flow or collection spots again hard with the turkey baster
4. Next day, remove the disgusting filter pads and toss.

There are a few main arteries in my rockwork I have found that are key to cleaning them out. When I hit these big holes with the turkey baster I get massive amounts of detritus erupting from several smaller holes. I highly recommend trying this as it blows out way more crud than just hitting the surface alone.

This was the tank Wednesday after a blow out.

 

[Macey’s Reef]

I have pretty high flow as it is, but I also have a PMUP I zip tied to a 24" piece of 1/2' PVC pipe that I can move around to blow off the rocks and sand. I don't get much off the rocks because of the high flow, but it does get in the crevises. I barely dust the sand so I don't create a sand storm.

 

[Haacheew]

I turkey baster my bare-bottom 20gallon tank every day. Another advantage of having no sand bed; cleaning is so easy.

 

[Scorpius]

Once a week. Its something we all need to do to our reefs.

 

[Promodcrazy]

I do a once a year water change and take rocks out and throughly blow them off. I have an excellent filter system that keeps water crystal clear, I may add salt do to creep and mineral supplements along the year as needed.