turkey basting rocks/detritus!

[mallorieGgator]

So, I just remembered some people do this. I have done it now 2 days in a row and :eek1: The detritus settled in and on the rocks was REDICULOUS! I didn't realize how much crap could get stuck in the rocks. Holy cow! Any advice on cutting down the detritus. I feed once a day and I'm sure it's too much. No phosphate issues (was using GFO for a bit). I have a small amount of hair algae still but it's almost gone (fuge is now taking over). However, I'm also having some issues wih green slime algae in the fuge. I had cyano and now it's green algae(only in the refugium). Any advice on how to kill it? Also, I have lots of flow, 2 powerheads plus the return. One of the powerheads is a Sicce (can't remember the flow) and the other is a Hydor 1050 and the return pump is a quiet one 2200. Any advice?

[iamwrasseman]

what do you have for a clean up crew in your tank ?

[forrealb50]

Do you have any macro algae in the fuge? The macro should beat out the other nuisance algae.

[davocean]

Sometimes people think they have good flow, but really don't, or don't have it set to hit all the dead spots, but even if you do, the rocks sometimes need a little help, especially ones w/ deep holes/crevices.
Turkey basters work well, some even use a PH to blast rocks as part of their maintenance.
I've had nuissance algaes live in my sump at times, but sometimes it stays there, and doesn't enter my display, so I don't sweat it, figure let it eat whatever nutrients are there, that's a safe place for it.

[mallorieGgator]

what do you have for a clean up crew in your tank ?
I have a fairly small CUC. I have about 15 hermits (blue legs, red legs, and 2 scarlets). I have both types of cerith snails (probably 15?), 6 or 7 astrea, 5 nerites, and 2 turbos.
Do you have any macro algae in the fuge? The macro should beat out the other nuisance algae. I do, I have prolifera, some other caulerpa, and chaeto (which doesn't grow all that well). I also added a small powerhead to the fuge which hasn't helped much with the green algae). The green slime algae is just in the far side of the fuge.

Sometimes people think they have good flow, but really don't, or don't have it set to hit all the dead spots, but even if you do, the rocks sometimes need a little help, especially ones w/ deep holes/crevices.
Turkey basters work well, some even use a PH to blast rocks as part of their maintenance.
I've had nuissance algaes live in my sump at times, but sometimes it stays there, and doesn't enter my display, so I don't sweat it, figure let it eat whatever nutrients are there, that's a safe place for it.

I would say I have good flow. I have SPS that are doing great and the polyps are blowing around. I adjusted the powerhead so it would kick up more detritus off the bottom. It just seems like I have so much of it. The algea is just sticking to one side of the fuge.

[davocean]

Do you run a sock ever?

[mallorieGgator]

No, I have a wet/dry I'm in the process of taking the bio-balls out of. I could put one on the inflow into the wet/dry though.

[davocean]

When the bio's are gone you'll probably notice a difference there alone.
Socks are great if used properly, mainly either swap them out twice a week if constantly used, or use them after blowing off rocks as part of maintenance.

[mallorieGgator]

Thanks. When you say swap them out, can I just clean it twice a week?

[cjcmcheek]

filter socks will help you out a lot. if all of the water must pass through one while your flow is kicking up stuff in your tank then you should have a lot less detritus in the tank

[mgraf]

It is amazing the gunk that gets trapped in the rock. I use a baster and blow out my rockwork weekly, After a while of doing it now, many of my rocks blow hardley any detrius out while other very porus rocks still shoot loads out. No bad algaes in display since I began doing this. I wash out the sponge on the intake to the sump about an hour after I finish to get rid of the larger stuff.

[davocean]

Thanks. When you say swap them out, can I just clean it twice a week?

You can, but I prefer to make maintenance really easy and quick, so I like to keep a few at least, pull one, swap it, and I let the dirty ones dry outside(they seem to clean easier that way) or I turn them inside out and hit w/ a hose sometimes, then wash, just straight wash machine, no soap.

[mallorieGgator]

It is amazing the gunk that gets trapped in the rock. I use a baster and blow out my rockwork weekly, After a while of doing it now, many of my rocks blow hardley any detrius out while other very porus rocks still shoot loads out. No bad algaes in display since I began doing this. I wash out the sponge on the intake to the sump about an hour after I finish to get rid of the larger stuff.
Yeah, I added so very porous rocks about a month back and they are insane with the detritus! There's a month of dertitus build up in those and about 7 months in the other ones! Ahhh! lol. I think it will definitely help with the little HA I have(I had a lot until I got my own RO/DI and used some GFO. I was using LFS water).
You can, but I prefer to make maintenance really easy and quick, so I like to keep a few at least, pull one, swap it, and I let the dirty ones dry outside(they seem to clean easier that way) or I turn them inside out and hit w/ a hose sometimes, then wash, just straight wash machine, no soap.
Makes sense. I have a sock with carbon and it is hard to clean when I change the carbon when it's wet.

[barjam]

Here is a tip. Get some white plastic thin tubing (from a hardware store, a little less than 1/2 od works). Some vinyl tubing that will slip over the tube and your turkey baster.

Play with the lengths a bit and where you hold the turkey baster (outside the tank and below the water line works well) but when you get it right you will have a turkey baster wand that is much easier to pump water through as you aren't fighting the pressure differences so much.

[alpinestar]

I use an extra koralia 4 every two weeks and I'm always surprised at the amount that gets blown off from it