removing algae from power head screen

[no_nutin]

what is the best way

[benonmsn]

with ur hands / fingers............................

[alrha]

if you cover the output with your hand, the flow will come out the screen (on the Stream).

[rvitko]

As alrha said. If it is just loose algae this is how you backflush it- block the outlet with your hand while it is running. Otherwise if the algae is actually attached I would use vinegar and a toothbrush.

[alrha]

Roger, you taught that to me, just passing it on...

[rvitko]

:thumbsup: thanks!

[no_nutin]

I have tried the vinegar tooth brush and it didnt work to good on the algae i have.I had to use a razor blade to scrap it off.thanks looks like elbow greese it is.

[rvitko]

A long soak in Vinegar would do it, it sounds like you are talking about coralline.

[no_nutin]

no its lyngbya turbo snails and spinny urchins are eating it but its a pain to get off plastic

[rvitko]

The screen is a fairly strong plastic so you could use a diluted muritic or phosphoric acid, 1 to 20 parts water. Please don't ever put any of the other pump parts in strong acids though, it causes them to swell enough to effect the tolerances.

[vapor1]

I just used the vinegar and water with a toothbrush to get rid of mine.
I used 1/2 gallon of vinegar with 5 gallons of water and ran 2 streams in a 5 gallon bucket for an hour , then ran them clean water and the toothbrush cleaned them off real easy .

[prop-frags]

My sailfin tang likes to eat the algae off the stream pumps. It is very entertaining to watch! He can only take the direct blast for a second and then goes tumbling back! :lol:

[no_nutin]

I have a gold ring tang it peaks at it but prefers the live rock i am noticing that the turbos snails are doing a great job at night on the power heads at this rate i will not have to remove them i can not say enough about the turbo snails they go right for the problem areas thanks for all the replys always looking for new ways to do things