Live Rock Maintenance

[jonboyb]

Just curious what other members do to their live rock on established tanks as far as blowing off debris on a regualr basis. After a small HA outbreak and some unhappy zoas for no reason a while back I started blowing my live rock VERY well. No nitrates/phosphates according to the test kits, so I assumed the rock/sand was holding the nutrients instead of the water column. I used to just hit it quick with a baster every once and a while to knock the surface clean, but the past few weeks or so I have been really getting in the nooks and crannies. It's funny, stick the baster in a hole and watch dust blow out from 50 different places.

Just curious who does/doesn't and why. I always do it the day before a PWC because I get a tiny nitrate spike (< 5ppm) afterwards, but my corals seem to enjoy it with feeders promptly extended. It makes a pretty big mess and throws my skimmer into overdrive too. Have to go in later and blow all the coral clean again and clear up the vermatid snail webs. Just want to make sure I'm not making a big mistake.

 

[dakota9]

Nah, although I'm not doing it a regularly as you, I do the same on occasion.

 

[chymos45]

I do a similar thing with a T off my return line hooked up to some 1/2" tubing. I just open the valve on the T and use the hose as a "leaf blower" in the tank. Works great and I also do it the night before a WC. ALL corals have great extension afterwards. They appear to love the dirty water.

I highly recommend NOT LETTING GO OF THE HOSE if you try this method. Just trust me...

 

[jonboyb]

Chymos45;360681 wrote:
I highly recommend NOT LETTING GO OF THE HOSE if you try this method. Just trust me...

The mental picture is priceless Out of curiosity what kind of return pump is it (flow wise....not brand).

 

[chymos45]

1800 GPH, but suffers substantial head loss because the hose is approximately 10 ft long. I have to be careful to not blast the corals, but it works great on the LR. Stick the hose outlet in a hole, and crud comes out of 5 other places...

 

[jonboyb]

WOW....1800 GPH. This is just on a 28 gallon so I'd have to combine both return pumps and all my PH's to get that Do you give it the full 1800 or just crack open the T a little?

I may actually just hook some line to a spare MJ and drop it in the back compartment and see how it works. I definantly like the sound of this vs. pumping the turkey baster a few thousand times:thumbs:

 

[chymos45]

I know it is not the full 1800 b/c of head loss due to the length of the hose, the fact that it goes through a hard T in the line, and that I also have one of those Python ball valves on the line to throttle back if needed. I would guess it's only half of the full flow when all valves are at 100%.

I used to do the PH with some tubing on my old 90 before I tried this method on my new 185 and it worked great as well. I even had a sponge pre-filter on the PH to catch some of the large debris when it dislodged. I found that only about a 12" piece of tube worked well, and I just moved the PH around to get the different angles. Now of course I just move the hose.

 

[tgray3]

I blow my LR off once or twice a week and once a month i take a tooth brush to the parts i can get to. Its amazing how much debris can accumulate on it in a short amount of time.