I got a lot of live rock with my tank setup I purchased through Craig's List and the guy said that he hadn't been doing great maintenance. The rock seems to have this tan, fuzzy stuff growing on it. I have no idea if this is good fuzzy stuff or bad fuzzy stuff. It certainly doesn't LOOK nice! I saw something about cleaning your rock with a toothbrush while the rock is in freshwater. I know I have some things growing that I don't want to kill off. Help please!
Live rock cleaning question
- Thread starter Ange
- Start date
PRC
Stop Quoting Me!
Ange,
You know they're going to ask for a picture. You might as well go get it now before "they" get here.
You know they're going to ask for a picture. You might as well go get it now before "they" get here.
andysgirl8800
Blenny Badlands
Ange, it depends on what you are trying to clean off. Rather than using fresh water, you should use two buckets of salt water (made with RO/DI water). Fill them both about 2/3 full. Use a toothbrush, or a brand new dish brush (one that you just bought, never been used with dish soap) a little like this one: Dish brush
Put your first "dirty" rock in the first bucket. Scrub it off with either brush. Shake the rock off under the water, then dip it in the second bucket to rinse off anything else you may have missed.
If you let the water settle down again in the buckets after you've finished, you may be able to spot a brittle star or two that you can rescue and return to your tank. That's how I've done it anyway. :)
Put your first "dirty" rock in the first bucket. Scrub it off with either brush. Shake the rock off under the water, then dip it in the second bucket to rinse off anything else you may have missed.
If you let the water settle down again in the buckets after you've finished, you may be able to spot a brittle star or two that you can rescue and return to your tank. That's how I've done it anyway. :)
Bifferwine
I am a girl
Carolyn aka Andysgirl is right. Clean them off in buckets of saltwater. That way you can keep the good stuff alive, and target the bad stuff for removal.
andysgirl8800
Blenny Badlands
Many of the ones already in the rocks will go deeper in while you are cleaning. You'd be surprised how resilient they can be once they've got a happy little hole to hide in.
I also have the sand that was in the tank and there seems to be a lot of debris in the sand. I would like to clear some of that out and possibly put new live sand in. Do I need to do anything special before I attempt that? I would like to "clean" the sand I have at the very least?
andysgirl8800
Blenny Badlands
As far as the sand, you may want to leave it as is. You can get several critters that will turn that over for you and help keep it clean. There are nassarius snails, sand sifting stars, gobies, crabs, etc.
yote
In Memoriam
+1 Andysgirl and Biff
andysgirl8800
Blenny Badlands
That looks a lot like diatoms.
yote
In Memoriam
That stuff on the rock is whats left of dead algae.
Just brush it off.:D
That brown on the sand is diatoms.Nut much you can do about them right now.They'll eventually go away on their own.
Just brush it off.:D
That brown on the sand is diatoms.Nut much you can do about them right now.They'll eventually go away on their own.
Bifferwine
I am a girl
There really isn't much you can do about diatoms. Nothing will eat them, and they are common in new tanks. Continuing to do water changes and using nassarius snails to stir up the sand will help with the diatoms. Otherwise, they will go away on their own as your tank matures.
Nassarius snails will go on my shopping list, I have only come across one other snail besides the two that look like pink/purple turban snails and one of my shrimp attacked it. I think I discouraged the shrimp enough that the snail got away but I haven't seen it again! Bully shrimp!
andysgirl8800
Blenny Badlands
andysgirl8800
Blenny Badlands
I wouldn't say its "eating" the diatoms, per se, but it is stirring up the sand and dislodging it or burying it under. That's a good thing! *S*
