cleaning LR

[nurjrk]

When I am doing my water changes and sucking out my water I run it over my LR and get allot of junk off the rocks. Should I be doing this or is it gonna create some imbalance in my tank. I'm not sucking out the good junk off or out of the rock am I?
Thanks, Jeff

 

[doodle1800]

I've wondered that also. Plus when you receive LR from online or a LFS - should you brush off anything thats hanging loosely on or leave it be and put it in?

 

[hondo]

if your talking about blowing off the detrius and loose matter from LR with either a turkey baster or a PH or some other way then that is fine. When you first receive LR I would remove any loose dead looking things as these will cause an amonia spike once they are placed into the tank and continue to decay. Washing LR is an OK thing to do just don't wash it with fresh water or you will kill the benificial bacteria. Washing it with tank water and even scrubbing it down with a tooth brush or something to remove small loose items is OK.

 

[nurjrk]

Thanks, but actually I was talking about when I do my routine water changes. When I am syphoning out my water can I syphon off the junk on my LR (the brown dirt looking stuff). I don't want to take out anything that should be there, but I don't want to leave anything that could cause ammonia in my tank. What do you guys think?
Thanks, Jeff

 

[nurjrk]

no thoughts from anybody else?

 

[saltyj]

I use a turkey baster and blow the algae off the rocks and the filter will catch all the free flowing algae. It helps as far as my sand I just deal with the algae on it.
Jeff

 

[neenie]

I bought a 2" paint brush and just brush it off very lightly.

 

[scotts]

It all depends on what you have in your tank. Do you have a clean up crew? Do you have LS or CC? If you have LS do not vacuum the sand. You will be sucking out the good critters that you need for your tank. BTW my LFS said it was OK to vacuum the sand. If you have a clean up crew I sould not vacuum the rock. You can be sucking out some of the good stuff off the rock.
I have some hermit crabs that take care of the stuff on the rock. About 6 months ago I stopped vacuuming up the water and just use a bowl to take the water out when I am doing water changes. My tank seems to be doing fine.
However it would help to know what you have in your tank.
Scott

 

[luvnluk]

I agree with Scotts. My LFS also told me that I could vacuum my sand bed!!!! If I did that every time I did a water change I wouldn't have a sand bed left (not to mention the adverse affects)!!! Anyway, make sure you have a clean-up crew and good circulation...that way you can suction water from the top and avoid pulling any of the good stuff out!

 

[nurjrk]

Thanks guy, I do have LS and a clean up crew, but what they leave behind looks like small piles of durt (waste?) on the LR which is what I want to vacuum out.
Thanks again, Jeff

 

[dburr]

I also use a turkey baster. Every so often it needs a good blow to keep from clogging the pores. Thats all. Do your water change right after and you'll suck up some of the debris.
Sand sifting star will eat pods in the sand bed, not reef safe.