Sediment on Live Rock...Cleanup Question

[tliss]

Just a quick stupid question....I seem to have some sediment buildup on my live rock, and I was wondering if it would be worthwhile the "blow" it off of there with one of my power heads and siphon it out of the tank. Looks kind of like gray dust, and any time any of the crabs or fish touch the rock I see a nice cloud of the dust come off of the rock. Is it worth it to clean it off or just leave it?
Thanks,
Tom

 

[speg]

Yeah clean it.. just be careful if you have a bunch dont do it all at one time.. maybe slowly do it over a period of a few days to avoid a huge ammonia spike. I personally like using a turkey baster to blow the rocks clean.. works great. What kinda cleanup crew you packing? Maybe consider a bigger crew =c)

 

[salty cheese]

How long has your tank been setup?
For the first month or two in my tank the LR was always getting covered with dust from the DSB, I had to clean the rock off several times a week till the tank matured.

 

[mr_bill]

I always clean mine when I need a water change. Just use a gravel vac and use the end of the vac to wave at the rock surface while draining the water into a bucket.

 

[sweetdawn]

i agree with mr bill that is how i do it and i get in the holes in the rocks you would be suprised how much gets in there. when i am done suctioning off the rocks I have taken enough water for the water change.

 

[tliss]

Thanks for the info everyone!

I've got a 29 gallon that's been running since March 2005. Buildup isn't too bad, but it's enough to really bug me, and the biggest buildup is in the holes of the rock. I'll run my gravel cleaner over it next time to suck it up a little at a time. Not sure whether this is sediment that is being kicked up from the substrate or if it is decaying stuff in the tank. It dones not seem to be hurting anything, but I always seem to have higher than normal nitrates, so this may be contributing to that.
The cleaning crew is pretty good...maybe overkill for a tank this size. 12 hermits, 2 turbo snails, 5 astrea snails (just added) and a sally lightfoot crab. Lot's of hitchhiker brittle stars and other stuff on my 50 or so pounds of live rock. As well, and I have seen a small snail of some type a couple of times, but cannot identify it. They do a decent job, I think.
Tom