turkey baster ?

[keith gray]

I have lots of sand from my sandstorm making fish(maroon clown) on my live rock. It really sticks to the brown and green algae that is on the rocks.
If I use a turkey baster to "blow off" some of this sand from time to time is that a good idea. If it makes the water temporarily nasty will it hurt fish, invertebrates or corals ?
Anyone else do this ?

 

[cherylann]

It's fine to use a turkey baster. But why do you have so much green and brown alge, pics would be good. I use a turkey baster to remove any detritus from my rock routinely and you've never had a sand storm unless you have a pistol shrimp, only kidding. The sand would not stick to your LR if you did not have an alge problem, so I would address that.

 

[keith gray]

Its not real long like hair algae or anything but the rocks do have some. I have recently begin using live rock with Chaeto in my fuge instead of bioballs. I am told this will help with nitrates. I also am decreasing my light usage a little in hopes that the algae will decrease. I do 20% water change every other week so I don't know what else to do.

 

[cherylann]

Try testing for phosphates and you will probably find your problem. There are alot of products out on the market that remove or do a fairly good job of bring down phosphate levels. Are you possibly feeding too much. Also as lights age alge seems to increase.

 

[keith gray]

You may have hit on something. thanks for that. I just replaced my compact bulbs about a month ago and they were really older than I should have let them get !
I will test my PH also

 

[keith gray]

Will the newly added chaeto help reduce phosphates as well as nitrates. WHat other things than chemicals can bring down phosphates ? As they come down, will old algae die off or what ?
I feed once in the evening when I get home from work, that's it. I also do 20% water change every other week. I am thinking about changing to 10% every week, don't know if it really matters

 

[louti]

yes the chaeto will consume phosphates and nitrates. Any kind of algae feeds on these. You could build an algae scrubber or add other macro algaes. Mangroves also help. There are also filter pads that remove phosphates that you can probably find at your local fish store.

 

[lil.guppy]

I use a turkey baster 2x a week to move stuff off the rocks even sand. I like it because it get up into my filter and then I remove it. My water is always crystal clear since I did that. If course it takes a few hours to clear up after you do it.