How often do you blow detritus off your rocks?

[Boga]

Commnents for method (turkey baster, power head, other).

 

[Poseidon]

i just use a turkey baster once every water change or so just to get anything my powerheads miss

 

[Boga]

same here. I use turkey baster too. just before water changes (most of the time).

 

[MrHermit85]

Turkey baster here too every water change.

 

[curiousphil]

Not every water change (which I do weekly) but fairly often.  Maybe a couple times a month.  I can usually see when it is building up and that's when I bust out the baster.

 

[Darryl_V]

Good thread and super important, often not talked about.  Once every week or two here.....i find the more I do it the better the tank looks as a whole.

 

[Poseidon]

Good thread and super important, often not talked about.  Once every week or two here.....i find the more I do it the better the tank looks as a whole.

and you just blow it off and let the system carry it off and down to the sump correct? you dont suck it out as soon as you blow it off, (ive heard some do this)

 

[reeffreak]

Good thing detruis was added to this title of this thread.

I also use a turkey baster. once a week usually.

 

[Salty Cracker]

I had to look this morning just to see because I really never do it... there just isn't anything that really collects or could be blown off.  Do you mean sand or something else?

I seem to remember I had a lot of crap on my rocks a long while ago, but it was stuff like slime algae. 

 

[Boga]

Does anybody else experience a reduction of foam in the skimmer after rock blowing off? The foam level in my skimmer drops a couple of inches 5 minutes after I do it and then comes back to normal in 30 minutes.

 

[MrHermit85]

Does anybody else experience a reduction of foam in the skimmer after rock blowing off? The foam level in my skimmer drops a couple of inches 5 minutes after I do it and then comes back to normal in 30 minutes.

Did mine over the weekend and changed my skimmer out afterwards and didn't notice any change in foam level

 

[unibob]

Does anybody else experience a reduction of foam in the skimmer after rock blowing off? The foam level in my skimmer drops a couple of inches 5 minutes after I do it and then comes back to normal in 30 minutes.

I notice this when I clean, broadcast reef roids. I think it's just because what the skimmer is sucking up (more gunk then usual) water in the skimmer is thus heavier and foam cannot climb as high and also maybe pump cannot push water in general as high? I'm not to sure, but yes it does happen to me.

 

[spyd]

Could also be because fish food breaks down the bubbles in your skimmer for a period of time. When you blow off the rocks, some food might be left over on your rocks and cause the foam reduction. I use a turkey baster weekly and just let the skimmer collect the crap that comes off the rocks. I scrape off the odd bubble algae as well at that time and the fish just eat it up. A couple of my tangs just love it.

 

[Darryl_V]

Nice to hear you have bubble eating tangs Derek.  Which ones and do they eat it off the rocks?  You may not notice if they do but you should notice the rocks being relatively clean.  I actually didnt realize how well my naso worked to keep the bubble down in the display till I started growing bubble in all my frag tanks like mad.

 

[Jewel]

Another thing that I started to do with this tank, Something Darryl told me about years ago, It took awhile but I did it LOL

 

[Pistol]

[quote author=Darryl_V link=topic=6664.msg65984#msg65984 date=1382974675]
Good thread and super important, often not talked about.  Once every week or two here.....i find the more I do it the better the tank looks as a whole.

and you just blow it off and let the system carry it off and down to the sump correct? you dont suck it out as soon as you blow it off, (ive heard some do this)
[/quote]I always run a sock, I vacuum the substrate right after and change the sock once the water is clear again.

 

[Pistol]

Does anybody else experience a reduction of foam in the skimmer after rock blowing off? The foam level in my skimmer drops a couple of inches 5 minutes after I do it and then comes back to normal in 30 minutes.

I always wear an aqua glove when in the tank, I'll have to check next time, I know when I put my bare hands in then the skimmer dropped.

 

[zarqy]

I've been looking for Aqua gloves but I' haven't found them anywhere.  Who sells them?

 

[Petercar (RIP Dec 2017)]

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=3871

 

[KBennett]

The oils on your hands interrupt the skimmer bubbles...
Anyone else put a little oil on their mashed potatoes to prevent them from boiling over?