Busy Cleaning Day

lpapagno · 09/23/2007, 09:18 AM

I could not stand it anymore so I took all my rock out and cleaned all of the dirt that has accumulated on it for the past few months. I took each one out individually and dunk them in a bucket with salt water made up for regular water changes. I made sure to keep them submersed as quickly as possible and then after each one was cleaned I put them in a large can with made up salt water. I also kept a pump going for water circulation. There were a few casualties some crabs got killed because they were pinching me and I brush them off too hard into a bucket.
I vacuumed the sand as good as humanly possible, but there was still dirt coming up at each pass other than a complete overall I donâ€™t think itâ€™s ever going to be solved. I have good circulation, but this was my first salt water tank and itâ€™s almost three years old now and I didnâ€™t set it up from the get go like I would now. Unfortunately I donâ€™t have a few thousand dollars to start over again so I will have to make due.
I did fine the source of the popping sounds I hear all the time. I have a pistol shrimp I hope it survives the whole ordeal. Anyway I re-aquascaped and hopefully it will lead to better water flow. It took me about three hours to do and I did enjoy the fact that it looks much better. I only hope I didnâ€™t mess up the stability.

filmoholic · 09/23/2007, 09:26 AM

Sounds like it was a water park in there! Get you a good cuc and let them do that next time! good luck! and post some pics my friend!

victor_c3 · 09/24/2007, 12:01 AM

I did a simular thing yesterday with my 30 gallon tank.

I even took out about 1/4-1/3 of the live rock in my tank and I've noticed a huge difference in the flow.

Hopefully cleaning all that excess crap out of my tank will cause a growth spurt for my corals!

uscharalph · 09/24/2007, 12:20 AM

Just a part of the hobby.

nlmotoring · 09/24/2007, 02:16 AM

I have never taken any of my rock out of my tank. I just keep different critters in the tank to keep everything clean.

unda_da_see · 09/24/2007, 05:17 AM

if you didn't like the crabs pinching you your lucky the mantis didn't get ya. that would of been a good time to get him out of the tank.

09/23/2007, 09:18 AM	#1
lpapagno Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Groveland,Florida Posts: 34	Busy Cleaning Day I could not stand it anymore so I took all my rock out and cleaned all of the dirt that has accumulated on it for the past few months. I took each one out individually and dunk them in a bucket with salt water made up for regular water changes. I made sure to keep them submersed as quickly as possible and then after each one was cleaned I put them in a large can with made up salt water. I also kept a pump going for water circulation. There were a few casualties some crabs got killed because they were pinching me and I brush them off too hard into a bucket. I vacuumed the sand as good as humanly possible, but there was still dirt coming up at each pass other than a complete overall I donâ€™t think itâ€™s ever going to be solved. I have good circulation, but this was my first salt water tank and itâ€™s almost three years old now and I didnâ€™t set it up from the get go like I would now. Unfortunately I donâ€™t have a few thousand dollars to start over again so I will have to make due. I did fine the source of the popping sounds I hear all the time. I have a pistol shrimp I hope it survives the whole ordeal. Anyway I re-aquascaped and hopefully it will lead to better water flow. It took me about three hours to do and I did enjoy the fact that it looks much better. I only hope I didnâ€™t mess up the stability.

09/24/2007, 12:20 AM	#4
uscharalph Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Long Beach, CA Posts: 1,248	Just a part of the hobby. __________________ Ralph Mendoza Jr. Long Beach, CA Current Tank Info: 80 Gallon Reef Tank

09/24/2007, 02:16 AM	#5
nlmotoring Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Northridge, California Posts: 57	I have never taken any of my rock out of my tank. I just keep different critters in the tank to keep everything clean. __________________ Tank: Glass 80g Tall w/ Black stand and Canopy, 2x175w & 36w of Actinic lighting Fish: Damsels, tang, urchant Corals: Zoo's, Mushrooms, Ricordia's, hammers, frogspawn Current Tank Info: Tank: Glass 80g Tall w/ Black stand and Canopy

09/23/2007, 09:26 AM	#2
filmoholic Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: columbus oh Posts: 154	Sounds like it was a water park in there! Get you a good cuc and let them do that next time! good luck! and post some pics my friend!

09/24/2007, 12:01 AM	#3
victor_c3 Premium Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: New York Posts: 513	I did a simular thing yesterday with my 30 gallon tank. I even took out about 1/4-1/3 of the live rock in my tank and I've noticed a huge difference in the flow. Hopefully cleaning all that excess crap out of my tank will cause a growth spurt for my corals!

09/24/2007, 05:17 AM	#6
unda_da_see Registered Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: St. Petersburg Posts: 516	if you didn't like the crabs pinching you your lucky the mantis didn't get ya. that would of been a good time to get him out of the tank.