Old Tank Syndrome (by me)

[paul b]

http://www.saltwatersmarts.com/understanding-old-tank-syndrome-6440/

[Bruleyii]

Good points. People, including myself, forget to clean the rocks. It's a good reminder for myself to give them a good cleaning next water change.

[YHSublime]

Good article, Paul. Really got me thinking about bacteria. 

[paul b]

Don't just clean the rock, you need to put some preassure into those pores and watch the stuff come out.  A few rocks will cloud your entire tank if you do it correctly.

[Bruleyii]

All I have is a turkey baster but I get pretty mean with it. Probably not like a power washer though. :D

[paul b]

These are much better than turkey basters, unless of course you are basting turkeys. But even these won't clean out the pores like a strong canister filter. The bacteria in your tank don't really care if you can do it or not as they have no sense of humor. If you can't do it, your tank may only last 30 years, what can I tell you? 

 

Edited March 17, 2016 by paul b

[sen5241b]

I swap out old rock and replace it with new.

[paul b]

That's cool, but eventually corals cover rocks so they can't really be moved so you need to clean what you have.

 

Good article, Paul. Really got me thinking about bacteria.

I think about Supermodels. Even older ones like my favorite Christie Brinkley. I wonder if she has fish?

Edited March 17, 2016 by paul b

[Anemone]

They will clog with detritus, which in boating terms we call “flotsam and jetsam.” That means just about anything that is a solid and in the water. It could be dead bacteria, pod exoskeletons, or anything else we have in the tank that eventually gets ground down by animals and currents.

Good article PaulB, thanks for sharing. Any supermodel could've told us about the importance of cleaning out your pores (that's your source, right?)

Have you ever looked at this stuff under a 'scope to see more about what it's made of?

[Jason Rhoads]

Glad to see I am not the only person doing this. Every water change I use an old maxijet to blast the rocks everywhere I can reach. It stirs up a cloud of gunk without fail.

[paul b]

Good article PaulB, thanks for sharing. Any supermodel could've told us about the importance of cleaning out your pores (that's your source, right?)

Have you ever looked at this stuff under a 'scope to see more about what it's made of?

I actually do that all the time. I am doing it now, I have one eye on the monitor and the other looking into my microscope. I have a Baush and Lombe antique microscope that is over 100 years old. I love the thing and use it all the time. Detritus is basically pod underwear that is inert. I love to see the life in it. Probably crabs. 

[YHSublime]

In regards to blowing or brushing off the rock, similar to Paul's yearly typhoon with the reverse under gravel, if you have ever fed in a QT tank, you can easily observe how much waste get's trapped in a virtually empty tank. That's when I started hitting the rocks. I also do it in my nano before I do a water change, so all that get's stirred up and sucked out, there's enough left when I fill it back up with NSW.