Question about cleaning tank

[wdozier]

K, I have seen pic after pic of beutiful reef tanks, all of which usually have coraline built up on whatever is on the back tank wall. Usually a powerhead, heater and hang on filter or protien simmer.

My question is, am i cleaning my equipment to much. I do 5 gallon water changes on my tank every week and usually take EVERYTHING out, one by one, and clean them as well. I do not remove anything from the back wall as i am hoping to have a flurry of purple algea covering it this time next year.

I have also saw a post that was pretty funny to me, talking abou thow we spend the first year trying to grow coraline and the rest of our hobby trying to control it. Well I am holding true and trying my best to spark as much growth as possible. hehe :-D

anyway, just curious as to if i should just leave everything in and just worry about water quality?

Wayne

[leaffish75]

i wouldnt clean the acutal equipment, just maybe the motor. If it grows on the powerhead then the flow from it will help spread the coaraline. thats my opion.

:hmm2:
leaf

[MikeS]

I agree...just keep the intake and moving parts clean....

Mike

[cich1]

i've only had liverock in my tank for 5 weeks and the coraline is spreading everywhere, i have spots on my glass and return tubes from the sump, the origanal pieces of liverock i used to cycle were bleached white and now they are starting to get their color back, on my overflow box its spreading like crazy, i haven't done anything to promote the spread but i do have alot of water flow and my calcium level is very good and all my water conditions have stayed stable and within accepted limits since my cycle ended, i also added alot of LR from liverocks.com that had very good color to begin with, most of the LR i see in my lfs have little to no color at all, so i have to believe that if your water quality is good and you have some coraline on your rock to begin with the stuff will spread lke crazy. how old is your tank? the tanks you see that have the whole back glass covered are well over a year old, patience young Grasshopper, slow and steady wins the race in the world of salt :-D

[icereefer]

I agree too. I keep my glass clean with a cleaning magnet. I use a piranha float magnet cleaner, there a little spendy but well worth it, they'll strip lite coraline right off your glass. and don't use any cleaners to clean your equiptment parts if you have some nasty build up on something you can use a 50/50 mix, water and vinegar.