Water Changes & Big Rock's

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DawnMichele

Goliath Tigerfish
MFK Member
Jun 16, 2010
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Florida
Hi everyone!!! I was wondering for anyone that has a lot of rock's in their tank's do you remove them every time you do water change's and clean real good underneath? I remove mine every other week.
 
I got rid of the largest rocks from my Os tank as they were a hassle. I would lift them during water changes to get anything trapped underneath; would rinse them off from time to time, but not so regularly. Darth Vader kept moving even larger ones so got rid of them ultimately.
 
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I have a 115g full of rocks. Moving them every time would be extremely disruptive for both me and the fish, as they are stacked on top of each other to create lots of caves and tunnels. So each water change I move one section of rocks (perhaps 20% of the whole) and vacuum underneath. So each rock basically sits undisturbed for 5 weeks.
 
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I rarely move my rocks. Maybe every six months or so. There generally is some waste buildup underneath in that time but as long as my nitrate numbers remain low with water changes I am not overly concerned.
 
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I never move mine, all of them are placed directly on the glass ( flat bottomed boulders. with substrate added after. ) Some are 30-40 pounds a piece, so a little tricky/risky moving around on a regular basis.
 
Thanks guy's. I appreciate you taking the time to tell me what you do. I will keep an eye on the Nitrates.
 
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One of my 180's has got clown loach in, so driftwood, rocks and some pipe are a must for their hidey holes. I have the decor all together at one end of the tank. I have a powerhead at this end also. It is on a timer so it's not on constantly. I don't have any gunk build up underneath any of the decor because my powerhead moves it and it ultimately gets sucked up and down into the sump.

Maybe something for you to consider. It beats moving rocks around all the time, which is a dangerous practice anyway. One bad slip and you have a cracked panel.
 
One of my 180's has got clown loach in, so driftwood, rocks and some pipe are a must for their hidey holes. I have the decor all together at one end of the tank. I have a powerhead at this end also. It is on a timer so it's not on constantly. I don't have any gunk build up underneath any of the decor because my powerhead moves it and it ultimately gets sucked up and down into the sump.

Maybe something for you to consider. It beats moving rocks around all the time, which is a dangerous practice anyway. One bad slip and you have a cracked panel.
Thank you. I will look into that.
 
Lol. Another reason to consider Underwater Galleries rocks. They are ceramic painted to look real but they are hollow. If they need to be moved they are extremely light. I like them due to natural caves for African cichlids and they displace less water.
 
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