Wade Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 Is it OK to scrub algae off of your rock with a soft brush or is it better to leave it alone and deal with it in other ways? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckyuv Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 YOu can scrape it off but if you don't find the source of the problem it will most likely return. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 How old is your system? If it's still maturing I would not go out of my way to remove it outside of syphoning some of it off. Hhowever if it bothers you I don't see a problem with using a toothbrush to remove it. If you do it's better to pull the rock out and scrub it off in some aquarioum water to physically remove it. If you scrub it off in the tank you haven't removed teh nutrients bound up in it and as it decomposes the nutrients are released back into the system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 If you can pull it out and toothbrush it, go for it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogdan Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 I am using a hard toothbrush and from time to time even a small scalpel to scrape off the the algae. A small cleaning crew and a phosphate remover will defenitely help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Posted May 5, 2013 Author Share Posted May 5, 2013 I went on vacation for two weeks and left the tank to the care of the house-sitters out of necessity. It was pretty green when I got back and the phosphates are up to .11 ppm. Probably overfeeding would be my guess. I did a 20% water change last week and plan to do another today. The rocks greened out a bit and I figured a quick fix to get it looking good would be a nice scrub. I may need to replenish my clean up crew as well. It's been about 6 months and I don't really know how often you need to bring in fresh troops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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