Keeping the rocks clean

[Jurgen]

Hi Guys,

A month and a half ago i emptied my big tank (Rio 180 with 4x T5 39Watt) and gave it a new start.
The new layout is based on heavy rockwork with a beach of river sand in the middle.

After a couple of weeks i saw that my rocks were getting brown, as the tank was still young, i thougt it was the normal cycle the tank had to go through.
I started cleaning the rocks again and again and again.
In the beginning it was also affecting the plants, but after i've trimmed them down heavily two weeks ago and now it's not visible on the plants anymore. But i cleaned the rocks again today as they were again very dark brown. The cleaning is a lot of work but it comes off quiet easy.

So unfortunately the problem keeps coming back and it seems i can't win the fight.
I do EI fert dosing, have around 30-35 ppm CO² during the light ours and a lighting period of 10 hrs.
There's enough flow in the tank and temperature is set at 25°C.
When i restarted the tank i re-used the filter material i used in the layout before and kept the filter running the whole time i was cleaning, re-filling and re-planting the tank.

Any idea what i'm doing wrong or what i have to do to keep my rocks clean?

 

[alto]

Sounds like (brown) diatoms - these often eventually go away (several weeks to months), otocinclus are usually keen to keep this in check

(an electric toothbrush & syphoning out algae)

 

[Jurgen]

I have otocinclus and Amano shrimps available in the thank but they're not having any interest in it.
I'm currently using a manual toothbrush

 

[Mot]

I encourage you to reduce the photo period to 7 hours.

 

[tim]

Toothbrush or small wire brush is the best way to keep them clean, Mot is spot on though 6-8 hour photoperiod is plenty IME, and will help slow the growth rate of algae.

 

[Dantrasy]

try an electric toothbrush

 

[Ryan Thang To]

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/Silverline-...l-Engineering-617623-/390974063706?nav=SEARCH

 

[Jurgen]

Maybe a small wire brush would be better then an toothbrush.
I'll try that!

As for the lighting period, i've read a couple of times that, in case of brown algae, you should raise the lighting period.
I'm now up to 10hrs, which for me is the maximum time i usually use.
I'll bring it down to 8 and see if the algae still comes out.

Thanks for the replies!