bigger tanks... bigger rocks, become a problem, long term???

[Magnum Man]

I've got 2 - 55 gallon tanks one ( my Hillstream tank ) has a rock pile on each end for habitat, and that the lucky bamboo roots into... these rocks aren't huge, but around 2 inch stones in piles 3-4 stones thick, at the deepest, and a similar pile, at the base of a rapidly bubbling, bubble waterfall in my Cichlid tank, that has sand as substrate in the rest of the tank, it looks cool, and holds the air bar in place... initially they were great... but long term there is getting to be an icky buildup I haven't been able to vacuum out, in the deeper nooks and crannies, that I have concerns about...

at 2 inches I can pick them out one by one, with my tongs, and rinse the stones, in one of my aquarium dedicated dish pans, and then vacuum those areas, while the stones are out, with a normal gravel vacuum and put the stones back, but that would be a lot of work, and very time consuming... and would likely have to be done every 6 months or so...

I'm curious if anyone has stone piles long term, and how you deal with accumulations in them???

I've got a hose with a hard tube reducer on one end, I planned to use on the rock piles, but it keeps losing syphon, either from an air leak at the reduction, or I suck up too much air from the bubbles ( now that I have my manifold all labeled, I can shut the air off, while trying to syphon those areas ) if I keep playing with it???

 

[Magnum Man]

in an experiment, I added 5 dwarf crayfish to the pile in the Cichlid tank, as that tank is 24 inches deep, and will be the biggest challenge, they were the natural blue color ( not the orange ones ) so I was hoping they might be more "durable" they all disappeared into the rock pile, and I didn't witness any getting snacked on... I don't think they are social, so I expected the pile might be big enough for 2 or 3, and the others would be in one of the other hidy spots... there are plant tangles, and driftwood they could move to... in a couple days I haven't seen them again... so, maybe there is just an abundant source of food down there, and they have no need to go out in the open, or the Cichlids snacked on them, while I wasn't around, or they died down there, compounding my problem??? too early to tell yet...

regardless, I wouldn't want to add them, until they prove to be effective to the Hillstream tank...

anyone ever tried Cambarellus diminutus ‘blue'???

a blue dwarf crayfish... I have 5 coming, and a river rock pile in a tank, I'm hoping they will inhabit... but lots of other hiding places as well... they may get eaten, if they come in too small, and don't hide well enough, but they weren't so expensive to keep from experimenting... Adult Size...

www.fishforums.net

 

[GaryE]

I just came in from the fish palace. My just dried hands are still cold from the air between the house and the garage. Why?

There I was, taking apart, cleaning and reassembling a couple of rock piles. I have a couple in deeper tanks where the air doesn't get to the sponge filters unless I put them on rock platforms. The sponges are backup filtration supplement for canisters or HOBs. Once a month or so, the supports have to come apart and get reassembled. Today was that day.

Then I came in and saw this.

A word from the peanut gallery - when too large rocks get algae/biofilm covered, they are very slippery. And that makes them dangerous to glass tanks during cleaning. I have a beach across the road with an entire kilometre plus long zone of larger, beautiful rocks. I'll pick up three or four smaller, flat rocks instead of bigger ones. They look so convenient, but they are tank busters. Eventually, one will slip out of your hands, just by Murphy's Law.

 

[Magnum Man]

I had a buddy 25 years ago, that used to completely disassemble all his rocks weekly in his rift lake Cichlid tank, there was 100's of lbs. of lime stone slabs... but by nature those were easier to handle... I used a lot of them myself back then... these round rock are challenging to get with my big tank tweezers

as high as this 24 inch deep tank is ( like 40 inches off the floor ) this is a challenge... i can reach some of the top layer, with my arm pit on the top edge ( I try to make sure I don't have antiperspirants on ) but need a tool for anything more than the top layer... this is why I'm trying a more natural solution, like the dwarf crayfish...

I also thought a canister filter used to vacuum the rocks only, might be the ticket... if it had more suction, than gravity alone, and I had a couple specific tool ends

 

[Magnum Man]

I'm looking at canister filters in 250 - 500 gph... not sure I want a built in UV sterilizer, unless I was going to run it more than just rock pile sucking... my initial thinking is powered water changes, and not returning the water back to the tank, so no real need for filter media... but if it had a easily removable filter cartridge, I could just fill with coarse foam, or Japan matt, I could return water to the tank, while sucking out loose mulm, when cleaning hob filters... but wouldn't run it continually

any suggestion for a durable basic canister filter, for the use listed above???