How do I properly clean live rock

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by jason604

My nitrate is 0 and my p04 is 0 too for some reason. Using salifert test kit. The rocks in my tank right now is ugly none pouris pieces anyways.

Yup, I used a salifert PO4 test before too, and it also showed zero. Then I got a Hana checker which goes down to 2 decimal places, and took another big effort before I finally got that one down to zero.

Even nitrate color tests can be misleading if you don't do it right. Need to really follow instructions with shaking the solutions and waiting the required times, or can also get false readings.


If you truly had zero nitrates and phosphates, you wouldn't have an algae problem. I still remember my algae almost falling off the rocks with slight tooth brushing after I hit zero on those parameters. I found that hair algae in particular will thrive with less than 0.10 ppm P04. Just recently, I let both nitrates and P04 get out of control a bit, and the hair algae came back with a vengeance. So I know very well how quickly and easily that happens.

Also should mention to have good flow across your rocks, and if necessary occasionally turkey baste them to be sure no detritus collects. Hair algae loves to attach where it can collect particles.

And hopefully you have some tangs. They (Kole is the best) also do a great job of keeping algae off rocks before it has a chance to form.