How Do You Clean Coral From Fish Tanks?
Having coral in fish tanks adds beauty to their surroundings and creates a natural habitat for fish, but it can get dirty. If you have live coral or rock, you must be very careful when cleaning, so you do not kill organisms. This means you should avoid over-cleaning it and should spot clean with a gentle touch. Skip household or commercial cleaners. Bleach, soap and solvents will kill your coral and could destroy the biological makeup of your tank. Leave the coral in the water. Even a few minutes out of water can kill living organisms. Use a turkey baster or similar syringe to shoot water into crevices of live rock to remove trapped sediment. This lets you remove algae growth, food buildup and other sediment that has become lodged in parts of the coral. Squirt water carefully over coral after agitating sand or cleaning the tank. This “brushes” off any sediment that has settled, coating the tank with dust. Keep a couple of hermit crabs in your tank. They will eat the majority of algae a
