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Do I need to clean my lava rock?

Samcol

Members
Hello all how's everyone doing? I recently acquired a 125 gallon tank and at the moment I have it full of SA cichlids in it. I have about 100 pounds of big lava rock in the tank for rock work and was wondering of I needed to take the rocks out and clean them off during water changes. After about two weeks I moved a couple rocks around an a lot of debris came off the ones I moved so I'm just curious if I need to wash them off or not. Thanks for your time and help


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chriscoli

Administrator
I wouldn't clean them off too thoroughly, there's a lot of good beneficial bacteria embedded in the rocks. But, if you're seeing a lot of debris come off of them during waterchanges you might want to dust them off a bit now and then. You might also want to try aiming the output of a powerhead in their direction to keep the debris moving if you're noticing that it's settling there.
 

jonclark96

Past CCA President
+1 to Christine's comments. I wouldn't wash them at all. Maybe just swish them around in the tank before you start your water change.
 
You need not clean the rock, but need to move the rock around periodically to remove the detritus that is trapped underneath in WC.
 
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