Detritus?

[jgraeff]

I have been feeding every two to three days my nitrates are down and phosphates are also coming down. Everything else looks good. I have some hermits and bunches of snails but there is still detritus on the bottom of the sand is there anything that will eat that or do i just have to siphon it out when i do a water change?

 

[Krish]

Not sure what will actually eat it up off of the sand bed, but I would look into maybe addressing the flow in your tank so that the detritus will remain in your water column to be either skimmed off, used up by corals or mechanically removed than sitting on the sand bed.

 

[colin779]

I usually suck some out, but I have noticed that since i swapped to the bigger tank and added a sump that my hermits (dwarf blue legs) seem to be much more active picking through the sand (i can usually spot 3-4 at any given time).

I am not sure what kind of hermits you have but i would suggest some of those. Just be sure to provide a few extra shells for them as they grow. In my experience with hermits these ones have also been the non aggressive towards anything else in the tank and each other.

 

[colin779]

What Krish said too =)

The increased flow i have could also be the reason i have not really noticed any accumulation. But i will give the hermits some credit =)

 

[jgraeff]

i think i have decent flow in my tank. Although maybe its not pointed in the right direction. What can i do to get the flow to hit more towards the bottom.

Also does anyone know about the refugium mud? I heard it was reallly good but i wanted some opinions on it first.

 

[luke33]

Yep, sounds like you need more flow or better directed flow. And pass on the miracle mud. Just throw some chaeto in there with a light 24/7, much better than the mud.

 

[colin779]

What do you have in the tank for powerheads or a return? Tank size also?

My return looks like this, the one on the bottom points across the back, and the one at the top is used to disrupt the surface and a siphon break. I am still planning on adding another koralia 1 on the same side as the return.

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[jgraeff]

Ok, i will point the one power head down more and prolly add another one. I have a return pump set up with pvc at the top that has three different outlets that point at all the rock for the front side anyways hard to explain il try to take a pic and post.

 

[jgraeff]

pics

The first one is the outlet of the return. It has three of them as you can see two with a maxijet 1200, i would like a mag 5 but i dont have the cash at the moment.

The second one is just how it looks from the main view but that flow hits the rocks in the front and keeps most of the stuff off of them.

The third is where i have the problem, the left corner in front and behind that rock is were all the detritus sits and cannot get the flow to hit it. I tried turning my maxijet 900 but it won't reach in the corner. Any ideas?

 

[colin779]

The only thing i would can think of is a powerhead in the tank pointed that direction, just to get some flow across the sand maybe. Doesn't have to be anything expensive or fancy, just needs to move some water.

 

[jgraeff]

ok, i may be making another thing like i have in the front for the back but pointed straight down.

 

[colin779]

That could work too, just make sure it doesn't push the water to hard or else it will move your sand around for you.

 

[lizardarm]

is there anything that will eat that

Diamond goby will. They filter sand through their gills. Keeps the sand looking pretty nice in my tank but there is a drawback- the water has always got sediment floating around; not a full blown dust storm, but it's never crystal clear the way it used to be.
Check this link:
http://www.saltwaterfish.com/site_1...ategory=4&category_search=61&root_parent_id=4

 

[burning2nd]

ya.... thats what i was thinking...

i have this crazy 1/4 loc line setup... that will be the return from the sump...

the AGA 75 RR's have 2 holes... ill use one for down and the other 4 return....

but the loc line will split from 1/2" to 1/4" and then slip twice... so theres 4 ends....(8") all for ends will be pointed down behind the rock... (cause everyone know thats where the detritus settles)

my point... long story short lol, is ill be kidda blowing the detritus out from under the rocks.... and then hopefully makeing it eazyer to remove with water changes.