Excessive detritus in tank

MikeyAl · Feb 13, 2016

Any suggestions on how to get rid of excessive detritus. I do water changes regularly, but seems my rock has too much detritus still. Added Dr Tims waste away and refresh and running my WP 40 full blast. Any other suggestions?

Pete polyp · Feb 13, 2016

Buy a bunch of hermits

MikeyAl · Feb 13, 2016

Should I also increase water flow by adding more power heads?

Pete polyp · Feb 13, 2016

It depends. Do you have a sump? Filter socks? Skimmer? Hob filter?

MikeyAl · Feb 13, 2016

Pete polyp said:
It depends. Do you have a sump? Filter socks? Skimmer? Hob filter?

Yup. Filter sock, reef octopus skimmer, ATS.
Just bought a BRS reactor which should be here next week.

MikeyAl · Feb 13, 2016

Had decreased my WP 40 to 50% because my bubble coral doesn't do well with heavy flow. So I cranked it up today and aimed at my rocks and it dusted up big time.

Pete polyp · Feb 13, 2016

Then that should get the mess to the sock where it can be removed manually

Pete polyp · Feb 13, 2016

Using a turkey baster a few times a week to blow off the rocks does wonders as well

MikeyAl · Feb 13, 2016

Thanks Pete. I guess once a week I should run the powerhead at full just to clean rocks prior to water Change?

MikeyAl · Feb 13, 2016

Gotcha.

MikeyAl · Feb 13, 2016

Pete polyp · Feb 13, 2016

No problem!

MikeyAl · Feb 13, 2016

I assume that is what is causing some hair algae growth as well.

Pete polyp · Feb 13, 2016

MikeyAl said:
I assume that is what is causing some hair algae growth as well.

It's not helping but phosphate is what's causing the green hair algae

Brandon Rutherford · Feb 13, 2016

I have my students baste all of the rocks frequently. Paul B, a R2R member is something of an inventor and makes a homemade baster that's much more useful than a turkey baster. Not sure if he's selling them but I'd ask. I also try to siphon all of my rock when I do a water change.

Your MP40 should have a reef crest mode that has bursts of high flow an normally consistent flow cycle. I use that on the tank lucky enough to have ecotech equipment and it seems to help.

I really like sponge filters. I have literally 15 of these sponge filters and have them somewhere in most of my tanks and sumps. A Hydro-sponge filter V and a marineland powerhead. They are great at removing fine particles from the water column and double as a very powerful biological media. Because they're so easy to move around, you can have one dry and then drop it in if you disturb your sand bed or otherwise have a bunch of stuff in your water that you want out.