How’s it going guys. I been having my reef tank for about 1 year now. The water quality is never as clean as it should be, i have detritus building up on the sand, my live rock looks dirty with detritus on top of it always. My glass is never clean. What gives? Maybe i need more equipment. Im not so sure though. I have a 20 gallon setup. I run a HOB 40gallon filter, a heater, a pump with a 33x water turnover, a led lamp and i just switched to Red Sea Coral pro from the regular red sea. Is there any other equipment i need or is there something i need to change. Keep in mind i only have a 20 gallon tank and i do weekly water changes of 5 gallons at a time.
HELP! What else does my tank need?
- Thread starter Dghtx832
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Hi and Welcome to R2R. 
More flow would probably be of assistance.
Have you tried using a turkey baster or power head to blow off the collecting detritus on the rock?
Do you have decent amount of snails?
I vacuum the top layer of my sand with a large diameter siphon.
More flow would probably be of assistance.
Have you tried using a turkey baster or power head to blow off the collecting detritus on the rock?
Do you have decent amount of snails?
I vacuum the top layer of my sand with a large diameter siphon.
nautical_nathaniel
Indecision may or may not be my problem.
You may need a powerhead to prevent dead-flow zones and keep things like detritus moving so it ends up in the filter.
Film algae growing on the glass is just a part of the hobby, about the only thing you can do is limit how fast it grows in your tank with proper nutrient control. Clean-up crew snails can help, as well as some combtooth blennies. I would get some trochus and cerith snails, they will help keep things tidy without impacting your bio-load too much, 10 of each snail would be a good amount since you'll probably lose some after adding them to the tank. Hermit crabs and shrimp will also dig around in detritus and help keep it stirred up so it can get to the filter.
Film algae growing on the glass is just a part of the hobby, about the only thing you can do is limit how fast it grows in your tank with proper nutrient control. Clean-up crew snails can help, as well as some combtooth blennies. I would get some trochus and cerith snails, they will help keep things tidy without impacting your bio-load too much, 10 of each snail would be a good amount since you'll probably lose some after adding them to the tank. Hermit crabs and shrimp will also dig around in detritus and help keep it stirred up so it can get to the filter.
nautical_nathaniel
Indecision may or may not be my problem.
Oh, and welcome to R2R! 
